Here's what you've been waiting for: our Thanksgiving dinner. Like most families, our dinner has evolved over the years. Some things will always be exactly the same, like the green bean casserole (that Mom loves) and the pumpkin pie (everyone but me loves it). And I have no qualms about using some shortcuts, after all, this is a multi-dish meal and there's no reason to make it more complicated than it has to be. Now, maybe there will come a day when I will bake my own cornbread and bread for the stuffings, and maybe I will be inspired to become that excellent gravy chef that I've always admired. Or I will make my own cranberry sauce from scratch. But that day certainly isn't here yet.
So here is the step-by-step way the meal evolved for us.
Menu:
Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Cornbread & Sausage dressing
Green Bean Casserole
Parker House Rolls
Cranberry Sauce & Relish
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Wednesday: I made my final trip to Wegman's to get the last fresh ingredients for the dinner. Here is my shopping list:
1 fresh organic free-range turkey, 15 lb
1 orange
2 lemons
sage
thyme
rosemary
carrots
Pepperidge Farm Cornbread Stuffing
Pepperidge Farm Country Style Stuffing
Celery
2 10 oz containers of baby bella mushrooms
1/2 lb Italian sausage
Pecans
Butter
5 baking potatoes (there were 5 of us for dinner)
French style green beans, low sodium
Durkee's french fried onions
Campbell's mushroom soup
Williams-Sonoma Turkey Gravy Base
Williams-Sonoma Cranberry Relish
Oceanspray Jellied Cranberry Sauce
Libby's pumpkin puree
Carnation evaporated milk
Bittersweet Chocolate
Whipping Cream
Oh, and I went to Trader Joe's to buy some frozen croissants (chocolate, almond and plain) to serve mid-morning to stave off hunger until we ate at 3pm.
Here's the timeline:
Monday: brine the turkey (recipe follows)
Wednesday afternoon: make dressings (recipes follow), bake covered for 30 minutes, cool, and then refrigerate.
Wednesday evening: make pie crusts (recipe follows). Refrigerate.
Wednesday bedtime: put croissants on pans in the oven (with it off, just to control the temperature a little bit) overnight.
Thursday morning, first thing: make and bake the two pies.
9:00am Preheat lower oven to 350 F. degrees for croissants
9:30am Bake croissants
10:00am Remove turkey from brine and dry off. It should sit at room temperature for 1 hour
10:30am Preheat lower oven to 450 degrees F.
11:00am Turkey goes into the oven, with the rack on the second lowest level.
11:30am Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
11:45am Mix rolls, set aside to rise
12:45pm Preheat upper oven to 425 degrees F.
1:00pm Put potatoes in upper oven
1:15pm Shape rolls and put in pan. Let rise another hour or so
2:00pm Turkey out
Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F, add second oven rack in lower oven
2:30pm Potatoes out
Decrease temperature to 350 degrees F in upper oven, put green been casserole in
Put dressings in lower oven
2:35pm Put rolls in upper oven
2:40pm Make gravy and mashed potatoes
Okay, now to get down to the recipes, in the order that they were done.
TUESDAY: TURKEY BRINE
To brine or not to brine, that is the question. We've brined for the past few years, primarily as a reaction to sands-of-sahara dry turkey breasts. And brining really does mean that you get juicy, tasty meat, no question about it. The down side is that the skin gets sort of rubbery, and it doesn't want to brown or get crispy. So if you don't really care about the skin, and want super moist turkey, brining is your answer.
I start out by ordering brining bags from Williams-Sonoma. A brine is a solution of sugar, salt, water and some herbs and spices. Here's a simple brine recipe:
3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons Kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 carrot, peeled, diced
1 large onion, peeled, diced (optional)
1/4 cup diced celery
2 large springs of thyme
2 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
Bring salt, sugar, and 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring until salt and sugar are dissolved.
Turn off the heat. Add remaining ingredients to brine base. Refrigerate, uncovered, until cold.
Put brining bag in a large stockpot (larger than the turkey). Combine the brining base with 6 quarts cold water in the brining bag, then submerge the turkey. Be sure that the turkey is completely covered with the brine. Seal the bag, squeezing out as much air as possible. Chill for 24 to 72 hours.
This is enough brine for a 16-pound turkey.
WEDNESDAY: DRESSINGS
We have always used Pepperidge Farms dressing mix, so it tastes familiar, which is what this holiday is all about, right? I mostly follow the instructions on the package.
1 cup roughly chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
10 ounces sliced baby bella mushrooms, chopped to the same size as the celery
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup chopped celery
12 oz. package Cornbread dressing
2 cups Wegman's Chicken Culinary Broth
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter a 3 quart casserole.
Saute the Italian sausage, breaking it up into medium size pieces. Drain on paper towels.
Melt 2 Tablespoons butter in saucepan or dutch oven large enough to comfortable mix dressing. Saute mushrooms until they release their liquid and begin to brown. Place them in a bowl. On the right are the raw mushrooms and on the left, the cooked ones, so you can see how much water cooks off.
Melt the other 5 Tablespoons butter in the same pan, then add the celery and sauté for 2 or 3 minutes.
Add broth, dressing mix, pecans, sausage, and mushrooms and mix lightly.
Turn them into the prepared casserole and bake for 30 minutes.
Allow to cool to room temperature before covering with foil and placing in the refrigerator.
COUNTRY STYLE DRESSING:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
10 ounces sliced baby bella mushrooms
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup chopped celery
12 oz. package Country Style dressing
2 cups Wegman's Chicken Culinary Broth
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter a 3 quart casserole.
Melt 2 Tablespoons butter in saucepan or dutch oven large enough to comfortable mix dressing. Saute mushrooms until they release their liquid and begin to brown. I like to cut them up fairly small, so they're roughly the same size as the celery. Place them in a bowl.
Melt the other 5 Tablespoons butter in the same pan, then add the celery and sauté for 2 or 3 minutes. Add broth, dressing mix, and mushrooms and mix lightly. Turn them into the prepared casserole and bake for 30 minutes.
Allow to cool to room temperature before covering with foil and placing in the refrigerator.
THE CURIOUS AND FRUSTRATING EPISODE OF THE PIE CRUST
You will recall from earlier posts that I have found pie crust to be intimidating. So recently I decided to try the Cook's Illustrated method. They did lots of research (hey, why should I re-invent the wheel?), and came up with the brilliant idea of using half water and half vodka, both very cold, because you're trying to prevent gluten from forming, and the vodka, curiously, retards the formation of gluten, and keeps the butter suspended in the flour. Then the vodka cooks off during baking, leaving you with a light flaky pie crust. I baked an apple pie with the recipe and the local audience (Mom and Steve) were huge fans. So my plan was to replicate that crust, dividing it between Steve's pumpkin pie and my pecan-walnut tart. Ah, the best laid plans...
So the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, Steve got out his camera and started photographing. I had misplaced the recipe I had downloaded with my notes on it, so just cavalierly printed out a new one. When it came time to measure the flour, I found myself in the familiar conundrum: The recipe called for 2 1/2 cups of flour and in parentheses said 12 1/2 ounces. Now you know, and I know, that 2 1/2 cups of AP flour weigh 10 3/4 ounces. Instead of doing some recipe comparisons, I just used my measuring scale and put in 2 1/2 cups or 10 3/4 ounces. You can see where this is going.
So the photos Steve took that night are rather interesting, and I'll show you what it looked like.
As soon as I finished mixing it, I knew there wasn't enough flour in it. Arggh. But I chilled it, and then I rolled it out, adding lots of flour to keep it from sticking and praying that it would be enough to make it taste okay. But clearly, the apple pie that was so wonderful was done using the 12 1/2 ounce measurement, which means that this recipe (without warning) was using the scoop and level method of measurement. So I will make it abundantly clear in my recipe, so you won't have to worry about it.
Oh, and the pecan and chocolate tart never got made because Jenna got food poisoning and the kids missed Thanksgiving dinner. I figured that one pie was plenty for three of us. So that tart will show up with the next post, titled: "A company meal." With a much healthier looking crust.
Here's the fool-proof recipe:
VODKA PIE CRUST
At least 30 minutes before you start, measure and cut up the butter and shortening and put it into the refrigerator. Also measure the water and vodka into a measuring cup and return to the refrigerator until ready to use.
2 1/2 cups scoop and level method (12 1/2 ounces) AP flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks or 6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup (4 ounces) cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water
In a food processor, process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar until combined, about 2 two second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour).
Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around the processor blade. Add remaining cup of flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
Sprinkle vodka-water mixture over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.
Divide dough into two even balls, and flatten each into 4-inch disk.
Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
Now, back to my little experiment in pie crust (the not perfect one). About an hour later, I rolled it out. As mentioned above, it had too little flour, so I put lots of flour on the board, and generously sprinkled it to keep it from sticking.
You can see from this closeup that there are fairly large pieces of butter suspended in the dough, which is what you're aiming for.
While the dough was too short (meaning too much fat for the amount of flour used), it was possible to work some flour into it during the rolling process, so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
Encouraged, it trimmed the overhang and pressed it back on the edge of the crust, because I anticipated that there would be major shrinkage when it baked.
It certainly looked like a pie crust. So I wrapped it in plastic and put it into the freezer overnight.
WEDNESDAY AT BEDTIME: PUT CROISSANTS ON BAKING SHEETS TO PROOF OVERNIGHT
I bought plain, almond, and chocolate croissants at Trader Joe's to try out. As it turned out, there were only three of us, so it was a huge amount, but I just froze them. My opinion is that they were okay, but nothing special. The really, really expensive ones I order at Williams-Sonoma are better. On the other hand, the Trader Joe's croissants were quite inexpensive, so I guess we got what we paid for. Frozen croissants are the easiest possible thing to do for a crowd in the morning. All you have to do is put them on parchment paper on a baking sheet and go to bed. In the morning, you preheat the oven, slip the little beauties in, and voila, breakfast. I like to make an egg wash of 1 egg yolk whisked with 1 Tablespoon of cream or milk for the plain ones and the pain au chocolate. The almond ones are good with powdered sugar sprinkled on top.
THURSDAY: T-DAY
The plan was to have dinner at 3:00. So several days ahead of time I made the time schedule you saw above. You just have to start with the dinner time and work backwards. Since there were only going to be three of us, I adjusted by eliminating the second pie (as I mentioned above), and I didn't make the Parker House rolls. But you will get to meet them in the (now, much anticipated) "A company meal" post. Everything else was pretty much on schedule.
Right after breakfast, Steve went to work on his pumpkin pie. This is another instance where the convenience of canned pumpkin obviates the need for the fresh product. Steve follows the recipe on the Libby's can, but he does use Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground cloves, which makes a difference in the taste of the spices.
PUMPKIN PIE
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 can (12 fl. oz.) Carnation Evaporated Milk
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Spray a piece of parchment with nonstick cooking spray, and put it spray side down in the chilled pie shell. Fill the shell with unbaked beans or pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes.
Remove parchment and pie weights, and continue to bake for 3 minutes. Let cool completely.
Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in small bowl. Whisk eggs in a large bowl, preferably with a spout. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually whisk in evaporated milk.
Pour into cooled pie shell.
Cover edge of crust with a specially designed cover or aluminum foil. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Check pie crust about 5 minutes before you think center is done to see if it needs to brown a little more, and, if so, remove the cover.
Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.
As you can see, the pie looked fine. I tried a piece, and while I don't especially care for pumpkin pie, the flavors were nice, and the crust was okay, but clearly not right. But if you follow the directions above, your crust will be PERFECT!!!
Now, on to the turkey, the piece de resistance.
10:00 AM: TURKEY COMES OUT OF THE BRINE
I poured off the brine, dried her off with paper towels, then put her on a rack over the roasting pan. Next I rubbed her inside and out with kosher salt and black pepper. I let her sit and come up to room temperature before applying the rub.
10:30 AM: Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
HERB RUB
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 Tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 Tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1 Tablespoon minced fresh sage leaves
1 Tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1 orange, quartered
1 lemon, quartered
Using a fork, mix butter, lemon zest, rosemary, sage, and thyme in a small bowl. Rub herb butter over top of turkey and inside cavity. Place orange and lemon inside cavity.
In the photo above, I'm tucking the wings under the bird (this prevents them from burning during the long roasting time). Pour 4 cups of water into the pan.
Roast turkey, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Baste turkey with pan juices; add more water if needed to maintain at least 1/4" liquid in the bottom of roasting pan. Continue roasting turkey, basting every 30 minutes and tenting with foil if skin is turning too dark, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of the thigh without touching bone registers 165 degrees F (juices should run clear when thermometer is removed), about 2 3/4 hours total.
Everything went along swimmingly until the last half hour, when I let the water dry up. And this turkey was simply not browning. So I turned on the broiler for 5 minutes, which did allow it to brown, and only created a small fire (kidding, but there was smoke involved). In retrospect, the brining recipe I used last year only called for brining 24 hours maximum, and this one was for 3 days. Later, I heard on Top Chef that brining will cause the skin not to get crisp. So next year I may go back to roasting it without brining, and just stuff butter under the skin. We'll see.
Anyway, here's how she looked coming out of the oven:
I got Steve a new carving set, and we watched several videos and I have to say that his carving was masterful. Look at this beautiful platter of turkey:
Unfortunately, in the crush of things going in and out of ovens, we fell down on the photography end of things. But I'll give you the mashed potato recipe, because it's one of my favorites. I found it in the New York Times in 1998.
BAKED MASHED POTATOES
6 medium baking potatoes, preferably russets, about 4 pounds
3/4 cup heavy cream or whole milk
3/4 cup 2% milk
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces, at room temperature
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Scrub and dry the potatoes and prick each several times with a sharp fork. Bake for one to one and one-half hours, or until the potatoes feel very soft when pierced.
Heat the cream and milk together in a small, heavy saucepan until steaming, but not simmering. Set aside, partially covered.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and cut in half crosswise. Using a large spoon, scoop the pulp out and put it through a ricer into a warmed serving bowl.
Fold 12 pieces of the butter into the potatoes. As it melts, gradually add the hot cream and milk, whipping the puree with a large fork or whisk until thick and fluffy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dot with the remaining four pieces of butter and serve at once.
Yield: Eight servings
Note: The mashed potatoes can be kept warm for up to 20 minutes. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and keep in a pan of hot water in a low oven.
GRAVY:
As mentioned above, I used the Williams-Sonoma gravy base. All you have to do is add milk to it, although you can choose to add drippings from the turkey (which I did) and some people swear by adding Port wine. Couldn't be easier.
DRESSINGS:
Since the dressings were already baked on Wednesday, all they needed was a spin in the oven. I added some butter on top and baked them, uncovered, this time, at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes. After that, it is a good idea to add some chicken broth to moisten it, as the water will lap up the moisture.
CRANBERRY SAUCE:
The main thing to remember is to refrigerate it the day before, then it's just a matter of getting it onto a serving dish.
GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE:
Both the mushroom soup can and the french fried onion can have recipes, but I ignore both. I think they add milk, which I don't. My goal is to have something crispy, and I think the onions are the real star of the show. So I buy the large can of onion rings, a regular can of mushroom soup, and one can of green beans. I mix half of the onions with the green beans and mushroom soup in a casserole dish, bake it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F, and then put the rest of the onions on top for another 5 minutes.
WHIPPED CREAM:
The finishing touch for the pumpkin pie is whipped cream. There are a couple of tips that will help you get nice firm peaks without turning the cream into butter. First, put the bowl and the whip or beater you will be using in the freezer for at least an hour. Then, go ahead and start whipping the cream. When it starts thickening up, add 2 Tablespoons of powdered sugar for each cup of cream. Powdered sugar has cornstarch in it, so it will help the cream hold its peaks. I also like to add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla for each cup of cream as well. The peaks should be firm enough to stand up when you raise the beater. I'll show you some photos the next time I whip cream for a dessert.
WHEW!
So that's how our Thanksgiving dinner went. The turkey was moist and flavorful and I made some "t.v. dinners" for Matt, so he wouldn't be so disappointed that he didn't make it for dinner. All of the side dishes turned out well. And that pie crust? Well, it did cook down quite a bit because of the incorrect fat-to-flour ratio, but the pumpkin filling was delicious, and it really tasted fine.
Add broth, dressing mix, pecans, sausage, and mushrooms and mix lightly.
Turn them into the prepared casserole and bake for 30 minutes.
Allow to cool to room temperature before covering with foil and placing in the refrigerator.
COUNTRY STYLE DRESSING:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
10 ounces sliced baby bella mushrooms
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup chopped celery
12 oz. package Country Style dressing
2 cups Wegman's Chicken Culinary Broth
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter a 3 quart casserole.
Melt 2 Tablespoons butter in saucepan or dutch oven large enough to comfortable mix dressing. Saute mushrooms until they release their liquid and begin to brown. I like to cut them up fairly small, so they're roughly the same size as the celery. Place them in a bowl.
Melt the other 5 Tablespoons butter in the same pan, then add the celery and sauté for 2 or 3 minutes. Add broth, dressing mix, and mushrooms and mix lightly. Turn them into the prepared casserole and bake for 30 minutes.
Allow to cool to room temperature before covering with foil and placing in the refrigerator.
THE CURIOUS AND FRUSTRATING EPISODE OF THE PIE CRUST
You will recall from earlier posts that I have found pie crust to be intimidating. So recently I decided to try the Cook's Illustrated method. They did lots of research (hey, why should I re-invent the wheel?), and came up with the brilliant idea of using half water and half vodka, both very cold, because you're trying to prevent gluten from forming, and the vodka, curiously, retards the formation of gluten, and keeps the butter suspended in the flour. Then the vodka cooks off during baking, leaving you with a light flaky pie crust. I baked an apple pie with the recipe and the local audience (Mom and Steve) were huge fans. So my plan was to replicate that crust, dividing it between Steve's pumpkin pie and my pecan-walnut tart. Ah, the best laid plans...
So the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, Steve got out his camera and started photographing. I had misplaced the recipe I had downloaded with my notes on it, so just cavalierly printed out a new one. When it came time to measure the flour, I found myself in the familiar conundrum: The recipe called for 2 1/2 cups of flour and in parentheses said 12 1/2 ounces. Now you know, and I know, that 2 1/2 cups of AP flour weigh 10 3/4 ounces. Instead of doing some recipe comparisons, I just used my measuring scale and put in 2 1/2 cups or 10 3/4 ounces. You can see where this is going.
So the photos Steve took that night are rather interesting, and I'll show you what it looked like.
As soon as I finished mixing it, I knew there wasn't enough flour in it. Arggh. But I chilled it, and then I rolled it out, adding lots of flour to keep it from sticking and praying that it would be enough to make it taste okay. But clearly, the apple pie that was so wonderful was done using the 12 1/2 ounce measurement, which means that this recipe (without warning) was using the scoop and level method of measurement. So I will make it abundantly clear in my recipe, so you won't have to worry about it.
Oh, and the pecan and chocolate tart never got made because Jenna got food poisoning and the kids missed Thanksgiving dinner. I figured that one pie was plenty for three of us. So that tart will show up with the next post, titled: "A company meal." With a much healthier looking crust.
Here's the fool-proof recipe:
VODKA PIE CRUST
At least 30 minutes before you start, measure and cut up the butter and shortening and put it into the refrigerator. Also measure the water and vodka into a measuring cup and return to the refrigerator until ready to use.
2 1/2 cups scoop and level method (12 1/2 ounces) AP flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks or 6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup (4 ounces) cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water
In a food processor, process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar until combined, about 2 two second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour).
Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around the processor blade. Add remaining cup of flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
Sprinkle vodka-water mixture over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.
Divide dough into two even balls, and flatten each into 4-inch disk.
Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
Now, back to my little experiment in pie crust (the not perfect one). About an hour later, I rolled it out. As mentioned above, it had too little flour, so I put lots of flour on the board, and generously sprinkled it to keep it from sticking.
You can see from this closeup that there are fairly large pieces of butter suspended in the dough, which is what you're aiming for.
While the dough was too short (meaning too much fat for the amount of flour used), it was possible to work some flour into it during the rolling process, so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
Encouraged, it trimmed the overhang and pressed it back on the edge of the crust, because I anticipated that there would be major shrinkage when it baked.
It certainly looked like a pie crust. So I wrapped it in plastic and put it into the freezer overnight.
WEDNESDAY AT BEDTIME: PUT CROISSANTS ON BAKING SHEETS TO PROOF OVERNIGHT
I bought plain, almond, and chocolate croissants at Trader Joe's to try out. As it turned out, there were only three of us, so it was a huge amount, but I just froze them. My opinion is that they were okay, but nothing special. The really, really expensive ones I order at Williams-Sonoma are better. On the other hand, the Trader Joe's croissants were quite inexpensive, so I guess we got what we paid for. Frozen croissants are the easiest possible thing to do for a crowd in the morning. All you have to do is put them on parchment paper on a baking sheet and go to bed. In the morning, you preheat the oven, slip the little beauties in, and voila, breakfast. I like to make an egg wash of 1 egg yolk whisked with 1 Tablespoon of cream or milk for the plain ones and the pain au chocolate. The almond ones are good with powdered sugar sprinkled on top.
The plan was to have dinner at 3:00. So several days ahead of time I made the time schedule you saw above. You just have to start with the dinner time and work backwards. Since there were only going to be three of us, I adjusted by eliminating the second pie (as I mentioned above), and I didn't make the Parker House rolls. But you will get to meet them in the (now, much anticipated) "A company meal" post. Everything else was pretty much on schedule.
Right after breakfast, Steve went to work on his pumpkin pie. This is another instance where the convenience of canned pumpkin obviates the need for the fresh product. Steve follows the recipe on the Libby's can, but he does use Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground cloves, which makes a difference in the taste of the spices.
PUMPKIN PIE
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 can (12 fl. oz.) Carnation Evaporated Milk
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Spray a piece of parchment with nonstick cooking spray, and put it spray side down in the chilled pie shell. Fill the shell with unbaked beans or pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes.
Remove parchment and pie weights, and continue to bake for 3 minutes. Let cool completely.
Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in small bowl. Whisk eggs in a large bowl, preferably with a spout. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually whisk in evaporated milk.
Pour into cooled pie shell.
Cover edge of crust with a specially designed cover or aluminum foil. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Check pie crust about 5 minutes before you think center is done to see if it needs to brown a little more, and, if so, remove the cover.
Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.
As you can see, the pie looked fine. I tried a piece, and while I don't especially care for pumpkin pie, the flavors were nice, and the crust was okay, but clearly not right. But if you follow the directions above, your crust will be PERFECT!!!
Now, on to the turkey, the piece de resistance.
10:00 AM: TURKEY COMES OUT OF THE BRINE
I poured off the brine, dried her off with paper towels, then put her on a rack over the roasting pan. Next I rubbed her inside and out with kosher salt and black pepper. I let her sit and come up to room temperature before applying the rub.
10:30 AM: Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
HERB RUB
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 Tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 Tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1 Tablespoon minced fresh sage leaves
1 Tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1 orange, quartered
1 lemon, quartered
Using a fork, mix butter, lemon zest, rosemary, sage, and thyme in a small bowl. Rub herb butter over top of turkey and inside cavity. Place orange and lemon inside cavity.
In the photo above, I'm tucking the wings under the bird (this prevents them from burning during the long roasting time). Pour 4 cups of water into the pan.
Roast turkey, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Baste turkey with pan juices; add more water if needed to maintain at least 1/4" liquid in the bottom of roasting pan. Continue roasting turkey, basting every 30 minutes and tenting with foil if skin is turning too dark, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of the thigh without touching bone registers 165 degrees F (juices should run clear when thermometer is removed), about 2 3/4 hours total.
Everything went along swimmingly until the last half hour, when I let the water dry up. And this turkey was simply not browning. So I turned on the broiler for 5 minutes, which did allow it to brown, and only created a small fire (kidding, but there was smoke involved). In retrospect, the brining recipe I used last year only called for brining 24 hours maximum, and this one was for 3 days. Later, I heard on Top Chef that brining will cause the skin not to get crisp. So next year I may go back to roasting it without brining, and just stuff butter under the skin. We'll see.
Anyway, here's how she looked coming out of the oven:
I got Steve a new carving set, and we watched several videos and I have to say that his carving was masterful. Look at this beautiful platter of turkey:
Unfortunately, in the crush of things going in and out of ovens, we fell down on the photography end of things. But I'll give you the mashed potato recipe, because it's one of my favorites. I found it in the New York Times in 1998.
BAKED MASHED POTATOES
6 medium baking potatoes, preferably russets, about 4 pounds
3/4 cup heavy cream or whole milk
3/4 cup 2% milk
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces, at room temperature
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Scrub and dry the potatoes and prick each several times with a sharp fork. Bake for one to one and one-half hours, or until the potatoes feel very soft when pierced.
Heat the cream and milk together in a small, heavy saucepan until steaming, but not simmering. Set aside, partially covered.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and cut in half crosswise. Using a large spoon, scoop the pulp out and put it through a ricer into a warmed serving bowl.
Fold 12 pieces of the butter into the potatoes. As it melts, gradually add the hot cream and milk, whipping the puree with a large fork or whisk until thick and fluffy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dot with the remaining four pieces of butter and serve at once.
Yield: Eight servings
Note: The mashed potatoes can be kept warm for up to 20 minutes. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and keep in a pan of hot water in a low oven.
GRAVY:
As mentioned above, I used the Williams-Sonoma gravy base. All you have to do is add milk to it, although you can choose to add drippings from the turkey (which I did) and some people swear by adding Port wine. Couldn't be easier.
DRESSINGS:
Since the dressings were already baked on Wednesday, all they needed was a spin in the oven. I added some butter on top and baked them, uncovered, this time, at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes. After that, it is a good idea to add some chicken broth to moisten it, as the water will lap up the moisture.
CRANBERRY SAUCE:
The main thing to remember is to refrigerate it the day before, then it's just a matter of getting it onto a serving dish.
GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE:
Both the mushroom soup can and the french fried onion can have recipes, but I ignore both. I think they add milk, which I don't. My goal is to have something crispy, and I think the onions are the real star of the show. So I buy the large can of onion rings, a regular can of mushroom soup, and one can of green beans. I mix half of the onions with the green beans and mushroom soup in a casserole dish, bake it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F, and then put the rest of the onions on top for another 5 minutes.
WHIPPED CREAM:
The finishing touch for the pumpkin pie is whipped cream. There are a couple of tips that will help you get nice firm peaks without turning the cream into butter. First, put the bowl and the whip or beater you will be using in the freezer for at least an hour. Then, go ahead and start whipping the cream. When it starts thickening up, add 2 Tablespoons of powdered sugar for each cup of cream. Powdered sugar has cornstarch in it, so it will help the cream hold its peaks. I also like to add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla for each cup of cream as well. The peaks should be firm enough to stand up when you raise the beater. I'll show you some photos the next time I whip cream for a dessert.
WHEW!
So that's how our Thanksgiving dinner went. The turkey was moist and flavorful and I made some "t.v. dinners" for Matt, so he wouldn't be so disappointed that he didn't make it for dinner. All of the side dishes turned out well. And that pie crust? Well, it did cook down quite a bit because of the incorrect fat-to-flour ratio, but the pumpkin filling was delicious, and it really tasted fine.
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