menu building: November 2007 Archives
I've finalized my thanksgiving menu. It is somewhat traditional, but I am trying some new things, and stepping outside of the box on my dishes, but trying to stay true to the flavors of the holiday. Last year my uncle and I served a duo of soups ying-yang style in the bowl. I'm doing that again, though I've tweaked both recipes. This year I am trying out the spice rubbed turkey recipe from Cooks Illustrated. I've got the giant bags for the turkey brine, and the salt/pepper/spice brine ingredients ready to go.
I think I will have a bold and flavorful turkey. I'm borrowing tips from Christopher Kimball and Alton Brown again. I'm taking some of the flavorings from the rub and the side dishes and stuffing the turkey with them. Alton Brown talks about this on his show Good Eats -- you take the ingredients and nuke them in the microwave - half a pomegranate, half a pear, lemon wedges, orange half, and cinnamon stick - then you stuff the cavity with them. It leaves room for air to circulate, and the warm fruit does not add to the cooking time.
To balance the flavor of the turkey, I am making a pomegranate sauce and a traditional gravy. There will be two cranberry sides - one with seeds, and one without. The one without seeds will be a standard cranberry sauce, the one with seeds will be more of a chutney. A little more savory then the traditional sauce. The addition of shallots and garlic to the pears and cranberries should balance well with the brown sugar and ginger.
We will have an apple and pear bread dressing, some warm chorizo cornbread, and dinner rolls. Hrm.. that sure is a lot of bread... I might cut out the dressing, and turn the cornbread into a dressing. In that case -- I need some celery, andouille, some red bell peppers, and an onion. I'll check at the butcher to see what type of fresh sausage they have.... And I need to make two batches of skillet cornbread after dinner tonight.
Instead of a sweet potato casserole or roasted squash, I'm going to make sweet potato/roasted acorn squash gnocchi with an apple cider sauce. I made a variant of this a few days ago, and the wife and kid liked them. The sauce has some garlic and shallots in it, so there is a hint of savoriness in it, the acidity of the apple cider and a little vinegar, and a dash of cayenne pepper for bite.
And to round off the meal I needed something green. I stepped way outside the traditional box for this one. I'm going to make some mustard greens. This recipe is a variant of Alton Brown's sesame honey glazed mustard greens. I'm replacing a few of the flavors to meld with my menu.
For dessert we will have the traditional spiced pumpkin cheesecake, limoncello, and my wife might bake a pie.
I think I will have a bold and flavorful turkey. I'm borrowing tips from Christopher Kimball and Alton Brown again. I'm taking some of the flavorings from the rub and the side dishes and stuffing the turkey with them. Alton Brown talks about this on his show Good Eats -- you take the ingredients and nuke them in the microwave - half a pomegranate, half a pear, lemon wedges, orange half, and cinnamon stick - then you stuff the cavity with them. It leaves room for air to circulate, and the warm fruit does not add to the cooking time.
To balance the flavor of the turkey, I am making a pomegranate sauce and a traditional gravy. There will be two cranberry sides - one with seeds, and one without. The one without seeds will be a standard cranberry sauce, the one with seeds will be more of a chutney. A little more savory then the traditional sauce. The addition of shallots and garlic to the pears and cranberries should balance well with the brown sugar and ginger.
We will have an apple and pear bread dressing, some warm chorizo cornbread, and dinner rolls. Hrm.. that sure is a lot of bread... I might cut out the dressing, and turn the cornbread into a dressing. In that case -- I need some celery, andouille, some red bell peppers, and an onion. I'll check at the butcher to see what type of fresh sausage they have.... And I need to make two batches of skillet cornbread after dinner tonight.
Instead of a sweet potato casserole or roasted squash, I'm going to make sweet potato/roasted acorn squash gnocchi with an apple cider sauce. I made a variant of this a few days ago, and the wife and kid liked them. The sauce has some garlic and shallots in it, so there is a hint of savoriness in it, the acidity of the apple cider and a little vinegar, and a dash of cayenne pepper for bite.
And to round off the meal I needed something green. I stepped way outside the traditional box for this one. I'm going to make some mustard greens. This recipe is a variant of Alton Brown's sesame honey glazed mustard greens. I'm replacing a few of the flavors to meld with my menu.
For dessert we will have the traditional spiced pumpkin cheesecake, limoncello, and my wife might bake a pie.
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