I came across some interesting recipes the past couple of days watching tv and browsing the internet and thought it would be a good time to do some recipe testing for Thanksgiving and at the same time feed my family dinner.
I just learned of a squash called Kabocha. It's supposedly has a starchy texture like potatoes. I came across this recipe for mashed Kabocha and thought, hmm, may be fun to make something other than my normal mashed potatoes or at least incorporate Kabocha into a mashed potato recipe to add color and a little bit different flavor. I bought 2 and prepared and mashed them according to the directions. I then added minced and sauteed garlic, butter, salt and cream. I didn't add any cheese this time.
As a garnish, I saw the White House chef on The Nate Show the other day making Caramelized pepitas which were calling my name but I used Arizona Dreaming spice mix from Penzey's Spices that my friend Kristin got me instead of the espellete powder, which is like cayenne pepper.
Pleasantly surprised I found the texture to actually be like potatoes and it's my new favorite squash for many uses. The biggest issue is peeling the darn thing. Next time, instead of preparing it by peeling and dicing it to steam, I would cut it in half, take out the seeds and bake it in a dish face down at 350 degrees for about 45 min-hour, then simply scoop it out and mash it. My blister on my finger would agree.
This year Thanksgiving was at my house with my own little family of 4. I had my daughter make the cranberry sauce and I made everything else; a first. I want to share what I made so I can make it again next year for maybe more people because it was delicious and it wasn’t all done out of recipes and if it was, many were modified. Typically, my mother and I have a tradition where we make Thanksgiving using recipes from the newest Bon Appetit magazine. This year, I went through all of my old issues, which I save (and are now online as well on epicurious.com ) as well as other resources that popped up.
The Turkey
As my mother does it on the barbeque, I do as well because it delivers a moist and flavorful turkey. (I always make sure I have a gas grill big enough for a turkey when covered.) I prepared the turkey by putting it in an aluminum roaster on a roasting rack. I squeezed navel oranges on it and brushed it with melted butter. I sprinkled salt, marjoram, and tarragon on it. And then I poured about a cup of chicken broth in the bottom of the roaster and covered it tightly with aluminum foil. I grilled it on low under the turkey and med-low on the side burners for 2 hours, uncovered it, brushed it with more butter and grilled it for almost 2 more hours. This was a 14 lb. bird. It was fall of the bone tender and juicy. (I modified a recipe from Sarah Moulton)
The Necessary Kitchen Tool (used for carving the turkey)
Turkey Broth
I followed a recipe from Sarah MoultonThen I was able to cut the giblets, heart and neck meat for the gravy and save the broth for cooking another meal.
Gravy
A wing and a prayer basic gravy with pan drippings, flour and wisking wildly and then I added a little sage and vermouth. And reduced it.
The Cranberry Sauce
The kids LOVE cranberry sauce. They eat it for 3 meals a day after Thanksgiving so we made plenty this year. My daughter made it according to the recipe on the bag x 3 because we got 3 bags but added chopped up orange pieces and “lots of cinnamon”. She cooked the cranberries just long enough so many were still whole. Perfect!
Mashed Potatoes with Celery Root
Nothing is exact in my world. So I can’t tell you exactly how many potatoes but I used about 9 medium size Yukon Gold potatoes that I half peeled and cut up in half, celery root, cleaned and cut up in pieces. Boil in salted water until tender. Drain water. Mash and add ½ stick butter, 1 Tbs minced garlic, about a cup of Half-Half and pepper and salt to taste. If you want it softer, add regular milk to your liking as you mash more. (my recipe)
I’m not a sausage lover and I don’t know why all stuffing either has sausage in it or is made of cornbread. So I made this stuffing to my liking. And my liking includes bacon!
Considering the fact that I had to do all of my shopping like a week in advance for the most part and I was doing the cooking myself, I did have to take shortcuts. This stuffing had one of the shortcuts. Next year, it may not. I used boxed bread cubes.
The modifications. I used a package of bacon and cooked it crispy and broke it in pieces and added it to the recipe when sautéing the vegetables. I also used some of the bacon grease as a substitute for some of the olive oil for sautéing for flavor.I added a package or 5 oz of steamed chestnuts that I got at Trader Joes. I cut them up in pieces. And one box of bread cubes. Otherwise I followed the recipe as it states.
Green Beans with Pepitas (pumpkin seeds).
I can’t remember where I saw something similar, maybe it was on a Thanksgiving Challenge tv show or something but I thought this idea was a good one. I sautéed in olive oil, the green beans and pepitas on med-high and covered them on low for a couple of min. until the green beans softened a bit. I like when I get a little burned-ness on the green beans. I seasoned them with salt and onion powder. Easy.
Dessert
We ended up going to the neighbors to share desserts. I brought a Pumpkin Tiramisu and Rocky Road Fudge. Here are the recipes.
Rocky Road Fudge (no picture, sorry. It got eaten way too fast)
I made this fudge with 1 ¾ packages of semi-sweet chocolate morsels and 1 tsp cinnamon, ¾ c chopped pecans, 1 c mini marshmallows, 1 can condensed milk. Since it’s not Christmas, I put it in a square baking pan and cut it into small cubes.
I follow this recipe always and modify the ingredients to my liking.
I followed this recipe to the letter. I will definitely make this every year or even everytime I want to make a tiramisu. I think the hardest part about this recipe is trying to find Amaretti cookies.World Market is your best bet besides an Italian market. Loved this.
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