Thanksgiving Menu

I feel for those who are still full from yesterday. I overdid it a little bit last night. It was necessary. I had to sample a little of everything. And I reached my objective. Everything was had. Here's the menu: For snacks and things, I put out tortilla chips with salsa and southwestern dip. (All were Tostitos brand.) Then there was a plate of brie, sharp cheddar, stoned wheat thin crackers and Carr's tablewater crackers. Two types of olives. Sicilain - big green ones. And kalamata. Later we had some deviled eggs that Steve's mom makes every holiday.

The dinner: Turkey (duh), stuffing, mashed potatoes, potatoes au gratin, smoked ham & cheese bake, peas, corn, gravy, canned (Ocean Spray) cranberry jelly. The dessert: Apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, vanilla ice cream (Breyer's), cool whip and reddi whip. Oh, we also had Pfeffernuss (Bahlsen) and maple sugar candies.

I must've made food for like a dozen people but there was only the was only five of us and Sid & Grey cat. I don't want to make this blog super long but the only way I can report my foodings is to tell you everything. So here goes...

The Turkey: Butterball. I made a compound (herbed) butter for it. I took fresh sage, fresh thyme & fresh rosemary and chopped them finely. Then I took the softened butter and added the herbs. I squish it around til it got all incorporated. Then I put Steve to work and had him slide his hand under the skin and form like a giant pocket extending all over the body of the bird. Then I had him rub the herbed butter all over the breast of the bird by going under the skin. You use a good amount of butter. I used two sticks. The remaining butter was spread all over the outside of the bird. We spread whole carrots, celery stalks and halved onions to the bottom of the roasting pan before we placed the bird in. It acts as a little roasting rack, and when you make gravy from the juices and dripping you get all the flavor of the vegetables and herbs. Oh, we shoved some herbs and two lemons into the cavity of the bird.

Turkey Outcome: Steve worried that we overcooked the bird and that it would be dry. That wasn't the case. The pieces were moist and tender. It didn't have a strong herb ee flavor though one of out guests commented that she tasted them.

Stuffing: Nobody wanted 'fancy' stuffing. No sausage, no cranberries or currants. No chestnuts. None of the above. So we embellished Stove Top (yes, stove top) stuffing with carrots, celery & onions (aka mirepoix.) I wanted to use chicken stock instead of water but Steve worried so we didn't.

Stuffing Outcome: The texture was pretty good. There were softer parts (but not mushy) and a little bit of crunch to other bites. It was light. I'm not sure what role carrots, celery & onions played in this but I couldn't taste it too much. I gotta tell ya. I don't love stuffing. Oh, I added some fresh sage to it. Finely chopped. And until last night, I liked Stove Top. I've only had it like twice in my life. But last night - I was in critique mode - and I decided that I didn't like that fake chicken/turkey flavor. It was too reminiscent of a bad chicken bouillon cube. I use Knorr's occasionally when I'm out of chicken stock. Lately I've been using Progress stock in the blue box. I love it. No can to open. Easy storage. Yey!

Mashed Potatoes: I used russet potatoes. I had Steve peel and rough chop a 5 lb bag. I cooked it up with sour cream and plenty of butter, s & p. I used my Xyliss masher and mashed the hell out of it. Then Steve mashed the hell out of it.

Mashed Potatoes Outcome: Originally, I was going to pass on the mashed potatoes because we had potatoes au gratin. However, one of my guests requested it so we made it. Unfortunately, it sat in the hot water too long before we drained them and they became slightly waterlogged. I placed it over the heat to dry to remove as much liquid as possible, but it didn't do that trick. That sucked because I'm usually a very good mashed potato maker. I used to make it all the time when we went through our phase of eating meat loaf a lot. So, if I get around to it, I'm going to find a good recipe for Shepherd's Pie using the leftover mashed potatoes.

Potatoes Au Gratin: It was a very highly rated Emeril Lagasse recipe. I took 1/2" red new potato rounds and boiled them up. While that was going on, I prepared the sauce. You cook up flour and butter (roux) and then add milk. Heat til desired thickness. I went on the just sightly thick side because I made it the night before and I didn't want it to dry out. On the day of, I hit the top with a little salt, cheddar cheese then monterey jack cheese on top.
Potatoes Au Gratin Commentary: This was my favorite dish of the night. It was very, very good. Yummy. I can't wait to heat up the leftovers. It was easy, very easy to make. Wow. The little edges of the dish browned up here and there and those bits were Delicious. I'm definitely making this dish again.

Smoked Ham & Cheese Bake: That's the name I gave it. It's actually Emeril's kicked up mac and cheese. I altered the recipe slightly by omitting the 'essence'...the bam! I was unfamiliar with its flavor and wanted to try it out on baked chicken breasts first. This dish's cream sauce was made basically the same way as for the potatoes au gratin mentioned above. To it, you add shredded sharp cheddar cheese, smoked ham, peas and I added a hint of freshly grated nutmeg. We used cavatappi (long corkscrew) instead of elbows. I changed the name because I didn't want people to think they were about to eat a real traditional mac and cheese. Then here's the weird part. He had you mix your breadcrumbs and shredder sharp cheddar before sprinkling it on top.
Smoked Ham & Cheese Bake Commentary: Sigh. As much as I loved Emeri'l potatoes au gratin, I didn't love his mac n cheese. It wasn't bad. Steve actually loved the taste and another guest commented that it was better than last year's. Here's the part I didn't like. Remember the cheese-bread crumb mix on top? Well instead of the cheese melting nicely, it crisped up like the breadcrumbs, with the breadcrumbs. I thought I ruined it. But as I see it, perhaps it was meant to be that way. The recipe made plenty of sauce that thickly covered the pasta. It was good that there was a lot so it didn't dry out, but I didn't love the texture. I guess you can call it texture. I wanted a smoother, creamier, & cheesier sauce. This recipe resulted in a light'ish, somewhat pasty'sih sauce that didn't taste stongly of cheese. It almost tasted like fake cheese. So, I won't be making this one again. I am still on the hunt for a good recipe.

Peas & Corn: Bird's Eye. Nuked separately with butter, s & p.
Peas & Corn Outcome: I thought I overnuked the peas and got worried because Steve loves peas and I didn't wanna ruin his eating experience. But he said I didn't. That they were good. And there were no complaints about the corn. Good.
Cranberry Jelly & Outcome: More recently, I've started to enjoy cranberry jelly with my turkey. Previously, I didn't touch the stuff. I used to have an aversion to savory-sweet foods. Like I hated sweet & sour chicken. Anyway, speaking of sour. Next year I want to try and find a fancier cranberry jelly. One with a little more tartness. Not too tart though and definitely sweet. Unfortunately, the guests who like cranberry jelly like their canned version.

The Pies: We bought them from Salinger's Orchards. It's also a farm market and bakery. Every holiday season they get the crunch. People have to call in orders ahead of time for Thanksgiving. This year we shelled out for three pies. And at $15 a piece, they weren't cheap. Not for us anyway.
The Pies Outcome: The apple pie was like a mile high and they most-likely used fresh apples from the orchard. I didn't love it and I'll tell you why. I like 'fake' apples. The canned kind or one's that have been well softened with that jelled, thick sauce. Salinger's pies lack the sauce part and their perfectly cut apples weren't 'cooked' enough for my licking. Steve really loved it though. He'd raved about their pies for years.

The pumpkin pie was the one I was really looking forward to. And boo-hoo, I didn't like it. Not at all. Not even with reddi whip on top. That made me upset and I decided not to try any of the other pies. I had the apple and pecan around midnight last night. *giggle*

The pecan pie was really, really good. I'd never had one quite like it. The pecans were light and crispy. The dark brown filling was really rich, sticky and gooey. The perfect consistency. Steve & I loved it. There was a downfall. The crust. They went a little too over on that one and it resulted in a drier crust. The edges were especially dry. If the crust had been similar to the ones that the apple pies were baked in - then it would've been perfect. The apple pie crust was really good. Nice flavor and mouth feel.

Little bits: The cookie I can't pronounce, they're called Pfeffernusee. They are iced gingerbread cookies with a strong ginger taste. They weren't too bad. I mean, I had two. Couldn't stop at one. But I found the flavor to be a little too much.

Oh, also, to drink with dinner in addition to the sodas that we set up in a cooler with plenty of ice - we had Martinelli's apple-grape sparkling juice. It was a very pretty color and we had them in fluted champagne glasses and made a toast before dinner. It was fun and I think the guests had a good time. Sid got some turkey with peas and corn. Grey cat got some turkey that I didn't cut up into little pieces. She was making happy noises while woofing down those big pieces. I was surprised.

And that, my friends, was Thanksgiving dinner this year! Sorry this was like a mile long. I lost feeling in my left fingertips a while ago. *giggle*

There's this cartoon that comes to mind often when I think of something. This big bulldog uses a smaller dog to help him earn $ by dressing him up like a little baby. I forget. But the bulldog amasses all this $ and buys a meat market. The final scene of the cartoon. The bulldog is lying on his back, ill, overwhelmed by the massive portions of meat he ingested. Anyway, the bulldog was always getting mad at the little dog for forgetting the gravy and would say: "you fuhgot da gravy". And as the bulldog lay on the table helpless, unable to move, the little dog comes to find him with revenge on his mind. He takes a funnel, sticks it into the bulldog's mouth and says: I didn't forget the gravy and proceeds to pour a giant keg of gravy into his mouth. Well, this all comes to mind because I forgot to mention the gravy. Steve made it. He boiled up giblets and herbs and later added the turkey fat and stock and thickened with flour. It was a dark brown color. It was okay, but not as good as last years where we omitted giblets (cause they gross me out) and I thickened with just flour. Ok. for real now. I'm done!