my thanksgiving menu part deux
I was all set to have a very bachelorette thanksgiving when a dear friend invited me to her friends home for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day was lovely. It was a veritable feast with oysters and a turkey roasting over an open fire pit, and glasses and glasses of wine. Really just a fabulous time. I felt very lucky to have been included!
Even though there was a change in plans, I ended up making almost everything I had intended. The day before Thanksgiving I made the Vegan Pumpkin Cranberry Bread with Dark Chocolate pieces, the Sage Brown Butter, the stuffing mix, and roasted a head of garlic. The day of I made Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Mashed Potatoes, to which I added the roasted garlic and the Sage Brown Butter. I spent the day after Thanksgiving with another dear friend and I made the stuffing and the roasted chicken.
Unfortunately I have no pictures of any of it. You’re just going to have to take my word for it. I actually kind of shy away from food photography because I’m not particularly good at it, but I am good at recipes (maybe?) so I will give those!
VEGAN PUMPKIN CRANBERRY CHOCOLATE BREAD
I used this recipe as the basis for my pumpkin cranberry chocolate bread. While I am not vegan, I chose a vegan recipe because I don’t like cooking with eggs. I also wanted to use a recipe that didn’t require me to purchase a lot of extra ingredients, and I already had almost everything I needed in my kitchen. SIMPLICITY! I changed the recipe only in that I added dark chocolate pieces to the batter. I used that 85% cacao dark chocolate bar from Trader Joes. The darker the chocolate the better, in my humble opinion.
It came out delicious! At least to me. It was incredibly moist and sweet but not too sweet. My plan had been to top it with a mixture of creme fraiche and honey but I didn’t get around to it. Next time!
EDITED TO ADD: the recipe online calls for white sugar but I NEVER EVER use white sugar. I used Turbinado Sugar, which is just raw sugar. I highly recommend you never use white sugar either. AZUCAR!
ROASTED BRUSSEL SPROUTS
This is my favorite brussel sprout recipe. I toss them in coconut oil instead of olive oil to change it up a little. It gives them a little sweetness. After they’re out of the oven I also like to toss them with a mix of parmesan, romano, and pecorino cheese. CHEESE!
MASHED POTATOES
Mashed potatoes are probably one of my favorite things to make. They are super easy, fairly quick, and you can add lots of stuff to them.
This is my own recipe, but mashed potatoes aren’t rocket science. I used golden potatoes. They are softer and sweeter than russets or the other brown potatoes whose names I am not familiar with. When the potatoes were soft and ready to be mashed I added unsalted butter and greek yogurt (instead of mayo or cow’s milk or other dairy product/substitute). I also stirred in the whole head of garlic I roasted the day before, and all of the Sage Brown Butter. I also added the mixture of parmesan, romano and pecorino because cheese obvs. Salt and pepper were added and they were delicious, thank you.
SAGE BROWN BUTTER
I used this recipe. I used fresh sage leaves and they are amazing.
STUFFING
Okay, so the stuffing experiment did not go exactly as planned. I didn’t follow a particular recipe as I wanted to kind of wing it with the ingredients I already had, which didn’t really work out. Luckily my friend had the idea to doctor it up with pieces of sourdough and a lot of butter, so it ended up being pretty good. The stuffing was a mix of one fuji apple, fresh cranberries, celery, yellow onion, garlic, shallots and Panko style bread crumbs. My advice would be to eschew the panko and just use sourdough bread pieces. I stuffed the chicken with the original panko stuffing which, again, didn’t really work, but the doctored up stuffing with the roast chicken was delicious if I do say so myself and I do.
ROASTED CHICKEN
Making a roasted chicken is not all that difficult really. I looked up recipes online for oven temp and cooking time, but dressing it up was all me. After I cleaned the wee bird I just rubbed it with butter (UNSALTED), ground pepper and salt onto (and inside of) it, and stuck fresh rosemary and thyme sprigs into its flesh (i know, gross). I also doused it with some chicken stalk and water, just to make it juicy. And it was soooo juicy. I’d have to say roasting a chicken is the best bang for your buck, food wise. And, again, it’s super easy.
I HAD meant to post this fairly soon after Thanksgiving, but… I have no excuse other than laziness. Which is the worst excuse. ANYWAY, please enjoy these recipes on your own if you dare!
