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I am thankful for so many things-- my fantastic kidunit, my amazing family, wonderful friends, a decent job, a roof over my head, generally good health and many many more things from the major to the trivial. I don't think about that often enough. Truly, thanksgiving should happen more than once a year-- and I don't mean the feast and holiday and all the attendant fuss. I just mean the act of being consciously thankful for all the good in my life. Must be better about that.
Today wasn't our 'primary' Thanksgiving with family. Due to vagaries of scheduling, that will actually happen on Friday instead. I did, however, go ahead and make a mostly-traditional Thankgiving meal today, so we'd have leftovers, which we won't tomorrow since it'll be at my mom's. Here's the menu:
Pancetta-sage turkey and gravy
Cornbread dressing with pine-nuts
Roasted harvest vegetables
Mulled port cranberry sauce
Mashed potatoes
Bourbon-pecan pie
Spicy Pumpkin pie (I use a fairly bog-standard pie recipe and add a ton of spices, including a shake of cayenne!)
I found the turkey recipe at Bon Appetit/epicurious.com and adapted it because I can never leave well-enough alone (plus there were a couple of things about their version that sounded unappetizing to me). You can find the original pancetta-sage turkey recipe here, but my version is below the cut. I also tinkered with their cranberry sauce with port and cinnamon recipe. My version of that one's down below too, along with the veggies one.
Pancetta-Sage Turkey
Pancetta-Sage Butter:
4 garlic cloves, peeled
4 ounces thinly sliced pancetta (Italian bacon), chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
With machine running, drop garlic down feed tube of processor and chop. Add pancetta. Pulse to chop finely. Add all remaining ingredients. Pulse blending to coarse paste. Transfer to small bowl. Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using. (Note: reserve 1/3-1/2 of the butter for the gravy.)
Turkey:
1 9-10 pound turkey, rinsed, patted dry inside and out; neck, & giblets reserved for Turkey Stock
4 fresh sage sprigs
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
2 fresh thyme sprigs
1 small onion, quartered
2 garlic cloves, halved
For turkey:
Set rack at lowest position in oven and preheat to 325̊F.
Starting at neck end, slide hand between skin and meat of breast to loosen skin. Spread about half the butter over the breast meat under the skin. Spread a small amount of the remaining butter over thighs, drumsticks, and breast (over the skin). Fill main cavity with onion, garlic & herb sprigs. Tie legs loosely to hold shape if they did not come that way. Tuck wing tips under. Place turkey in a turkey-sized oven roasting bag according to package directions. Place bagged turkey on rack set in large roasting pan. Roast turkey until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 165̊F to 170̊F, 2-2.5 hours. Remove turkey from bag and transfer to a platter. Tent with foil; let rest at least 30 minutes (temperature will rise 5 to 10 degrees). Reserve pan juices to add to stock for gravy.
Turkey Stock:
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh sage
2 sprigs fresh thyme
Neck & giblets from turkey
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped carrot
1/4 cut finely chopped celery
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3 bay leaves
3 cups water
1 can chicken broth
Salt & pepper
In a large pan combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer partially uncovered for 2-3 hours while the turkey is cooking. When the turkey is done, the volume of the stock should be reduced to about 3 cups total. Remove & discard the neck, giblets, bay leaves and the woody stems from the fresh herbs. Puree stock in a blender or food-processor until smooth. Once the turkey is done, add the pan-juices from the turkey to the stock and return to a simmer.
Pancetta-Sage Gravy:
Appx. 1/3 to 1/2 of the pancetta-sage butter from above
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 cups turkey stock
2 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped
Heat the reserved pancetta-sage butter and the regular butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to blend. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add flour to create a roux, whisking to blend, cook an additional 4-5 minutes until starting to brown. Reduce heat to medium-low and whisk about a cup of the hot stock into the roux in small additions, whisking each time until well blended and not lumpy. Add this mixture to the pot of simmering stock, whisking well. Bring to boil, whisking, and cook to desired consistency, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped eggs just before serving.
Roasted Harvest Vegetables
8-10 pearl onions (red or white) blanched, peeled (if large, halve them)
2 1/2 cups 1/2-inch-thick diagonal slices peeled carrots (about 3/4 pound)
2 1/2 cups 1/2-inch-thick diagonal slices peeled parsnips (about 3/4 pound)
1/2 lb. fresh baby brussels sprouts, halved (or regular sized, quartered)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 sprig fresh rosemary, stripped and chopped
Salt & fresh-ground Telicherry pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400̊F. In a large flameproof casserole pour in half the oil, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Put the onions, carrots and parsnips in and drizzle remaining oil over the vegetables. Add a little more salt and pepper along with the fresh rosemary. Toss to coat the vegetables thoroughly with oil and roast, stirring occasionally, for about half an hour. At that point, add the brussels sprouts and stir them in with the other vegetables Roast for an additional 20 minutes.
Mulled Port Cranberry Sauce
3/4 cup ruby Port
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
1 cup dried cranberries (I used dried mixed berries as I was out of plain dried cranberries)
1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cloves
Zest of 1 orange (1-2 tsp)
Preparation
Bring ruby Port and broken cinnamon sticks to boil in heavy medium saucepan. Reduce heat to medium and simmer mixture 5 minutes. Add dried berries to saucepan; simmer until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients; bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer until cranberry sauce thickens and is darker in color and berries collapse, stirring often, about 10 minutes. You may need to 'mash' the fresh cranberries a bit. Remove & discard cinnamon sticks, cool. Cover and chill. Can be made 3 days ahead. Serve either cold or at room temperature. Note: don't be tempted to break up cinnamon more, or use whole cloves, as if you do they will be hard to identify and remove.
Today wasn't our 'primary' Thanksgiving with family. Due to vagaries of scheduling, that will actually happen on Friday instead. I did, however, go ahead and make a mostly-traditional Thankgiving meal today, so we'd have leftovers, which we won't tomorrow since it'll be at my mom's. Here's the menu:
Pancetta-sage turkey and gravy
Cornbread dressing with pine-nuts
Roasted harvest vegetables
Mulled port cranberry sauce
Mashed potatoes
Bourbon-pecan pie
Spicy Pumpkin pie (I use a fairly bog-standard pie recipe and add a ton of spices, including a shake of cayenne!)
I found the turkey recipe at Bon Appetit/epicurious.com and adapted it because I can never leave well-enough alone (plus there were a couple of things about their version that sounded unappetizing to me). You can find the original pancetta-sage turkey recipe here, but my version is below the cut. I also tinkered with their cranberry sauce with port and cinnamon recipe. My version of that one's down below too, along with the veggies one.
Pancetta-Sage Turkey
Pancetta-Sage Butter:
4 garlic cloves, peeled
4 ounces thinly sliced pancetta (Italian bacon), chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
With machine running, drop garlic down feed tube of processor and chop. Add pancetta. Pulse to chop finely. Add all remaining ingredients. Pulse blending to coarse paste. Transfer to small bowl. Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using. (Note: reserve 1/3-1/2 of the butter for the gravy.)
Turkey:
1 9-10 pound turkey, rinsed, patted dry inside and out; neck, & giblets reserved for Turkey Stock
4 fresh sage sprigs
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
2 fresh thyme sprigs
1 small onion, quartered
2 garlic cloves, halved
For turkey:
Set rack at lowest position in oven and preheat to 325̊F.
Starting at neck end, slide hand between skin and meat of breast to loosen skin. Spread about half the butter over the breast meat under the skin. Spread a small amount of the remaining butter over thighs, drumsticks, and breast (over the skin). Fill main cavity with onion, garlic & herb sprigs. Tie legs loosely to hold shape if they did not come that way. Tuck wing tips under. Place turkey in a turkey-sized oven roasting bag according to package directions. Place bagged turkey on rack set in large roasting pan. Roast turkey until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 165̊F to 170̊F, 2-2.5 hours. Remove turkey from bag and transfer to a platter. Tent with foil; let rest at least 30 minutes (temperature will rise 5 to 10 degrees). Reserve pan juices to add to stock for gravy.
Turkey Stock:
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh sage
2 sprigs fresh thyme
Neck & giblets from turkey
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped carrot
1/4 cut finely chopped celery
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3 bay leaves
3 cups water
1 can chicken broth
Salt & pepper
In a large pan combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer partially uncovered for 2-3 hours while the turkey is cooking. When the turkey is done, the volume of the stock should be reduced to about 3 cups total. Remove & discard the neck, giblets, bay leaves and the woody stems from the fresh herbs. Puree stock in a blender or food-processor until smooth. Once the turkey is done, add the pan-juices from the turkey to the stock and return to a simmer.
Pancetta-Sage Gravy:
Appx. 1/3 to 1/2 of the pancetta-sage butter from above
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 cups turkey stock
2 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped
Heat the reserved pancetta-sage butter and the regular butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to blend. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add flour to create a roux, whisking to blend, cook an additional 4-5 minutes until starting to brown. Reduce heat to medium-low and whisk about a cup of the hot stock into the roux in small additions, whisking each time until well blended and not lumpy. Add this mixture to the pot of simmering stock, whisking well. Bring to boil, whisking, and cook to desired consistency, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped eggs just before serving.
Roasted Harvest Vegetables
8-10 pearl onions (red or white) blanched, peeled (if large, halve them)
2 1/2 cups 1/2-inch-thick diagonal slices peeled carrots (about 3/4 pound)
2 1/2 cups 1/2-inch-thick diagonal slices peeled parsnips (about 3/4 pound)
1/2 lb. fresh baby brussels sprouts, halved (or regular sized, quartered)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 sprig fresh rosemary, stripped and chopped
Salt & fresh-ground Telicherry pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400̊F. In a large flameproof casserole pour in half the oil, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Put the onions, carrots and parsnips in and drizzle remaining oil over the vegetables. Add a little more salt and pepper along with the fresh rosemary. Toss to coat the vegetables thoroughly with oil and roast, stirring occasionally, for about half an hour. At that point, add the brussels sprouts and stir them in with the other vegetables Roast for an additional 20 minutes.
Mulled Port Cranberry Sauce
3/4 cup ruby Port
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
1 cup dried cranberries (I used dried mixed berries as I was out of plain dried cranberries)
1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cloves
Zest of 1 orange (1-2 tsp)
Preparation
Bring ruby Port and broken cinnamon sticks to boil in heavy medium saucepan. Reduce heat to medium and simmer mixture 5 minutes. Add dried berries to saucepan; simmer until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients; bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer until cranberry sauce thickens and is darker in color and berries collapse, stirring often, about 10 minutes. You may need to 'mash' the fresh cranberries a bit. Remove & discard cinnamon sticks, cool. Cover and chill. Can be made 3 days ahead. Serve either cold or at room temperature. Note: don't be tempted to break up cinnamon more, or use whole cloves, as if you do they will be hard to identify and remove.
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