Post Turkey Day.

I have good news, remember here where I attempted my first turkey and ruined it? And I cried and cried over burnt green beans? Well, suffice to say, I have redeemed myself in the turkey department and the green bean department. My dad was a little weary of me taking over the turkey reins, but I pleaded my case. Meet Gary (depicted above), our organic fresh turkey, this was right before he was electrically carved by my dad. All in all, the turkey turned out great, moist and flavorful.

I have to say the gravy ROCKED! With the neck and giblets, veggies and herbs, I made a turkey broth, which was the base for the homemade gravy. A little white wine, some butter, flour and BAM (can you hear Emeril?), a killer gravy. It was rich and there's leftovers which I believe I will pour everything that comes my way the next few days!!

Kudos to my dad for making his chorizo stuffing (he should've made more) and sweet potatoes with bourbon. Again, tasty, tasty, tasty. That chorizo stuffing and the gravy together were a match made in heaven. These two dishes have become staples for my dad, I don't he can go without them during the holiday season.

I made green beans with toasted walnuts in a lemon dijon vinagrette from the November issue of Bon Appetit. The viniagrette (minced shallots, lemon zest, lemon juice, dijon mustard and olive oil) is a great combination with crisp, warm green beans. This dressing is a great compliment to any variety of green veggies. My brother, Benjamin, enjoys cranberry sauce (I can do without it) and so I tried a new recipe this year from my Martha Stewart Christmas Cookbook, a cranberry sauce with driend cherries recipe. It also featured orange zest, orange juice, minced shallots, and grated ginger. Sweet, but let's face it anything beats a can of cranberry. I mean, we go to all the trouble of making a nice turkey, pies, stuffing, the works and then someone yells out, "Pass me the can opener??" So wrong, but that's another topic of discussion.

Don't shoot me, I'm not a huge pumpkin pie eater either, but I referred back to the November issue of Bon Appetit for this year's pumpkin pie with walnut brown sugar topping. Served with some fresh whipped cream, it was a great ending to a great feast. Of course, the company couldn't be beat and neither was the wine. I hope you and yours had a memorable Thanksgiving this year. To many more!!!!

Thanksgiving 2007 - Looks can be Deceiving......

Keep in mind these pics are from Thanksgiving 2007, I haven't been able to share them based on sheer embarassment. I could formulate some Martha Stewart classic Thanksgiving story filled with delicious eats and treats, family bonding and other hoop-la, but that would be lying and well........I don't want to be labeled as a liar.

Isn't it interesting how photos offer a visual capture of what seemingly looks good but really isn't?!?! Have I peaked your interest enough for the gruesome details????? The wonder of grace should've really hit me on Thanskgiving Day - I prepared a feast for two, and while some dishes struggled others were flat out a hit! The menu included Martha Stewart's Classic Roast Turkey and Gravy, Nana's Amazing Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans with Tarragon Herbed Butter, Homemade Cranberry Sauce, and Homemade Dinner Rolls. Dessert was Paul's choice - a real homemade Pumpkin Pie ( no cans of pumpkin puree, people, from a real freakin' pumpkin).

The highlights of the meal include the everything but the gravy, turkey and green beans. I burned the green beans! How might you ask? Simple - in a rush to finish the gravy, which Paul takes credit for, finish the mashed potaters, and plate our food, I thought I turned off the burner that had the green beans (which were perfectly cooked prior to their meeting with hell), come to find out I didn't. After realizing what I had done, I took the pot off the burner and having no room to put the hot pot anywhere, set it on my cheap countertop, which then BURNED my countertop. So now I have a lovely ring of burnt laminate to always remind me of said unfortunate event.

Now onto the worst of it all.....the bird. That poor poor bird. Thank God I can laugh at this all now because I have a witness (can I get a witness?) who will verify I was not laughing, in fact I was in tears when all was said and done. At least I had a nice $40 Pinot Noir from California to soothe my weary soul. There is no other way to say this with class, but the bird was too damn salty. Martha's recipe called for the turkey to be brined (a method in which you give the bird a day or two bath in water, sugar, salt and other accoutrements). Keep in mind the original recipe was for an 18-20 lb. bird, my bird was 9 lbs. I made the recipe in 1/2, including the brine. After I made the brine, it didn't look like it would cover the bird completely so I made the WHOLE brine recipe instead, therefore killing my bird with salt. Lesson learned - trust your culinary instinct, please, for the love of God. Paul suggested that this year (2008) I should not brine the bird, but I have to master this bird!!!! One thing I can say for it was that it was the most MOIST, TENDER, and JUICY bird I ever ate!

As much as I want this blog to display my culinary victories, I have to come to terms with the fact that there will be culinary casualties as well, this being the BIGGEST blunder of them all (let's hope)!