Thanksgiving Part 1

Part 1 of this will focus on Thanksgiving itself (with the usual blanket apologies for the fact that some pictures are missing). It gets dark at . . . 3pm? these days? and the lights in the kitchen (whilst wonderful for the environment and polar bears and ice caps the world over) are less than flattering to dishes of food. Also, as we near dinner time, I increasingly forget to stop and take pictures, preoccupied as I am with table settings, total lack of counter space, telling Mum to stop de-linting the cat baskets in the mudroom, and "For the love of all that is holy you will eat in the garage if you don't come now why the hell am I bothering to do this anyway if you Won't. Come. Now." etc., etc., etc., and also trying, mostly unsuccessfully, not to burn myself, walk into things, and generally suffer clumsiness-induced bodily harm.

That being said, missing from the lineup this year are the final Mashed Potatoes, the Cornbread before it became Stuffing, final Cranberry Sauce, final Indian Pudding, and the glorious Thanksgiving table itself. Sorry. Use your own imagination from what I salvaged off my camera's memory stick. 

THANKSGIVING 2014

THE LEAD IN (Tues/Wed)

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Moroccan Turkey and Prune Tagine with Couscous

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Indian Pudding

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Cornbread

THE DINNER PROPER

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Cornbread Stuffing with Sausages and Leeks

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Mashed Potatoes

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Mustard Green Beans

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Bitter Marmalade Cranberry Sauce

THE AFTERMATH

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Yam and White Bean Cassoulet

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Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust

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Oatmeal Fig Cookies

What did we do on Thanksgiving, you ask? Camp outside Target overnight? Take a walk and savour the glories of the season? Celebrate with friends and loved ones and give thanks for company and good times? Appreciate how lucky we truly are and take joy in little things? 

Um no. 

I watched the Macy's Parade. 

I watched the Dog Show. 

I stretched for an hour and a half. Primrose helped me with my splits. 

I read the entirety of The Guardian. 

Mum did NOT watch the Parade but joined me for the Dog Show. 

Mum read the entirety of The New York Times.

Mum de-linted the cat baskets in the mudroom, as previously mentioned.

We really didn't talk to each other at all.

We had dinner in the library in front of the TV and watched old Miss Marple episodes. Again, not really talking to each other at all. 

We went to bed at 8.30.

It was awesome. 

It was seriously the zen-est, least stressful, most amazing Thanksgiving ever. 

The only problem, as Mum pointed out, is that for the rest of time, we will never be able to have guests. Because the prospect of anything other than a "no people no talking no socialization Thanksgiving" is now complete anathema.

Oh well.

OK ONTO THE FOOD. 

MOROCCAN TURKEY AND PRUNE TAGINE WITH COUSCOUS*
*veggie turkey, duh

I had been wanting to use prunes in a savoury dish for a while (I know, a common problem in the world) and had sort of decided to do this on Tuesday night. I was just worried because Mum is under the impression that she doesn't like prunes. And every time I mention the word "prune" she gets quiet and says after a tentative pause " . . . maybe without the prunes?"

BUT I was listening to the Food Programme driving down Tuesday morning and LO AND BEHOLD they were featuring Medieval Christmas recipes and it was ALL ABOUT MIDDLE EASTERN SPICES INCLUDING PRUNE-BASED DISHES. So that clinched it.

I would like to point out that Mum TOTALLY LIKED THE PRUNES IN THIS. It is also a very comforting winter dinner. And it makes the kitchen smell incredible. 

INDIAN PUDDING
This is one of my favourite autumn New England desserts, but I haven't made it in ages and ages. I decided this year I was going to do it. Indian Pudding is one of the very few things that the Pilgrims got right. It's cornmeal and cinnamon and ginger and nutmeg and molasses and butter and heavy cream. How could it NOT be delicious?

I used the Yankee Magazine recipe, which, if you're gonna do it, might as well do it properly. This version bakes the pudding straight in the oven. It is perhaps not the most traditional of preparations, but much easier than either a water bath or the dreaded "boiling for a billion hours" method, which is just preposterous. I know this is preposterous because when we went to Sturbridge Village last summer they were making Indian Pudding in their recreated hut on the hill, and the girl took it out of the pot wrapped in this soaking wet, smoking, dirty rag, and honestly it looked like something had died and then been boiled, and smelled even worse, and the only thing I could think of was how much the pudding, when turned out onto a dish, resembled the reborn Lord Voldemort baby thing at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. 

So. Oven. 

Granted, what you get this way is a more solid pudding, the water bath method definitely makes it a bit wetter, but this was pronounced delicious, especially when eaten hot and accompanied by more heavy cream. Spicy and warm and filling and good. I'm sure the Indians were glad they had shared cornmeal with the Pilgrims as they froze to death / were cut down / died of smallpox / fled their homes in terror.

CORNBREAD
Thanksgiving staple, obviously. I've tried about a billion versions of this over the years and the one I've had the most luck with is Martha Stewart's Buttermilk Cornbread version. It's really moist and not sweet at all, especially after I almost halve the sugar.

It makes either one thick loaf or two flatish ones. (9 x 11 pan) I opted for two flatish, because there would be more "outside, crust area" that I knew would toast better pre-stuffing. Mind you, I had to wrest one of the loaves from Mum who decided that it was delicious toasted for breakfast.

This is the cubed version pre-stuffing oven-toasting.

NOTE: this is NOT the recipe I use for corn muffins. That is a different one from the New England Baking Handbook. The last time I used that was in July. Just FYI.

And of course the Cornbread and its toasted-ness or lack thereof leads me directly into Stuffing which leads me directly into

THANKSGIVING DINNER PROPER

The best part about having only two people at Thanksgiving dinner (and really once you take Beetle's dietary shenanigans into account I only count as half a person) is that I didn't spend all day cooking fourteen different things. This year, for the first time, I maintained a relative sense of proportion. I made only four dishes, in normal amounts, and all of them were fairly easy. The fridge did NOT look like a Prepper's bunker full of leftovers, Mum was NOT left eating stuffing for two weeks after the event (not that she would have minded), and I did NOT go completely bonkers trying to make a six course meal for ten people for no reason other than the fact that I could.

CORNBREAD STUFFING WITH SAUSAGES* AND LEEKS
*veggie sausage, again, duh

Cornbread stuffing is awesome. I've used Wild Rice, Sourdough, Crackers, and Rye in the past, but cornbread is fun, especially when it is homemade cornbread.

The toasted version

The other thing I did this year was use eggs and milk instead of vegetable broth. Neither of us likes vegetable broth (too salty, too greasy, makes me sick), which begs the question "why would you cook with it?" And there is a point to be made there. Stuffing is a once a year gluttony free for all, so why detract with an ingredient you're not wild about?

Why indeed.

I didn't follow a specific recipe. The basic stuffing idea is to saute a combination of onions, leeks, mushrooms, and some kind of vegetable, add a meat or soy-based meat if you want, and mix it with a dried or toasted carb. Then you add broth or milk or eggs, let it soak in, and throw it in the oven. That's kind of it. So I went by feel and look.

The one thing I did wrong with this was that it was a bit too dry. I don't know if it needed more liquid, or less time in the oven without the foil. I was so scared of having it be soggy (last year's wild rice version was too wet) that I think I went too far in the opposite direction. It wasn't "Sahara" but it definitely wasn't perfect. Next year. NEXT YEAR.

I also did not add celery. Everyone always lists celery as a main component of stuffing. But the thing is that celery is disgusting. It's so overpowering, so useless, and so completely non essential / non beneficial to any dish. Mum agrees. We are spearheading an anti-celery movement. Expect the tee-shirts and Kickstarter campaign early in 2015.

LEEKS. THE THINKING PERSON'S CELERY.

MAKE LEEKS NOT CELERY.

I LEEK THEREFORE I AM.

MASHED POTATOES

As I've said, the final potatoes did not make the photo cut. The mixer was burning my hand, the cats were all "what about MY DINNER" and Mum couldn't figure out which spoons to use, so I was a bit distracted.

I went all out with these this year (see comments re: stuffing above). The key for good mash is boiling the potatoes, they have to be WET in order to achieve the desired consistency. I kept the skins on because the skins are delicious, nutrient rich, and give it a nice fleck. Also, do you have any idea how hard it is to peel baby Yukon Golds?

Exactly.

So once they're boiled and super super super tender, drain them, dump them in a mixmaster (the rarely used PADDLE ATTACHMENT comes out here, which gets me thoroughly overexcited) and have at it.

And for the "all out" version, just add significant amounts of melted butter and heavy cream. Your ancestors will thank you.

Overheard at dinner.
Mum: "These are the best potatoes I've ever had."
Me: "Yeah."
Mum: "What's in them? Is it awful?"
Me: "Let's just call them 'special holiday potatoes' and leave it at that.
Mum (through an enormous forkful): "Cool."


MUSTARD GREEN BEANS
Classic recipe. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Cuts through all the richness of the rest of the menu, both visually and gastronomically.

Steamed green beans, olive oil, mustard, and a hell of a lot of fresh dill. Mix. DONE.

BITTER MARMALADE CRANBERRY SAUCE

One of the Thanksgiving legacies of my dad was to clear the table, wash the dishes, then in one movement open the fridge and ask very cheerfully whether anyone would like a turkey sandwich. He would inevitably get a dishtowel thrown at his head.

The other legacy was his Cranberry Sauce recipe, which is a kitchen hack, but an oh so delicious one. It involves a bag of cranberries and a jar of orange marmalade. And that's it.

You just boil everything in a saucepan (make sure the lid is on because exploding molten hot cranberries hurt like HELL) until the cranberries have softened and everything is thick and gooey. And that's it. Mum loves this. I only wish they sold cranberries at more times during the year. It's really only for two weeks before Thanksgiving, unless you want to pay $15 for a bag of them at Trader Joe's, and even we are not that psychotic. 

Note: go for BITTER marmalade, it keeps evertything sharp. Also the more peel you can get in there, the better. 

I made this on Sunday too, and instead of Orange Marmalade I used a jar of Apple Spice Chutney. It was received favourably. 

Ok so that's it for Part 1. Part 2, hopefully later this week, is Cassoulet, Pie, and Cookies, and further musings on Christmas trees, presents, and Hallmark movies. 

Because, um, IT'S CHRISTMAS.