My own pine nuts story: A good friend and I have a deal (during normal years), where she hosts Thanksgiving and I do the cooking. On the Tuesday before, I nibbled on some pine nuts I got for the stuffing.
My taste buds were shot. I had to cook everything–turkey, stuffing (without the pine nuts!), gravy, mashed potatoes, sauteed chanterelles–without being able to even taste whether the seasonings were right, not even the salt. I enlisted the other guests to do the tasting for me, and it came out ok, for everyone else who could still taste. It took about a month to completely clear.
Home after a LONG day at work (we work together, same shift today). BF is currently making his stuffing for our Thanksgiving tomorrow and then we’re making a quick stir fry tonight. There are cocktails.
Beautiful day here too. A martini for the cook while preparing a very traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I made Ina’s herb roasted turkey breast in the grill with a little alder smoke. Dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and gravy. Salad of mixed greens, celery, green onion, red anjou pear, gorgonzola, pistachios with a pomegranate molasses, balsamic, oo, dressing. Wine. Dessert was pumpkin ice cream with bourbon maple syrup and pistachios.
I forgot to take a beauty shot of the breast before I carved it. I have too many leftovers and no room in the freezer. I going to have to start eating leftovers to make room for the leftovers.
Mrs. P made crispy deep fried soft shell crabs and a sweet potato casserole with fried sage, pecans, and marshmallows. We added crumbled gingersnaps (not pictured) from World Market for a little crunch and more flavor. It all went great with our favorite red blend.
Our Thanksgiving dinner was a spatchcoked turkey ala Serious Eats. I’ve done this type of turkey on the charcoal Weber many times, but last year it wasn’t very successful. I blamed it on the cold day. It just wouldnt get done, had to pull it & finish in the oven. Probably the worst turkey I"ve ever done, almost tasteless… This year I decided to just do it in the oven. Bird was a fresh 12 lb from Foster Farms. Dry brined over night. Roasted at 450, took slightly less than an hour! Very juicy & flavorful! We are not big fans of white meat, but this is the exception, delish! Mashed Yukon Golds, steamed buttered green beans, homemade cranberry & great gravy completed the meal with pumpkin cheescake for dessert…
Since we celebrated a traditional Thanksgiving with family last weekend (see post #212 in the Thanksgiving 2022 thread fro details) we decided to go untraditional yesterday. I came across a recipe for turkey pho using the carcass. We love pho but I never tried to make and since I had the time figured this would be a great time to try. I had to rely on the whatever I had in the house as I didn’t want to be anywhere near a grocery store on Wednesday. Luckily I had just about everything called for. I even had some extra pan drippings that I thew into the pot. The end result was very tasty and there was plenty of broth to freeze for another time.
Not too difficult. Wednesday afternoon I put together the turkey breast porchetta and put it, loosely wrapped per the recipe instructions, in the fridge. Then yesterday I made the broccoli rabe (sauteed in olive oil with red pepper flakes and garlic until tender and then hit with a little lemon juice at the end), warmed the sandwich rolls (from local bakery institution, Iggy’s) and assembled the sandwiches. We have enough leftovers to repeat the sandwiches today for lunch!
Aldi 4 gem lettuce (all four heads), cuke, radish, avocado, campari tomatoes, blue cheese, sautéed shrooms with roasted hazelnut vinaigrette . Side of crispy crunchy spicy chicken fingers.
Appetizers: fried asparagus and garlic shrimp. Fun fact: while “Asparagus Fries” are relatively new and popular, we’ve been doing them in my family for decades. They were meant as a side every year, but they never seemed to make it to the table with the main course.
After all the cooking and cleaning last night for Thanksgiving, I mailed it in tonight. Hamburgers (on the George Foreman Grill) mac and cheese and green beans. I served dinner on paper plates, as well.
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