Thanksgiving 2010!How much do I love Thanksgiving? Oh, so much. It's an entire day dedicated to creating, smelling, tasting, talking, drinking, grazing, laughing, nibbling, lounging...my favorite things. We had a great Thanksgiving in urban and/or European style - we were squeezed around a table that took up a majority of the room. It was great. We feasted with a premium crew - Dan Stoneking (a classmate of Jake's), Will Princewill (classmate of Jake's), his wife Alissa (who I am heavily obsessed with) and their little angel Parker.
The meal turned out pretty good. Cooking for 6 people means I can be a little more creative with the menu while still letting the good stuff shine. Here's what I made this year:
Organic Turkey (which was amazing btw) - basic roasting with butter & herbs
Ciabatta stuffing with sausage & pine nuts
Chive & horseradish mashed potatoes
Honey nut roasted butternut squash
Green beans with bacon & almonds
Cranberry sauce
Sage & garlic bread
Apple pie & pumpkin cheesecake tarts for dessert
I was 80% happy with how the meal turned out. The stuffing was way too mushy - I don't think I'll use homemade stock again. I think I added too much because right out of the fridge, the stock is thick. I had to make the sage & garlic bread twice because the first one didn't rise. Still a bread novice. And obviously the gravy was lumpy. Honestly, how many Thanksgivings does one have to prepare for the Thanksgiving gods to bestow the honor of unlumpy gravy? I feel like I'm putting my time in for some cosmic luck in the future. [yeah, I'm still a Christian - this theory stands!].
On the positive side, the turkey was amazing. It was so flavorful. I wanted to keep the turkey really simple so I could taste the difference between last year's conventionally raised turkey & this year's organic bird. I would say, totally worth it. I attempted my first pie crust this year & it was awesome. I used a vodka crust recipe that replaces half the water in the dough with vodka - supposedly that's the trick. Personally, I believe vodka is 'the trick' in most of life's circumstances, so I was happy to incorporate it into my first homemade pie. Oh, and apparently 14 apples is too many for one pie. Noted. Apples anyone? Oops!
One final thought - for those of you who have tasted Alissa Hallet McSharry's ginger crinkle cookies (or whatever she calls them, I call them Crack Cookies for obvious reasons) - I used this dough as the crust for muffin-sized pumpkin cheesecake tarts. Why do it when you can over-do it? Topped with whipped cream...holy sh*. That is a do-again recipe. Like, again every day for the rest of my life please.
Happy Black Friday! Below are a few pictures from our holiday - notice that Dan didn't last long!
2 comments:
You amaze and alsotoothough terrify me with your ability to do it all. That meal looked out of this world. This made me relive "chosen family" Thanksgiving last year, which stands as my favorite Thanksgiving ever.
the food was not as good as last year. fact. last year was truly special. stingers & all.
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