Second Night With Some Turkey

turkey, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Today we celebrated our traditionally very relaxed Thanksgiving with the added bonus of the second night of Hanukkah once all the dishes were cleared away.

With the predicted bad weather for the week I was especially thankful we weren't traveling anywhere farther than the dining room. It turned out the storm only dumped rain on us and today was sunny and clear, but I'm still glad that I didn't do any driving. Instead we had Meryl over. She brought wine and chocolate while we proved the rest.

The turkey was brined this year and was scrumptious. Don't let the dark skin fool you, it was moist and flavorful. Well worth the extra steps and the sharp words I had with the bird on Tuesday. The turkey wasn't thawing on schedule, so I had to speed things along with cold water on Tuesady so I could mess around with it on Wednesday. The cold water worked and it was perfect by Wednesday evening.

Second Night, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

I plopped the thawed and rinsed  turkey into a bag with the brine mix which was then put in a large pot with ice. The whole works out then went into the garage that was at about 45 degrees. Todat at about 11am I rinsed the bird and soaked it about half an hour to clear out the excess salt. The turkey went in at 2 and by 5:15 or so was done. A little earlier than I planned, so I had a bit of a scramble to get the biscuits, taters, and such done on time. It all hit the table at about the same time and was very good.

After the main course we had our chocolate course, Meryl's big contribution to the dinner. it made a nice transition between dinner and dessert. And oh yes we did have dessert, pumpkin pie and apple tarte tatin aka apple tarty thingy.

 Happy Thanksgivukkah!

First Night

First Night, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

I almost forgot to take a picture, the candles are burnt down to just a pool of wax. But they are still lit.

Today has been a flurry of preparation for turkey day. The obligatory pumpkin pie is tucked away in the fridge along with the cranberry sauce. The turkey is fully thawed, the result of my having words with it yesterday and speeding it along with cold water. Now the bird is brining in a bag and is stashed in the garage (it's about 45 in there) nestled in ice to maintain a safe temperature.

So happy Hanukkah and may your Thanksgiving be peaceful and full of good food.

Artist of the Week: Sous Chef

Rebecca, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Rebecca is this week's artist for her fabulous contribution to Thanksgiving.

I think I have mentioned before that Rebecca has become my sous chef. She chopps vegetables, fetches ingredidents, measures, mixes, and is a general help in the kitchen. She is always ready to help, apron on with willing hands. Rebecca does far more in the kitchen with me than I ever did with my mother.

I taught myself how to bake while in high school because I wanted cakes and cookies. Actual meals didn't happen until I was in college studying abroad in England, the utterly appalling dining hall food motivated me to learn how to cook. Now when I go home I cook with my mother, decades later than my daughter.

cranberry relish, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Anyhoo this is about Rebecca and what she made for Thanksgiving.

Last year I found a ridiculously easy and very tasty recipe for a cranberry relish over on Manolo For the Big Girl. Rebecca wanted to help so I printed it out and gave the task to her. It was a hit and now it is Rebecca's contribution to the feast. All I have to do is pull the sheet out along with the food processor and make sure we have all the ingredients. I really enjoy having my own "little chef."

Mmm, Turkey Pot Pie

pie, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

One of the best things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers. I used to be that I was stuck with a boatload of meat and after a couple of days we would all be sick of it.

Then I discovered the joys of the homemade pot pie.

With my scratch crust I have a meal the whole family likes. I had to wait until today to make it, because not everybody has been home for dinner the past couple of days. So there was much happiness among the kids when they saw me making pie crust and chopping up leftover turkey meat.

All that is left of our dear departed turkey are the bones, I think I'll be making soup in the near future.

Ginger

ginger, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Part of the traditional big Thanksgiving  run up for those cooking  is the buying of the ingredients. I try to minimize last minute store runs, but alas there always seems to be that one ingredient. This year it was the acorn squash, I completely forgot about it until the Wednesday before.

Then there is the one thing you can't find. One year it was sage flavored sausage, I had it improvise with plain and load up the stuffing with sage. Another year there was the great pumpkin shortage, fortunately I had a can hidden in my pantry and I was able to make my pumpkin pie. This year it was crystallized ginger, an important ingredient for our cranberry relish.

I went to three different grocery stores, two didn't even carry it and the third was sold out. I could have gone farther afield, but I decided my time was better spent making my own dang ginger. I settled on Alton Brown's recipe and used a pound of fresh ginger. It was pretty straight forward, however it took me twice as long to cook down the ginger syrup mixture than the 20 minutes sited in the recipe. I used my food processor to slice the ginger using my ultra fine blade so as to get consistently thin slices. The end result was well worth the effort, I have a boatload of very flavorful candied ginger that is full of zing. I love the stuff and I can eat it like candy. It's a very nice that I can now make my own.

Oh and I picked up the neatest trick for peeling ginger, use a spoon!

Thanksgiving 2012

feast, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

It was a splendid Thanksgiving this year. I got all formal with the table and pulled out the fancy tablecloth and napkins to go with our wedding china and the family silver, but kept it real with an informal dress code.

The menu was traditional with a hard core execution, it was all scratch with the exception of the bread crumbs from the stuffing. Heck I even made the candied ginger for the cranberry relish. Mind you the ginger was a more of desperation thing when I couldn't find any in three different supermarkets, Ground and fresh ginger were not a problem, but crystallized/candied was either sold out or nonexistent.

flat biscuits, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

As for the food, well it was all good, even the flat buttermilk biscuits. I *think* the scalded buttermilk was still too hot when I added the yeast and thusly killed the little buggers. Oops. The dough never really rose, but I gamely plowed on and baked them anyway. Turned out it was a good call, because the flat biscuits of doom actually tasted pretty good. I was afraid they would be like hard tack, but instead they were chewy and delicious. The kids even want them for breakfast tomorrow.

So I hope y'all had a tasty and fun Thanksgiving, I know we did flat biscuits and all.

Thanksgiving

clean, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

I hope those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving today had a happy and bounteous one, I know we did.

I am thankful for many things today- a loving family, good friends,  and plenty of delicious food to share. Right know I'm most of all thankful for our dishwasher. I'm on load 4 or 5, I lost count between dinner and dessert.

And yes that is the good silver in the washer. We only use it a couple a times of year and when we do it's a boat load. Far too much to do by hand. Life is too short to be shackled to the sink.

Happy Endings

Happy Endings
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

Dessert is serious business around here on Thanksgiving. We have the all but obligatory pumpkin pie (Max has been bugging me about this since Halloween), the tarte tatin ( aka the apple tarty thingy) that is much beloved by the adults, and the ever popular chocolate course courtesy of Meryl.

The chocolate course came about because Meryl wanted to bring something for Thanksgiving the first time she came over a few years ago. I had the meal well in hand and anything else other than chocolate would be akin to bringing coals to Newcastle. It was a huge hit and is now a permanent part of our Thanksgiving.

This year she went one better by bringing the centerpiece in the photo. It's a melted snowman made of fudge surrounded by a ring of maple sugar candy (melted snow) and an outer ring of chocolate sponge (mud). It's great fun and we are slowly chipping away at it.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for my family and that we are all healthy and together. Oh and my dishwasher, I'm very, very thankful for my dishwasher.

Today's menu is as follows:

Turkey
Stuffing with and without Sausage
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Tzimmes
Haricot Vert
Clover Leaf Rolls

A Chocolate Course

Pumpkin Pie
Tarte Tatin

Served with a choice of cider, soda, and Les Heretiques red table wine

I hope you all have a happy and very tasty Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey in the oven... check
bread dough rising... check
pumpkin pie in the fridge... check
cranberry sauce doing its thing in the fridge... check

Count down to turkey time, all systems go... check

Have a healthy and happy thanksgiving!

Want Some Pie?

thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

If you do, you'd better hurry because it's going fast.

Like last year I made a tart and a pie for Thanksgiving which we happily consumed along with Meryl's delicious chocolate course. You can actually see the chocolate sponge nestled in its box at the top of the picture.

The tart is mostly gone now and the kids have made serious inroads on the pumpkin pie. Once they are all gone I have to satisfy myself with the few remaining truffles we have.

At least I have my stuffing.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

We would all like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.

And for those that want to know, here is today's menu:

Turkey and Gravy

Stuffing (with and without sausage)

Acorn Squash

Party Potatoes (With and Without Garlic)

Green Beans

and

Dinner Rolls

Chocolate Course courtesy of Aunt Meryl

For dessert (all homemade!) we have a choice of

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Tarte Tatin

Beverages are an assortment of beers, wine, cider and what have you.