It's November again, and this year we're giving you lots of time to send your Thanksgiving recipes to the "Third Annual Huffington Post Tell Us What You're Cooking for Thanksgiving This Year That You Didn't Cook Last Year."
What we're looking for is not the thing you cook year in and year out, but the recipe you're trying this year for the first time in order to give yourself the illusion that your Thanksgiving dinner this year is slightly different from your Thanksgiving dinner last year. This, in turn, is meant to make you believe that you are capable of change. Underlying all this is the implicit understanding that Thanksgiving should not be meddled with too much, and that even a small alteration in the basics can cause problems with children. Once we went to a Thanksgiving at my sister's house, and the stuffing had porcini mushrooms in it, and my eight-year-old had a meltdown and I was in complete sympathy.
This year we're going to cook our turkey the high temperature way, the easiest way to cook a turkey there is: salt & pepper the turkey, cook in a 450 oven, and drain occasionally. No brining, no basting. I swear, it works. It's a miracle. And it takes only 2 1/2 hours to cook a 14-16 pound bird. I mentioned this method last year, but I see from reading the newspapers that there are lots of food writers who still insist that you brine a turkey and baste it forever. I don't get it. The high-temperature method of cooking turkey is the food equivalent of an epidural, and why anyone would go on having a long painful experience when a short painless one is available mystifies me.
This year, for a change, we're adding some sausage to our traditional stuffing recipe -- we use Pepperidge farm herbed stuffing in the cellophane bag with blue trim, celery, onion, twice as much butter as is called for on the package, stock, and a pound of crumbled hot breakfast sausage we plan to buy from Flying Pigs Farm at the Union Square Market.
Anyway, send in your recipe. Then we'll select and post our ten favorites Thanksgiving week. (And please be sure to type out fractions--1/2 cup, for example--because symbols won't display correctly.) Then we'll select and post our ten favorites Thanksgiving week.
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Although I am adventurous with food, it has taught me that traditions are wonderful. There are now only two days a year we do not experiment, Christmas and T-day. OK, so you play with a side or two. NO ONE NOTICES. You have to have the perfect gravy, turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. Nothing else matters. A side dish isn't important -which allows you more room to play, but NO ONE WILL REMEMBER IT. They do (or we do) remember if your turkey was dry or not, your stuffing perfect, your mashed potatoes over or under salted - too drab, over whipped (did you put them in a mixer?), your gravy was too thick or under seasoned. Did you use that nasty crouton stuff that you buy in the store that makes your stuffing taste too medicinal?
Don't b*tch at me for saying this stuff, cause we always cook the meal. A traditional meal, with a few, very few flairs.
This is especially good advice if you want to avoid those darling relatives who spend the whole meal worrying out loud about what you are going to eat :)
I have never made it myself, but we were shopping this morning and decided to just grab one and give it a whirl. Everything else is going to be "packaged" (Butterball, Stove-top, jar'o'gravy, etc.). We tried to implement a rule that we'd have one "package" Thanksgiving and one "from-scratch" Thanksgiving per year (I'm Canadian, but he's not, so we get both holidays!), but this is our busy time with work and the creative juices are just not flowing.
That said, we're also going to try dry-brining this time. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but supposed to draw the flavor deeper into the meat.
I love Acorn Squash... dice apples, throw in some rasins, a dash of nutmeg on top of the butter and brown sugar...yummy!
I save my sweets for dessert.
That said... Acorn squash pie or pudding for dessert doesn't sound bad at all. ~grin~
I believe this one is it. Sorry for the delay
1. Cajun Turkey - just learned that Popeyes sells pre-cooked, frozen cajun turkey. All you have to do is thaw it and heat it for about 2 1/2 hours (so they tell me). A friend does this every year and recommended it. He says it tastes great and once you go Cajun you won't go back. We'll see.
2. Garlic herb biscuits - I am not a biscuit lover, but my husband is. Making the biscuits from a Stonewall Kitchen mix. We'll see.
And you folks that want to deep fry a turkey, please be careful. Those things can go up like a rocket if not handled properly. Just being cautious.
The only thing I can't do without is cream. I would prefer fresh whipped cream --I don't even need sugar. But the kitchen is too small for a food processor/whipper, and I've tried whipping cream by hand and let's just say I don't think I'll do it again, LOL!
Pie crust
3/4 lb. small red potatoes
1 cup heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
1/4 lb crumbled blue cheese (3/4 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
Coarse salt for sprinkling
Prepare pastry per package instructions.
Divide into 6 equal pieces (or if making the pie version, just put into the pie plate), place into tartlet pans. Trim excess, leaving a 1/4 inch overhang, fold inward and press against side of pans to reinforce edge. Chill shells until pastry is firm (If using purchased tart shells or pie crusts, continue to next step).
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cut potatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices and cover with cold water by 2 inches in a 1-quart saucepan. Simmer, uncovered, until tender (10 minutes). Drain and pat dry.
Whisk together cream and yolk until combined.
Arrange potato slices, overlapping slightly, in each tart shell, crumble 2 tablespoons cheese into each. Fill with cream mixture to 1/8" from top. Sprinkle each with 1/4 teaspoon each of thyme and rosemary and season lightly with salt.
Bake tartlets on a baking sheet until bubbling and golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pans on a rack 10 minutes, then remove from pans and serve warm.
Anne Marie suggests pairing these with a Merlot or an oaked Chardonnay. Enjoy.
Thanks!