The Thanksgiving Recipes File
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From rontuner:
Cindy,
Thanks so much for posting the cranberry recipe... it was a huge hit! I've never seen the cranberry dish emptied at our dinners before...
Hope everyone had a nice time together.
(off to find a bigger pair of pants and settle down to watch some TV with the girls.)
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From LL:
Had a free range turkey this year. From Plainville Farms, NY. Best turkey I can remember. Juicy and tasty. Will never want to go back to regular store bought after this. Sister says she got it at local store in NH.
Family stuffing recipe is still my favorite. Has ground pork in it, mushroom soup, as well as the usual stuff!
LL
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From jodi:
Gee, I guess I'll have to try it next year. Big Grin Big Grin Big Grin It's one of two stuffing recipes in an old "How to cook the perfect turkey" article from gourmet magazine I've had in my recipe file for ages. (I always make the other stuffing - the one with sausage and oysters). I figured the spinach one would be good, as this issue of the magazine also had the recipe for the excellent gravy that I shared with you guys last year.
Smiler Jodi
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From Nina:
The cranberry relish was a big hit in our house as well... it's all gone! And not only was it tasty, it was easy to make and made the house smell absolutely wonderful. AND we have leftover bourbon!
A complete win-win!
Plus I made the beans that Cindy posted--the ones with roasted garlic, cumin and lemon. They were absolutely fantastic. Normally the veggies at Thanksgiving are sort of an afterthought, but people were taking 2nds and even 3rds of these... and they were also super-easy. I'm going to make them for "regular" dinners.
I'm positive you could use the frozen Trader Joe's ones--I'd be tempted to make the garlic-butter stuff, toss the (thawed) beans in, do a little stir-fry and call it a day. Just heat them up. It would be fab.
P.S. I'm thinking we should all plan to bring our favorite recipes to Elena's concert. We can do a swap in person.
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From kathyk:
I'm becoming a staunch believer in the simple and the tried and true for Thanksgiving. I think keeping to that theme was a big reason I didn't completely stress out this year. Two examples are the roasted brussel sprouts and roasted sweet potatos. For each, after cleaning them I coated them in olive oil and put them in the oven until they were soft, and in the case of the brussels, a little charred at the fringes. When the taters were done, I sliced them into large chunks and melted butter over them. Both were huge hits and so ridiculously simple.
I always do a sausage stuffing mix, with celery, onions and pork sausage. This year I threw in some portabella mushrooms and pine nuts for a little variety.
And I do my gravy like my mother did - from the drippings and the cooking broth from the giblets.
SILs both brought some lovely side dishes. One was pureed cauliflower with sour cream. And, then the JF family tradition - corn pudding.
Cindy's cranberries were a big hit, and I did a lighter variety cooked with orange juice instead of water with a bit of honey - very tart and almost guilt-free.
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From Cindysphinx:
I gotta find a way to dial things down next year. We had 19 people. Nineteen. It was insanely loud and chaotic and stressful. Not my idea of a good time. Mr. Sphinx kept inviting people and inviting people and inviting people.
I'm putting him on a choke chain next year.
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From Nina:
kathyk--
Try roasting your pine nuts. They're really delicious. I buy a ton each year, roast them and stick them in the freezer.
Stick them in a single layer on a cookie sheet, bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them and take them out when they get golden brown.
They get a great roasted flavor that is wonderful in a lot of things... even tossed into a green salad.
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From Cindysphinx:
Here's a recipe for Drunken Turkey. It comes out beautifully, and the sauce it generates is to die for.
"Zarela Martinez's Drunken Turkey"
1 12-pound turkey
2 pounds dried mixed fruit
1 cup white raisins
4 granny smith apples (cored, cut into 1-inch wedges)
5 ounce can of chipotle chiles with juice
Juice of one orange
3 cups dark tequila
3 cups Grand Marnier
2 sticks sweet (salted) butterPreheat oven to 325. Rinse turkey, pat dry inside and outside. Salt cavity and set aside.
Combine dried fruit, raisins and apple in medium bowl. Put orange juice and chiles with juice into blender and blend for 1 minute. Add one cup each of tequila and Grand Marnier, blend. Pour this misture over the fruit and let rest for 15 minutes. Drain fruit, reserving liquid. Cut 1 stick of butter into slices and combine with fruit.
Stuff cavity of turkey with most of fruit. Place turkey in roasting pan; arrange remaining fruit on top of turkey. Then pour reserved orange/chile/liquor mixture over it. Fill basting syringe with remaining liquor and inject into turkey all over. Melt remaining stick of butter and pour over turkey. Roast 2.5 hours or until cooked.
Notes:
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I used 2 cups tequila and 2 cups Grand Marnier. Had I used more the liquid would have overflowed.
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I would cut back on the apples. That was a lot of fruit.
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The smaller dried fruit (raisins, cranberries) turned to an unrecognizable mush. Better results were with the apricots and dried plums, which came out delicious.
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I could not find chipotle chiles in their juice. The closest thing I found was chipotle chiles in adobo (tomato) sauce. This worked fine, and it gave the turkey an interesting red tinge that looked nice when it was brown.
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I used a separator to separate the oil from the broth. The broth was this thick, spicy sauce that you could serve instead of traditional gravy.
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I wouldn't arrange the fruit on top of the turkey. That's kinda weird. Placing it in the pan was fine. For serving, we sliced the turkey and then arranged the fruit all around on the platter.
That's it!
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From Ninia:
quote:
Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
Jodi's stuffing with hot italian sausage, sourdough bread, spinach, parmesan cheese was a stone-cold winner. That's it. I will make it every year for life.Recipe??? Pleez??
[I had the same thought as I was copying this thread over!!!]
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From Nina:
Those of you who brine your turkeys.... what in heaven's name do you use to contain the little bugger?
I generally end up with a 16-lb. bird, more or less. I figure the bird, plus two gallons+ of the liquid and I'd need a crane to get it into my non-existent big-enough refrigerator.
But I'm curious to try it. Are you guys cheating because you can just leave it outside, in a garbage can or something since you leave in cold-weather climes?
(I remember the first time I went to Thanksgiving at my SIL's in Massachusetts--the beer and soda were chilling on the back deck! What a cool (pardon the pun) idea! Free cold!
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From JackFrost:
Here is a strong vote and reminder for Cindy's bourbon cranberry! I have made it for the last two years and it is a winner.
The Drunken Turkey sounds great. We are not cooking this year but may try it next when we are cooking, although forgoing the traditional stuffing may be tough.
jf
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From Cindysphinx:
This might be it, Nina. I found it saved as a Word doc on my computer. Jodi?
Bread Stuffing with Chard and Sausage
5 T butter
1 pound hot or mild Italian Sausage crumbled, casings removed
1 1/4 C chopped celery
1 lg. onion, chopped
1/4 pund mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 pounds Swiss Chard or spinach (ends trimmed) rinsed well and finely chopped
1/2 C raisins
1 1/4 C grated parmesan cheese
1 1/4 t. each dry rosemary leaves, and dry oregono leaves
1/2 pund sweed French or Sourdough bread cut into 1/4 ince cubes (8 cups)
1 C dry white wineIn a 5 - 6 quart pan, melt butter on medium heat. Add sausage; cook and stir often until browned, about 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove sausage to a large bowl.
To the pan, add celery and onion. Cook until vegetable are limp, about 5 minutes; stir often. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to sausage. Add mushrooms to pan; stir often until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to sausage. Add chard to pan; stir until it is wilted and juices are evaporated. Stir chard into sausage mixture with raisins, parmesan, rosmary, and oregano.Soak bread in wine, then work with your hands until is is mashed. Combine bread and sausage mixture, mixing well . Fill turkey with stuffing, place excess stuffing about 1 inch deep in a buttered baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven, uncovered, until top is lightly browned, about 25 minutes. Makes 8 cups, 8 - 10 servings.
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