Archives for November 2006
Bits and pieces: black friday
I may start the stock today for my Turkey Carcass Soup (look for the recipe this weekend). But I may not. I’m going to my pilates class and I plan on playing some Nintendo wii and we’ll watch a movie on DVD tonight. But really I’m not doing much. That’s the great thing about thanksgiving, lots of leftovers to eat and some quality time being lazy around the house.
Black Friday is something I don’t do. I did some of my shopping online yesterday and those gifts I have yet to purchase will also be purchased online.
There is only one negative…we are out of pie!
This photo is of a pillar in the interior courtyard at The Cloisters in NYC
Happy Thanksgiving
Whew! That actually went well. Pie for breakfast was good, good, good. Sure the crust was weird but no one cared. With homemade whipped cream it was all you could ask for.
We ate our feast at about 2:30. Preparation was pretty easy and my genius husband did fabulous duty as general clean-up dude and cheerleader. I made the dinner rolls while I pulled shots for our morning red-eyes and they baked up light and tasty right before I served the meal.
The turkey (which is actually 1/2 a turkey) cooked up in 2.5 hours. I used a roasting bag and considering I have 5 burns on my right hand I’m glad I did…I’m sure I could have doubled the number of burns had I used the v-rack and then flipped it. It was a very tasty bird and the best I’ve ever ate with a good, strong turkey flavor and plenty of dark meat (which is what we fight over). The gravy instructions blew goats because I followed it exactly and the gravy was way too thin so I had to make another roux and combine it into the original. The gravy had an excellent flavor. Because I used the roasting bag I had lots of good juices for the gravy. The stuffing is always easy to make and was delicious. Not too rich, not too much. I flavored it with red pepper flakes, sage, and thyme. The mashed potatoes were garlicy and good, although because the potatoes were purple, yellow and white the end product was mostly gray. Cranberry relish was perfect. No veg because the men said they didn’t want one and I didn’t care.
It is time for pecan pie. I think it might be best with a scoop of ice cream topped with a spoonful of cranberry relish.
Happy Thanksgiving to all the farmers and producers who made our local thanksgiving feast possible. Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers. I’m having fun and I hope you are too.
Thanksgiving prep
I haven’t cooked Thanksgiving dinner in years. I also never make regular pies, usually galettes are my thing. But I dove in today and made the classic Libby pumpkin pie, the pecan pie and cranberry relish from Simply Recipes, and I prepared the polenta for the stuffing. I also trimmed the crust from a Madison Sourdough Co. artisan loaf and cubed it up and I have it sitting on a rack to dry out overnight.
Tomorrow will be chopping and roasting and I think I can handle that. The good thing about having the pies done today is that the pumpkin pie can chill overnight and be perfect for Thanksgiving day breakfast!!! I can’t wait.
Here’s what went wrong: The relish is very tasty…somewhat alarming to make, but actually fun and easy too. However it looks nothing like Elise’s, perhaps the KitchenAid food grinder was too much power, or maybe I should have used the larger blade. The pumpkin pie got tipped when I tried to put it in the oven. I have these silicone pot holders and I lost my grip and spilled pumpkin pie filling all over the door of my oven. I guess I’ll have to run the self-clean on Saturday. There is also a crater in the pumpkin pie about the size of a tennis ball…I have no idea why but the boys are calling it a love crater. The pecan pie…well I didn’t roll the crust out, I just smooshed it into the pie plate as evenly as I could. Obviously I’m not going to win any awards for presentation tomorrow, but it is my hope that if the ingredients are good, the product will be good, despite how it make look. Maybe I can garnish it and create some anticipation…heh, heh, heh.
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