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I really enjoyed spending the day with Jeff cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. It's been a few years since I've been able to be home all day on the holiday. With this particular tradition, I see basically two kinds of people: ones who look forward to eating the feast, and ones who thrive on preparing it. I am of the latter. Inevitably I find with these larger scaler special occasion dinners that the actual eating of the food doesn't offer anywhere near the satisfaction that I get from making it. When we actually sit down and eat, as we did this evening, it seems a bit of an anti-climax; not because the food was not wonderful but just because the fun of its preparation is at an end. But there is still the gratification of seeing one's dinner guests enjoy the product of that labor, and we had plenty of that tonight.
The menu was...
Hors d'oeuvre
"Creole" crab dip served with homemade blue cheese-rosemary crackers and cheddar-cornmeal crackers
Dinner
Herb-roasted whole turkey stuffed with vegetables
Gravy made from the turkey broth and drippings
J's family-traditional mushroom-water chestnut sage dressing
Roasted garlic smashed potatoes and parsnips
Creamed spinach with shallots and white wine reduction
Dessert
Bourbon-flavored chocolate-pecan pie with vanilla ice cream
Below are a few pics of the preparation of these items. Personally, I think the triumph of the whole thing was Jeff's pie. He made the crust last night and then filled and baked it this morning. Generally neither of us are huge dessert-lovers but the process of making it was a lot of fun and the result was spectacularly delicious.
The cheddar crackers just baked.
Behind me is bread and chopped onions, celery, mushrooms and garlic for the dressing. The foil packets contain roasted garlic for the smashed potatoes.
Floating atop the water is chunks of parsnip. Beneath are chunks of red potatoes. They eventually met.
The roasted turkey.
Spinach wilting into a pan of sauteed shallots. Later much more spinach was added, as well as wine and cream.
We had fun with it and are well-stuffed now.
The menu was...
Hors d'oeuvre
"Creole" crab dip served with homemade blue cheese-rosemary crackers and cheddar-cornmeal crackers
Dinner
Herb-roasted whole turkey stuffed with vegetables
Gravy made from the turkey broth and drippings
J's family-traditional mushroom-water chestnut sage dressing
Roasted garlic smashed potatoes and parsnips
Creamed spinach with shallots and white wine reduction
Dessert
Bourbon-flavored chocolate-pecan pie with vanilla ice cream
Below are a few pics of the preparation of these items. Personally, I think the triumph of the whole thing was Jeff's pie. He made the crust last night and then filled and baked it this morning. Generally neither of us are huge dessert-lovers but the process of making it was a lot of fun and the result was spectacularly delicious.
The cheddar crackers just baked.
Behind me is bread and chopped onions, celery, mushrooms and garlic for the dressing. The foil packets contain roasted garlic for the smashed potatoes.
Floating atop the water is chunks of parsnip. Beneath are chunks of red potatoes. They eventually met.
The roasted turkey.
Spinach wilting into a pan of sauteed shallots. Later much more spinach was added, as well as wine and cream.
We had fun with it and are well-stuffed now.
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