Thanksgiving 2017!

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
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We always do a Korean-Western hybrid for Thanksgiving. The traditional dishes are present (turkey, mashed potatoes, although we do love mashed turnip/rutabaga as well), stuffiing, gravy, brussels alongside Korean banchan and rice. This year, there are 6 adults and 3 kids 3 years old and under. We have an added challenge this year - we’re heading to my bro’s in Mamaroneck tomorrow morning and they just renovated their kitchen but the gas is yet to be connected. So, no stove/oven, but they have a grill, toaster oven, and 2 microwaves. Once I heard 2 microwaves, I immediately thought this (especially since I seem to be a lapsed pescatarian this year).

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But, my bro decided to order pretty much everything from Whole Foods. I just made 2 HUGE batches of Smitten Kitchen’s Union Sq nuts (which I jack up with more butter, a tad more sugar and rosemary). SK’s Parker House rolls are next up (rising as we speak). I’m going to do all the prep for Melissa Clark’s raw Tuscan kale salad tonight and dress it tomorrow. I’m also bringing fresh Korean noodles for bibim naegmyun for lunch one day (they really only need to soak in boiling water for a few minutes), bagels, a dark chocolate and pecan pie from Four and 20 Blackbirds bakery in Brooklyn (available at my local Whole Foods outside Boston). Mom is bringing a bunch of homemade banchan (and knowing her, a lot more than that).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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Wasn’t planning on cooking anything special. Then yesterday morning my elderly folks said a couple, friends of theirs, was coming over for T day. So I went shopping. Then Epic Adventure. Fire Sprinklers went off in store. Had to go shopping at three other places.

So I am making a traditional family dinner. My mother is English/Welsh so stuffing has to be sausage based. Jones Park bulk breakfast sausage, ground beef, both browned. Tons of onions, shallots, some garlic and celery, cooked in bacon fat until translucent. Plus some apples, fine diced Honey Crisps, raw. Mixed with corn bread stuffing mix, moistened with turkey stock, lots of Penzeys poultry seasoning and fresh black pepper, with a few raw eggs to bind it. Not cooked in the bird. Stopped that many moons ago.

12 lb. fresh turkey bought on sale. Spatch cocked, wing tips, wingettes, backbone, Popes Nose, and all excess fat removed. Bird rubbed down with kosher salt and put in fridge to dry and brine overnight. Roasted pieces at 350 F in convection for a little over an hour, turning every now and then, until deep brown. Popes Nose gobbled down as chefs treat. Put pieces in a stock pot with celery, onions, shallots, carrots, and tons of water. Simmered for eight hours and strained. Will chill overnight and remove excess fat. Then reduce to make gravy.

Spatch cocked bird will cook tomorrow in around an hour or a bit more.

Sides will be: Sausage stuffing, Brussel sprouts in home made butter, Roasted rutabagas, super crispy oven roasted Yukon Gold potatoes, and home made Cranberry / Honey Crisp sauce with a little bit of home made Asian five spice and sugar.

That’s it, plus a pie of some type for desert. Not pumpkin. Hate 'em. Sweet potato are good, but like apple best in fall.

Did majority of prep work this morning. Easy finish tomorrow.

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Edited to add: I found about 3-4 lbs of cremini mushrooms in the fridge that I had totally forgotten about. I’m going to make SK’s mushroom bourgignon for dinner tonight. There’s no way it’ll all get eaten tonight between me and B. Anyone know if this wondrous stuff freezes well? It would be nice to have something tasty to pull out of the freezer on Monday once we’re back (without having to go to the grocery store).

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Well we’re crazy busy this time of the year so we accepted an invite for Thanksgiving dinner. & tonight we have a ‘Friendsgiving’ dinner to go to. Asked both what we could bring & they both wanted us to bring Kielbasa & Sauerkraut. We make our own kraut & it’s really really good & we get an excellent garlic kielbasa from a Polish butcher up the road a bit. So - simple. I made a chocolate cheesecake to take along tonight & I’m sure Ill make some dessert for tomorrow.

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That recipe is wonderful! I usually add more carrots and thyme, and instead of salt i use soy sauce to season because soy sauce and mushrooms are maybe the best combo ever.
It does freeze fine, but if you’re planning to have the rest monday it’s probably better to keep in the fridge- there is some textual difference once defrosted. I’ve served this with some white beans and pasta which makes for a more hearty meal.
Link for any mushroom lovers out there (use whatever mushrooms you like or have)

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Oh no! I hope you kick the cold quickly! Indian sounds like a great plan for tomorrow then you can cook and enjoy everything when you’re feeling better. One of my favorite thanksgiving meals was the year we went out for chinese food! I just made myself the few Tday dishes i was craving later that weekend.

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Yes - I suppose it’s not a true gratin because there’s no cheese or breadcrumb topping, but it is layered in a casserole dish, so close enough! I took inspiration from a recipe I found online and winged the rest - I blended red curry paste, fish sauce, lime juice, coconut milk and a little cornstarch (just to keep the coconut milk from breaking in the oven) and then stirred in sauteed garlic, ginger, shallots and red lantern chiles. Poured it all over the squash and stuck it in the fridge - I’ll bake it tomorrow and report back!

We had a little change of plan today - one of my guests got called in to work tomorrow until 2, so instead of eating at 1ish, we’ll be eating at 4ish. Since I have a couple of extra hours in the morning, I’ll bake my pies early tomorrow instead of late tonight, and I’ve put off a couple of other prep tasks as well. However, the squash is ready to go, stock is made, stuffing is fully prepped, rolls are rising overnight, cranberry sauce is done, etc. Tomorrow should be fairly stress free!

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I’ve been thinking about a Hot Brown using the Beyond Meat chicken strips (browned in a skillet) and the SE vegan bacon using King Trumpet Mushrooms - not sure on veganizing the Mornay sauce, but should be doable?

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Thanks for the “no-freeze” tip. I was mad worried that the mushrooms would get a bit weird after freezing. I’ll keep it in the fridge instead.

PS I always add a bunch of chickpeas to mine - they stand up we’ll to the simmering and reheating.

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Yes please let me know how the gratin worked, that sounds so good- and it’s a looonnngg winter of squash as the best looking veg at the market!

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I think my field roast will go to the freezer a while, let me know if you make the hot brown! My generous friends made this really delicious mushroom/wild rice/nuts entree for the vegetarians in attendance (it was actually vegan) and then insisted i take home some of the leftovers :smile:IMG_1334

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The butternut gratin was FABULOUS, although I overdid the heat for a couple of guests. I winged the quantities but I would guess I had about 2 lbs of squash, sliced thin using the 4mm blade on my food processor. Then I whisked together one can of coconut milk, half a can of red curry paste (Maesri), one tablespoon of fish sauce, the juice of half a lime and one tablespoon of cornstarch. I briefly sautéed a minced shallot, an inch of fresh ginger and 4 cloves of garlic and added that to the sauce, which at that point wasn’t very spicy at all, so I added a minced paper lantern chile for heat. I put it together the night before and let it sit in the fridge, which worked well - great for a make-ahead. It took about 45 mins in a 375 degree oven to get fully tender.

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IME, freezing cooked mushrooms turns them rubbery and leaky.

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There were no leftovers so I picked up this “cook from frozen” 2.75 lb seasoned turkey breast this morning for $7.99 on sale! And sliced white bread of course. It’s in the oven now.

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Thanks! That’s perfect it can be made ahead- i’m a spice wimp so i’ll have to adjust that. I actually have maesri green curry paste in my cupboard- i haven’t tried the red one, is it more spicy?

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No, IMO the green is spicier than the red, but it definitely won’t hurt the recipe to adjust it to your tolerance! You might consider adding some extra coriander/cumin/ginger, etc., if you cut back substantially on the amount of paste to reduce the heat level, though.

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I agree green is spiciest. And best of all the flavors in my opinion.

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Oh geeeez!! I’ve been buying the green because i thought it was less spicy!
I’ll swap to the red once this tin is done. Good call on upping the ginger etc

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You may want to buy some of the small tins to try because they have a dozen types. I have all of them in my pantry, and somewhere notes on them, but can’t find them.

http://www.maesribrand.com/114g.html

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I made this NYT wild rice and mushroom casserole as my contribution to a 22 person feast and it was very good. It is vegetarian (provided you use veggie broth), can easily be made vegan, dairy-free and/or gluten-free and looks nice on the table. It is always hard for me to judge just how good something is when I have about 2 tablespoons of it along with a dozen other things but quite a lot of it got eaten at dinner and a cousin consumed the rest for breakfast so I judge it a success. I cut down the beans to only 3 cans, added some chopped carrots for color, and omitted the cilantro but otherwise made it as written. I would double or triple the mushrooms next time, probably double the spinach, and use about 50% more wild rice than called for but make no other changes (unless needing to make it vegan, d-f or g-f). One drawback it that it is pretty time-consuming. But it’s a very nice recipe to have for its adaptability for special diets.

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