[Sca-cooks] Thanksgiving menu
Lilinah
lilinah at earthlink.net
Sun Nov 25 16:24:06 PST 2007
Ch-ch-ch-changes... Yeah, my Thanksgiving plans changed a bit too.
Blame it on the 4 lb turkey roast that wouldn't thaw.
I've heard of progressive dinner parties - these have nothing to do
with politics, rather the diners go to a different house for each
course. Well, i kinda had a progressive Thanksgiving dinner - but
only at my own house.
I did make everything i mentioned in a previous message to the list,
but from Thursday through Sunday, rather than all on Thursday.
On Monday the butcher suggested putting the little 4-lb turkey roast
in the freezer for about an hour so it would still be good on
Thursday. I put it in the freezer, but i have an Arabic Reading and
Conversation class on Monday nights and i forgot to take it out and
put it in the fridge until Tuesday morning (i've got an Introductory
Arabic language class on Tuesday nights).
On the first day of Thanksgiving:
The little turkey roast was still fairly frozen. So i delayed it
until Friday and made:
-- mixed wild mushrooms sauteed with shallots in butter
-- a stewed quince
Oh, muh gawd! the quince was absolutely fabulous. It was a very
large, nearly perfect, lovely yellow, amazingly fragrant quince. I
cooked in in water with sugar and a little lemon juice to prevent
oxidizing. When it was done i add a small splash of orange flower
water. It was soooo good.
Of course the mushrooms were good too. I'm not quite sure what
varieties were in the box, at least 4 different kinds, none of them
standard button mushrooms.
On the second day of Thanksgiving:
That tiny turkey roast was still pretty frosty. So i delayed it until
Saturday and made:
-- a pan of baked stuffing of mixed bread cubes and chestnuts with
butter and organic chicken broth;
-- Huette's infamous pecan pie;
and i ate them with more of the quince
That pie is a winner. My pie pan was only 9", so i made 3/4 of the
recipe Huette generously posted to the list. I love pecans and i cut
a slice when it wasn't fully cooled - the filling was pretty runny.
But after it cooled completely it set up beautifully. BTW, i cheated
and used a frozen organic whole wheat crust that was excellent (they
aren't always - sometimes the whole wheat is too dominant).
On the third day of Thanksgiving:
That tiny turkey roast was still pretty frosty. So i delayed it until
Sunday and made:
-- chicken soup (to finish off the box of organic broth) with orzo
and egg-lemon sauce (basically avgolemono - but eaten by 15th and
16th C. Ottoman Turks in Istanbul)
And i ate it with
-- more chestnut stuffing
-- more pecan pie
On the fourth day of Thanksgiving:
That tiny turkey roast was still frosty. But i'd had it. No more
waiting! I was going to cook it! So i made:
-- a 4-lb mixed light and dark meat turkey roast;
-- turkey gravy;
-- a baked sweet potato (the kind that's bright orange inside);
-- homemade cranberry sauce
The directions on the wrapping of the 4-lb turkey roast said to cook
25 min/lb @ 325 F, i.e., 100 minutes/1 hour & 40 min for 4 lb. I
rubbed the roast with salt, pepper, smoked Spanish paprika, and a
little olive oil, and put it in the oven. After the requisite 100
min., i stabbed it with the meat thermometer - it was barely
registering. Back into the oven. I tried again several times, waiting
about 20 minutes between times - it was finally done after a total of
2 hours and 40 minutes. I had put some organic chicken broth and a
little butter into the pan, and turned the roast every 30 min. or so,
so it stayed moist.
When had i opened the turkey package, a lot of liquid ran out into
the pan - i figured either blood or albumen for gravy, so i left it.
It somewhat solidified in the baking, so i put it, plus the pan
juices (a mix of chicken broth, butter, and more turkey liquid) into
the blender and gave it a good whirl. It made a rich thick gravy with
no need for flour. The turkey didn't taste much of the paprika, but i
could taste it in the gravy where it added an interesting smokey
fruity flavor.
The cranberry sauce was a box of organic cranberries cooked in water
with granulated cane sugar and an organic mandarin orange - i
separated the segments and dropped them in and broke the peel into a
few large pieces and dropped it in. When it looked done i tasted
it... ugh... it tasted like St. Joseph's Baby Aspirin (if anyone else
here remembers them from their childhood - not a pleasant taste for
food) and it was not quite sweet enough, even for me. So i fished out
all the peel, added a little more sugar (this time dark brown cane
sugar) and simmered it until it was thick. When i took it off the
fire, i added a splash of rose water. When it cooled it set up a bit,
which was nice, and it tasted great - the rose water added a nice
additional note.
The sweet-pickled crab apples (which i'd made on Thursday) didn't
quite work out - that was because i had only 3 apples and even though
i used my smallest pan, they really needed to be cooked in a smaller
pan. They taste ok, just not what i was trying to make. I may make
more sugar-vinegar syrup and just pour it over them and let them sit
a day or two and see how they are then...
All in all, quite a good meal, but it would have been nicer if i
could have eaten it all on the same day :-)
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
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