Thanksgiving Recap

Okay, one last Thanksgiving post before we move on to new culinary adventures. Two items on our menu are headed for the family cookbook after all. And besides, we need a debrief.

Cranberries

The cranberry sauce was divine. I've been enjoying it with my turkey sandwiches for lunch ever since the big event. On the side though, not in my sandwiches. I was college when I first heard about putting cranberry sauce on turkey sandwiches. Must be an east coast thing. Regardless, it never happened in our house.

Here's a sneak peak at the cranberry sauce recipe that my mom has adapted in recent years...one can practically taste the vitamin C (in a good way):

1 lb Fresh Cranberries
1 C sugar
Juice and zest from 1 orange
Juice and zest from 1 lime
Juice and zest from 1 lemon

1. Dissolve sugar with the citrus zest and juices in a saucepan over medium heat.


2. When sugar is fully dissolved, add the cranberries, turn heat down a bit and simmer 10 minutes until the cranberries are just popping open.

Onions
These turned out okay. Last Thursday, they were a bit overwhelmed by the plethora of other eats. Besides, Kelly's creamed onions were to die for. Though on their own as leftovers, they've been scrumptious. I just finished the last of them tonight.

I ended up making them in advance just as Mom suggested. I got to the part in the recipe before they are cooked for 1 1/2 hours and need to be basted every 15-20 minutes. I knew I didn't have the heart to spend all that time basting onions with guests in our small house.

Pies
Pie pastry for the pumpkin pie was made from scratch via Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. But I got a great tip from the Splendid Table episode that I listened to the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Lynne Rossetto Kasper said that pastry comes together best when the ingredients (dry + fat) are frozen. Whatever the recipe, she keeps baggies of pre-measured ingredients in her freezer (and she has several on hand at all times). When the time comes for pie or tart, all you need to do is follow the rest of the recipe and add the liquids. I just love this and the pastry came out with better luck than usual. I enjoyed the process because I took my time instead of trying to force everything too quickly. It was a lot easier having taken two days off work to savor and enjoy the turkey day preparations.

Everyone seemed to have a great time and we definitely ate and drank well. My husband (the DJ) and his family like to spend time together more than they like food, which makes everything fun and stress free. It sure went by with the wink of an eye. Weeks, days and hours of preparation fly by in an afternoon. And have I mentioned the sunny Seattle weather we were blessed with for most of last week?