Wednesday, November 21, 2007

What are you fixing for Thanksgiving?

The silver is polished, the linens are clean and the shopping is almost done. For the first time in a while, I'm hosting Thanksgiving dinner. I'm fixing the standard fare with a few twists: turkey breast w/ an orange and honey glaze, corn bread stuffing with kale instead of sausage (so the vegetarians can eat it), cranberry and caramelized onion confit, and a starter of smoked trout with watercress and granny smith apples. We'll also have mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, pie, and homemade dinner rolls. I've got port and stilton to finish the meal.

I hope it goes well. There is a lot of housecleaning and cooking that needs to happen in the next 24 hours!

My friends are hitting the Wine Authorities today to pick out some vino to go with the turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Let me know what you are cooking that is interesting or different from the usual.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

i am on turkey duty tomorrow. i've got 2 12lber turkeys going into the smoker tomorrow. i will be cooking them on foster's oil cans indirectly at 300-350 with pecan wood tossed onto the coals for smoke. not smoking by definition, but it will have the flavor.

the birds are in a brine now and will get sage/butter under the skin, rub and olive oil tomorrow before they cook.

K said...

MMM! That sounds good! I think we'll come over to your house!

Rae said...

i hope you'll share your cranberry recipe - that sounds awesome!

our outside-the-norm fixins... well, mostly we're pretty traditional, but we do always start with spanakopita as an appetizer (a nod to my husband's greek heritage); we have roasted root vegetables instead of mashed potatoes... and i don't usually think of cake as a traditional thanksgiving dessert, but we're having a pear-brandy poundcake with caramel sauce (in addition to pie) - the recipe is from the magnolia grill cookbook and it is AMAZING.

Anonymous said...

G/M is baking two pies that your mom requested. We are going to eat at their house around 12:30 p/m. Lesa and her working partner at Mast are going to make a quick stop at 12:30. HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM K.C ! g/p

Barry said...

We're going pretty much traditional this year. A 12 lb bird on the grill for an hour or two, then finished in the oven for 2 hours or so. Corn bread dressing. Cranberries. Broccoli. Onion casserole. I'll probably do sweet potato fries in the new deep fryer i bought myself last month.

We do whip fresh cream for the pumpkin pie. But i'm sure the rest of you do, too.

Anonymous said...

mmm cranberry and caramelized onion confit? What fat do you use? Butter, OOil? How long is it "confit'd"? Sounds excellent

K said...

I'll put up the recipe for the cranberry and caramelized onions in a few days. It is loaded w/ butter and sugar. It cooks quite a while but unlike a meat confit which benefits from rest, this is a fruit confit that can be eaten immediately or chilled and served later.