Thankful Pizza

How do you go from this…

To this…?

Thankgiving.  We brined and smoked our turkey.  And last night it was delicious on a turkey pizza.  Started with an olive oil and garlic base with a little crushed red pepper.  Topped it with hunks of smoked turkey, little blobs of stuffing, spoonfuls of truffled mashed potatoes and some green been casserole scattered around.  (Yes, with the crunchy fried onions from a can!)  When it came out of the oven we drizzled it with giblet gravy and added a little bit of cranberry sauce here and there.

Thanksgiving by the slice.  Not too bad!

Turkey

I have to say that our turkey was not lovely to behold.   First of all, we stripped it of all it’s dignity by perching it on a verticle roaster.

We didn’t bother to pose it cutely or anything.  I should have taken a picture of it sitting around in the kitchen, waiting for the rest of the meal to be served.  But, buy the time I thought of it again, it looked like this!

It only took an hour and a half to cook on the Big Green Egg.  Hubbard smoked it over apple wood.  Fantastic flavor and so juicy it was almost dripping!  I’m thinking some turkey gumbo might be in our future.  We only cooked an 11 pound bird and we still have tons of leftovers.  Ours might not have been the prettiest turkey on the block, but it sure was good!

Thanksgiving Menu

Thanksgiving 2009

Applewood Smoked Turkey

Green Chile Cream Gravy

Homemade Cranberry Chutney

Herbed Dressing with Oysters

“No Canned Soup” Green Bean Casserole

Toasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Buckhead Rice with Spinach and Cheddar

Broccoli Rabe with Lemon Butter

Pecan Pie with Chocolate and Bourbon

Homemade Coffee Ice Cream

And if I feel like it, Pumpkin Loaf

Our friends, the Smiths, are coming over.  Lori will probably bring a salad, some bread and another vegetable dish.  Oh, and a few bottles of wine, an essential addition to a proper Thanksgiving dinner.  I’ve got the serving dishes picked out and a schedule of when everything is going to be prepared, starting on Tuesday.  Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if we eat at half time instead of before the game.  It’s so hard to stay on schedule.  It’s a day for relaxing, right?  So, who cares?  Luckily, I don’t work in the retail industry anymore and I get to be off work on Black Friday.  No shopping for me.  Just three days of working next week and a nice leftover-filled four day weekend.  This is going to be a great Thanksgiving.  I know it.

 

Bourbon Cream Corn

We got this recipe out of the paper a while back.  I think it was some local chef’s recipe.  But, we cut it out and now I don’t even know who to give credit for it.  I’ve changed some stuff, but it’s really pretty simple… except for the corn kernels flying all over the kitchen.  It helps to have a small, veggie-vacuming dog.  Our dachshund, Roger, did a great job on Thursday.  I called him in from the yard when I started cutting the corn off the cobs.  He immediately went to work snarfing up every little piece and waiting patiently for more to come.

1/4 cup butter or bacon grease (guess which one I use!)
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 shallots, minced
3 cups freshly cut corn kernels, uncooked (I used four ears.  They were smallish.)
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper, stems and seeds removed (duh)
1/4 cup bourbon
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup scallions, chopped, white and green parts
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Saute shallots in the butter and or grease until translucent.  Add the garlic until fragrant.  Add corn and bell pepper.  It says to cook for 2 minutes.  Right.  I cooked it for probably 10 minutes or more.  I mean, who wants crunchy cream corn? 

Make a well in the center of the pan and throw in the bourbon.  Let it reduce a little and deglaze the pan, if necessary.  Add cream.  Let it cook a pretty good long while, until cream starts to thicken and it looks right to you.  Turn it to low if you’re worried about scorching.  I just think the sweetness of the corn doesn’t penetrate the cream until it’s been allowed to simmer a while.  Add the scallions, pepper and salt and cook a little longer.  Again, if you want crunchy onion bits, then you can take it off the heat right after you add the scallion.

Note:  I used bacon grease for this dish with a couple of pats of butter.  I think it would have been good with the bacon bits thrown back in at the end.  But, I used the bacon for the potatoes instead.  I didn’t know how long it would be until we ate and I didn’t want the bacon getting all mushy and weird.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!

Visions of Thanksgiving

A nice beer at lunch time to hold us over

 

Homemade Bourbon Creamed Corn

Cranberry Sauce

Pecan & Goat Cheese Marbles

Twice Baked Potatoes in a Punkin

Hubbard's Fabulous Pecan Pie

Thanksgiving

So, what’s everyone doing for Thanksgiving?  Do you eat at home or go to someone else’s house?  Is it traditional fare or are you adventurous for holiday?  It is, after all, the high holy holiday of food. 

We usually join our friends the Smiths.  They have no children or much family in town, just like us.  Plus, they live just down the street.  So, it works out great for us to get together for the holiday.  Usually, they make something other than turkey.  Always something wonderful, but not always bird.  This year they purchased a smoker/grill the size of a small locamotive.  In order to utilize this monster, they decided on smoking a turkey this year.  I’m sure it will be fabulous.  He’s smoking the bird and she’s doing stuffing.  I thought I’d bring some green bean casserole.  We made the Cook’s Illustrated version last year and it was really great.  None of the ingredients come out of a can except, of course, those funky fried onions.  You gotta have that.  I think we’ll do some bourbon creamed corn and a dish of potatoes.  I like to do my potatoes kind of like twice baked potatoes.  I don’t spoon it all back into the skins, just into a casserole dish.  Sour cream, butter, bacon, green chilies, cheese.  Really healthy.  We’ll do a pecan pie, I think.  Cranberry sauce.  That’s about it.  I mean, there are only four of us.

What about you guys?  Any funky traditions?  Does anybody still make that green stuff with marshmallows?  I sure did love it as a kid.  Whatever it was!?!