What's For Dinner #75 - the " Thanks and Giving Season" Edition - November 2021

Scaled down Thanksgiving for just our nuclear family of 4. Herb roasted turkey breast, herbed stuffed with sausage and apples, whipped sweet potatoes (nicely spiked with cayenne), mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans with shallots, cranberry orange relish, and apple pie. Though we opted not to travel to spend the holiday with my parents and sister, we had a lovely, low key holiday. I thoroughly enjoyed preparing the meal with my kids. So much to be thankful for.



18 Likes

That’s a beautiful pie! :heart_eyes:

1 Like

We joined friends for Thanksgiving. I made pumpkin pie with homemade crust, served with whipped cream and vanilla bean and apple butter ice creams. To the main meal we contributed corn pudding, big green winter salad with lots of fruit and nuts, and cranberry-orange-apple sauce.


Brown butter Old Fashioned

21 Likes

Beautiful! The bowl and silver is gorgeous too.

Brown butter Old Fashion. Tell us more?

A quiet day. Turkey breast is prepped for my personal Thanksgiving tomorrow. We’ll see if I make an apple galette of sorts tomorrow morning. Otherwise, there’s ice cream.

Tonight was an easy-peasy dinner…my updated take on a 1971 General Mills recipe card from an old neon green recipe card box for Hamburger Stroganoff. The box is long gone. This recipe is one of probably 4-5 that remain.

Served over mini lasagna egg noodles with peas, paprika, and parsley on top.

Wine.

16 Likes

Let’s face it: leftover mashed potatoes suck. No matter how you try to reheat them, they are just not the same. So make potato croquettes instead. I added a couple of egg yolks, garlic and onion powders, Pecorino Romano, and a shredded Italian four cheese blend. Now these are delicious!

And then of course…

The last of the pie. Even Lawrence wanted some.

No booze tonight. I think I’m still recovering from Wednesday night!

21 Likes

Orecchiette with shrimp, salami, fennel, fennel seeds, garlic, lemon zest, smoked paprika and white wine.

17 Likes

Thanks! Ikea and Lenox Tin Can Alley :laughing:

1 Like

My friend browned a stick of butter, poured it into a jar with a bottle of bourbon, and put it in the fridge for a few weeks. Then he poured it through a coffee filter to remove the fats and browned solids. This process is called fatwashing, FYI.

6 Likes

Those look phenomenal! And Lawrence is adorable!

4 Likes

I made Kare Pan again (curry stuffed bread dough that’s deep fried). This is what they look like on the inside. :slight_smile:

(I posted a recipe earlier but there wasn’t a nice ‘inside’ shot.)

15 Likes

My personal Thanksgiving was today. Had a Scooby Snack for an early lunch of Monterey Jack with Stoned Wheat crackers, manchego and membrillo, prosciutto, grapes, and cashews.

Made the cran-orange relish and apple galette before the turkey breast was brought up from the downstairs fridge to go into the oven.

Sides were sour cream mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, and roasted Brussels sprouts and maple butternut squash with toasted pecans and dried cranberries.

A 2017 Paul Hobbs chardonnay as the libation.

I think Mom would have enjoyed this meal (sans the wine, as she never was a fan).

21 Likes

We enjoyed another excellent dinner at Drew’s in Keyport, NJ. Below is a link to details and pictures for those that might be interested.

3 Likes

The rest of our holiday meals, starting from Thurs. night at my sister’s. We had a snacky brunch (TJs horseradish & chive ruffled chips, TJs truffle dip, delice de bourgogne, goose pate, tataki, truffle butter, baguette, and mandarins), and then takeout Sichuan for dinner - ginger/scallion roasted Dungeness crab, dan dan noodles, 1000 chili fish filet in chicken broth, and blistered green beans. Outstanding, all of it. We made amaretto sours to go with - not super sweet ones.

Friday morning i picked up some pastries from a French bakery, and there was more snacking, and then I made Clams Casino and oysters on the halshell, with my sister’s sherry vinegar mignonette. Bubbly with. Clams were actually a bit too bacony, even for me. Just a bit, i wanted a little more claminess to shine through - but still, this dish is a knock-out. i followed a Serious Eats recipe, halved.

Saturday lunch was The Kitchn latkes fried in duck fat with creme fraiche and ikura, second batch added the smoked trout we forgot in the first! More bubbles. Super yum, we ate two giant Idaho potatoes worth, just the two of us.

Late dinner that night was a block of pate de foie gras that i’d meticulously quadruple-wrapped over 2 years ago and froze - defrosted beautifully. Cut it in half and seared one half - which gave us a lovely sauce but of course reduced the pate really quickly. so the second half we ate cold. Both delicious, with a boysenberry gastrique i made, and pom arils. To drink, a beautiful Semillon.

Thxgiving snacks

China Village crab, green beans, tan tan noodles

Le Marais pastries

Noble Semillon - Viu Manent

now to prep dust salads and water for the week… and to catch up with all your kitchen doings! hope everyone had a great holiday…

24 Likes

These meals are worth 2 likes.

7 Likes

hah, i don’t know how i posted it twice. Deleted one now. Thanks!

omg on those croquettes!!

and kitty - such a handsome boy!

3 Likes

that pie crust is stunning!

Today we brought dinner to our friends whose little one was sick all holiday - chicken pot pie, cucumber salad in red wine vinaigrette, locally made apple butter ice cream, and a bottle of French Sauvignon Blanc.

Then for our dinner I made pork coppa steaks (marinated with garlic, olive oil, crushed fennel, rosemary, and red pepper flakes and fresh sage, then seared in butter). I fried CSA potatoes and pear wedges in the drippings. Plus some buttered peas with dried mint on the side. Really tasty - I saved some of my steak for tomorrow.

22 Likes