Friday, November 23, 2007

Thanksgiving Day


Note: This post was originally called Thanksgiving Preparations, but I have been so busy it never got posted. Better late than never, I say.

I am preparing Thanksgiving dinner for my parents, my family, and my daughter's best friend. We'll have turkey with giblet gravy and dressing, whole cranberry sauce, a potato casserole, a corn dish, two kinds of sweet potatoes, freshly baked crescent rollls, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and a relish tray filled with olives, pickles, deviled eggs and the like.

In the past I have searched recipes and tried variations of traditional fare. Some were successes, some were merely serviceable. This year, I let my husband and children decide the menu. Almost every recipe was something I can prepare mostly in advance. As I write this, my Thanksgiving dinner is two thirds prepared, and it is Wednesday evening. Tomorrow, I will get up and roast the turkey, make a fresh pumpkin pie, put finishing touches on the sweet potatoes and bake everything. It has been the easiest Thanksgiving meal I have ever cooked.


Roast Turkey

Combine 1 part sugar with 2 parts salt. Season to taste. I use sage and chili powder, about a tablespoon each. Mix well and rub over the skin of the turkey. Refrigerate the turkey overnight without covering. (I put parchment paper in the bottom crisper of my refrigerator and pop the turkey in with the rub applied to the bottom, then apply the rub to the rest of the body and return the crisper drawer to the fridge. It works like a charm.)

Remove turkey from the refrigerator in the morning and rub off the seasonings (do not rinse). Apply olive oil to the skin. Do not stuff. Place celery and carrot sticks in the bottom of the roasting pan. Halve an onion and slice; add it to the pan. Cover just the bottom of the roasting pan with chicken broth (about one cup). Place the turkey on top of the celery and carrots. Place in a 325 degree oven and roast for 3 to 4 hours, depending on size, until it reaches the desired internal temperature (I like 170 degrees). The skin will be crisp and beautifully browned. The dark meat will be cooked through and the breast meat will be moist. Every time.


I used to brine my turkey. This is much better and requires infinitely less preparation.


Traditional Southern Dressing

Brown one pound of bulk Italian sausage. Add a sweet onion, diced, and two stalks of celery, diced. Cook until the vegetables are tender. Drain. Return to flame and add four cups of chicken stock and two tablespoons of butter. Simmer while you prepare the bread.

Cube one 8" x 8" pan of cornbread. Add one tablespoon of rubbed sage. Combine with one 16 ounce package of herbed dressing mix (I use Pepperidge Farms). Add several tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley.

Combine sausage mixture and bread mixture. Mix well. Add chicken stock to achieve desired moistness. Turn out into buttered 3 quart casserole dish. Bake in 375 degree oven for 30 to 45 minutes.


I don't think I have ever made dressing the same way twice. This is the basic recipe I use. Sometimes I add chopped pecans or dried cranberries or both. My mother uses oysters and adds green peppers to the onion and celery. The result is always delicious.


Fresh Cranberry Sauce

Combine two cups of cranberries, one half cup of sugar, two tablespoons water, one tablespoon fresh orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and a pinch of salt in a large, heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until cranberries burst, about six to eight minutes. Serve warm or cold.


I like this spooned over vanilla ice cream when still warm.


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As it turns out, this really was the easiest Thanksgiving ever. I got up and put the turkey on to roast at 7:30am, then baked the pumpkin pie. I have two large ovens, so I could bake the dressing, potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn dish in one oven as the turkey finished roasting in the other. The crescent rolls were baked last while the table was filled with food. Dinner was served about 12:30pm. Everything was warm and everything was delicious. Best of all for me, it was easy since I did most of the work on Wednesday. The children cleaned up while I put away food. I spent the afternoon visiting with my parents and my husband. I don't ever remember having such a leisurely and pleasant Thanksgiving. Well, not when I was the one cooking, anyway.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

10 comments:

Fire Byrd said...

I hope you had a lovely day. Made me hungry reading your turkey receipe, but I'll have to just wait for Christmas day for mine.
pxx

laurie said...

i could never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever do this with that kind of ease. ever.

i admire you and bow to you.

and would like you to ship me some leftover pie.

Kim said...

That is the absolute easiest turkey recipe in the world. You could easily prepare it, Laurie. You simply rub some stuff on it, let it set, put it in a pan, put it in the oven and forget about it for three hours. Easy peasy.

Leftover pie? I'll have to think of something else to send your way. There were eight of us. It's Friday afternoon, and the pie is long gone. In fact, everything is gone but the stuffing. The children got up and had turkey dinner for breakfast. I kid you not.

the rotten correspondent said...

It's amazing to me the difference when you can get some of it done ahead of time. It's huge.

And of course it helps to be organized, which you obviously were. I honestly think the hardest part is finishing up the cooking and keeping the house company ready all at the same time. Ugh.Cooking - fun. Cleaning - not fun.

We're all expecting invites for Christmas, by the way. Make it easy on yourself and just do the same menu over again. We won't mind in the slightest.

Crystal Jigsaw said...

This sounds amazing. Anyone room for one more?

Crystal xx

laurie said...

ooh, invites for christmas! tempting.

but i think doug and i are hosting christmas eve again. for his family, not mine. much less stress.

Manic Mother Of Five said...

Hey there my lovely. Don't eat meat or fish (kids and husband do so he cooks that stuff). You mentioned sweet potatoes though and I LOVE those - what do you do with yours?

lady macleod said...

Well done! Happy holiday.

The Green Stone Woman said...

You certainly make it sound easy, but I guess you are not easily frazzled. It sounds like a lovely dinner and I am sure it tasted wonderful. We should all have such a talented cook make Thanksgiving dinner for us. Could you come to the Netherlands and do that for Christmas?

Cheerio!

Kim said...

RC, cooking is about the only venue where I'm organized. Come on down to the our red state capitol and I'll fix ya up. (I know you're bluffing; you were here and didn't stop to see me!)

It was really good, Crystal. If you ever find yourself in Oklahoma, you'd better look me up!

Well, Laurie, are you gonna cook for Doug's family?

MMOF, I have to make sweet potatoes two ways. I whip them with butter, sugar and spices, then top one batch with marshmallows and the other with a pecan-brown sugar mixer and heat until warmed through. Yummy.

Thanks for stopping by, Lady M. It's always nice to hear from you.

Oooh, a trip to the Netherlands? I am totally up for that, Irene!