Happy Not Yet Thanksgiving!

My husband is head-over-heels for a full bore turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  Thankfully, so am I, because this meal is definitely time-consuming.  Once fall hits, it's hard not to make a big special meal outside of the holiday celebrations.  I have a big family, and my aunts and grandmothers are often the ones preparing the special dinners.  With the use of bone-in turkey pieces, however, I can make a real turkey dinner for just the three of us.

The technique I use for turkey was featured on America's Test Kitchen.  Go on over there and git yerself a membership.  It's well worth it!

The turkey preparation basically involves slow roasting a bone-in breast (plus thighs and drumsticks, for a larger crowd) on a rack over chopped veggies, herbs, and broth, followed by a resting period and then broiling for crispy skin.  The turkey-and-veggie infused broth from the roasting pan is then turned into the most singularly delicious gravy I've ever made.

On the side, I made some mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream, steamed green beans, and cornbread dressing.  I also opened a can of jellied cranberry sauce, a great pantry stand-by if you aren't in the mood to make your own.

My cornbread dressing is the same that my late stepmother used to make, and it's not so much a recipe as it is a method.  It's easy, delicious, and makes great leftovers.

Cornbread Dressing
Serves 8

2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix, prepared according to package directions, baked, and cooled (You can do this the night before and let it sit, covered, on the counter.)
1 lb. pork sausage, regular or sage flavored
1 cup white onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
2-3 cups chicken broth
Garlic powder or granules
Poultry seasoning

Crumble the cooled cornbread into a large mixing bowl and break it up with your hands.  Heat a large skillet over medium-high, add the sausage, and cook until nearly browned through, breaking up pieces with a wooden spoon.  Add the diced onions and celery to the sausage.  Sprinkle on some garlic powder and poultry seasoning and stir well.  Add about a cup and a half of chicken broth and bring to a simmer.  Cook until the onions become translucent.  Taste and adjust seasoning with more garlic and poultry seasoning if needed.  Transfer the sausage mixture to the bowl with the cornbread and mix with a wooden spoon until moistened.  Add more broth as needed until the mixture is completely moistened and sticky.

Transfer to a 9" square baking dish, spreading with a spatula to level.  Bake, covered with foil, in a preheated 400º oven for about 20 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for another 20-30 minutes until the edges are browned.  Serve.

Turkey breast basted with melted butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Roasting pan of vegetables, herbs, and broth.

The turkey roasts skin-down for the first hour, then is flipped over until done.

Carving the boid.

I suck at making pretty pie edges, so I rolled the excess dough and used tiny cookie cutters to make the border.

I adhered the leaf shapes with a little water.

See?  Purty!

Whipped cream beaten into submission.

*Drool.*

Huzzah!

Pumpkin puree, seeds, and pie

Our local paper had an article last week mentioning a shortage of canned pumpkin due to poor crop performance at the Libby farms, and they weren't lying. My local grocery store had nary a can of the delicious, multi-purpose, and ubiquitously autumnal orange glop.

My husband had requested a full turkey dinner for last weekend, complete with pumpkin pie, so I decided to do a fully scratch version, which was a first for me. It was easier than I anticipated, yet time consuming. However, the fantastic fresh taste of the resulting pie was worth it.

Various websites suggested one 6" pie pumpkin for a single 9" pie, but since I was putting in this extra effort, I decided to make extra and freeze it. I purchased two pie pumpkins, weighing in at just over 7 pounds total. I removed the stems and blossom ends, cut them in half, and scooped out the seeds and stringy parts.

The photographer of this picture is my almost 3 year old assistant. Note her unique perspective.


I then placed the halves cut side down on a baking sheet. There is no seasoning or oil.


NOTE: One set of online instructions recommended lining the baking sheet with parchment paper. I didn't have any, so I omitted this step. However, there was a decent quantity of sticky brown goo that had to be soaked off after baking, so next time, I'll line with parchment or a Silpat.

I baked the pumpkins at 350º for about an hour and 15 minutes, until they were easily pierced with a paring knife. After a brief rest out of the oven, the skins were very easily peeled off.



I scooped up the pumpkin flesh and crammed it into my food processor. After a couple of minutes and several pauses to stir, the pumpkins were reduced to a smooth puree. As you can see, I've maxed out the capacity!


Cans of Libby brand pumpkin are 15 ounces each, so I decided to package my puree similarly. I had some reusable plastic containers from takeout that worked perfectly. Using my digital kitchen scale, I measured out just under a pound of puree for each, winding up with 4 containers.


My puree came out the right consistency, but if your batch winds up watery, Martha Stewart recommends putting the puree into a cheesecloth lined colander over a bowl in the fridge overnight. Discard the liquid in the bowl.

Once I had my puree ready, it was time to make pie. I used the tried and true recipe from the canned pumpkin label, available here. My go-to recipe for pie crust is always that of Alton Brown.

I was a little overzealous with whisking in the evaporated milk, and therefore the pie wound up with some unsightly brown bubbles in the center. I peeled them off. Unfortunately, there were cracks in the center after the custard cooled, but it didn't stop us from eating it! :D


Add a little (or a lot) sweetened whipped cream (chill your beaters and a glass bowl before whipping- makes it go much faster) and voila! Delicious fall dessert, all the way from scratch.


We can't forget the lowly pumpkin seeds! After removing them from the pumpkins, I cleaned off all of the stringy parts, rinsed them, and soaked them in a brine. Later, I drained off the brine, coated the seeds in a mixture of New Mexico chile powder and kosher salt, and baked them on a sheet until toasty and golden brown. Yum!

A Thanksgiving staple - Pumpkin Pie

One part of my family celebrated Thanksgiving early this year, because my cousin was preparing to leave for U.S. Air Force basic training. I offered to bring the pie. I love pumpkin pie; it totally defines the season for me, even more so than turkey and dressing. There's not much better than a homemade one, and not much worse than a shitty one from a box with rubbery custard, butterless bone-dry crust, and excessive spices meant to disguise the inevitable freezer burn.

I was especially proud of the way these two came out- not a crack in sight, the custard cooked just right and not overbeaten. The crust was GBD*, a blissful balance of buttery and flaky.

Recipes used are simple- the filling recipe is from the label of Libby's pumpkin puree, and the crust is from Alton Brown.

You can find Alton's pie crust recipe here, but you should know I stray somewhat from his technique. I don't use the food processor; I like the manual labor of a pastry cutter. I also use Crisco shortening instead of lard, and I drizzle in ice water from a glass measuring cup instead of spritzing with a bottle. Finally, Alton calls for blind-baking the crust, which I omitted.

The pies tasted as gorgeous as they looked, especially with a generous slathering of whipped cream.

*GBD = Golden brown and delicious. Totally ripped off from my nerd-crush, Alton Brown. Learn it. Know it. I'll use it often.