The Holiday Feast

Everyone loves turkey especially over the Holidays, but what are your MUST haves to go along side it? Cranberry Mold? Green Bean Casserole? Mashed Potatoes? Sweet Potatoes? Stuffing? Gravy? Salad? There are way too many choices and with picky eaters all around the table it’s a wonder how mom ever made everyone happy.

Gobble Gobble!

The Turkey

This turkey was a 14.47lbs which was plenty for 4 people with leftovers. I  opted not to brine the turkey but otherwise stuck with The Americas Test Kitchen Cookbook Classic Roast Turkey Recipe. This method made the bird very quick to cook as well as keeping it extremely juicy. This 17-Inch Nonstick Roaster with V-Rack from Bed Bath and Beyond is what I used to roast the turkey. It’s inexpensive but effective especially since I don’t use it more than once or twice a year. I also tied the legs together and tucked the wings of the bird. A cooking style known as trussing.

 

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and then remove neck and bag of organs from inside the turkey and refrigerate for later.
2. Melt a couple tablespoons of butter and apply to the turkey skin. Also season the entire bird with salt and pepper (Don’t forget the inside too! )
3. Add 2 smashed Cloves of Garlic, 1 Onion, 2 Carrots, and 2 stalks of Celery to the inside of the bird as well as 2 Tablespoons of thyme.
4. Place 3 smashed Cloves of Garlic, 2 Onions, 2 Carrots, and 2 stalks of Celery to the bottom of the turkey pan (below the rack) as well as 1 to 1.5 cups of water.
5. Begin cooking the bird breast side down for 45 minutes. After that rotate the bird 1/4 turn every 15 minutes as well as basting it with every turn. (You may need to add more water during each rotation depending on the abundance of basting fluids)
6. Once the turkey is back breast side up, cook until the thickest part of the breast is temped at 160°F. Note that the other, darker meat, portions of the bird are ok to be warmer than 160°F as they don’t really over cook.

Our bird was put in the oven at 11:20am and was done cooking at 1:50pm which is exactly 2.5 hours. Not too shabby for a turkey! Now onto the good stuff….the sides…

The Gravy

It’s really important to start your gravy pretty soon after you throw your turkey in the oven because the longer it cooks the yummier it is! So grab those organs from the fridge and get out your cast iron because this is the BEST gravy recipe ever.

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons of Oil

2 Tablespoons of Butter

Turkey organs (kidney, liver, heart, lungs) and neck

1/4 Cup Flour

3 Cups Water

2 Cups Chicken Broth

1 Cup White Cooking Wine

Seasonings (Salt and Pepper, Thyme)

1. Add a couple tablespoons of oil to your large cast iron skillet and once it is shimmering add the organs and neck and cover.
2. Continue to cook these until they are nicely seared then add 1 Onion.
3. Once the onion is translucent remove the Turkey organs and discard them all but the kidney and liver (those will be used later on)
4.  Add Thyme and turkey pan drippings (if available) as well as the wine.  Cook the alcohol out and then add butter
5. Slowly and very throughly whisk the flour into the pan. Once the roux is made add the chicken stock and water, continuing to stir so that the gravy will evenly thicken
6. Dice up the turkey kidney and liver as small as possible and add to the gravy (If the dice is too large it creates bitterness in the gravy)
7. Season with S&P to taste and reduce until you’ve reached desired thickness

 

The Stuffing

Ingredients

2 loaves of stale and cheap bread!

1/2 Cup of Dried Cranberries

1/4 Cup of Pine Nuts

1 Acorn Squash

3 Ribs of Celery

2-3 Carrots

2 Onions

3 Eggs

2 Cups of Chicken Stock

Thyme

Salt & Pepper

1. Sautee Carrots, Onion, Celery, Garlic, and Acorn Squash until soft and onions are translucent. Pour onto a sheet tray and put in the freezer to let cool.
2. In a large bowl or on a sheet tray mix together all ingredients and slowly add the chicken stock.
3. Spray a glass baking dish down with olive or canola oil and add the stuffing mixture, pushing it down into a sort of loaf shape.
4. Cook on 400°F for 20 minutes. Bump up the temperature to 425°F (or a broil if you’re brave) and cook until brown and crust on the top

The Mashed Potatoes

Not the healthiest but hey, it’s the holidays!

1. Cube up 7 Red Potatoes and rinse them in cold water (soak them if you want to remove more of the starches)
2. Cook in salted water until they are easy to poke through with a fork. More done is better because they’re easier to mash!
3. Drain potatoes and return to pot. Mash with 2-3 Tablespoons of butter, a few splashes of Half and Half, S&P, and Garlic Powder.

 

The Green Beans

The green beans are the last part of this meal but I promise that’s not because they are an afterthought, it’s because they are EASY to make! After this whole holiday feast process that is music to my ears. Cut the ends off of the green beans and sauté them in olive oil with a little salt and pepper. Super simple, but you don’t need much on these sweet yummy beans. I prefer mine slightly crunchy and I do buy these Organic because you eat the whole thing, it isn’t peeled.

So…Did you try it? What do you think? Are you as full as I am? Happy New Year and thanks for stopping by!