All my planning, scouring magazines and cookbooks. All the internet searches and cooking shows. All my creative juices flowing and my Thanksgiving menu is remarkably traditional. I did scale things way back in size because there was just the three of us; Mum, David and me. I fixed a bone in turkey breast instead of the whole turkey even though David and I both prefer the dark meat. I was so afraid of the meat being dry, that I brined it over one night and did a wet rub/marinade the second night. It wasn’t dry but it was still white meat, if you know what I mean.
Other new things I tried included; adding dried cranberries to my usual dressing, mixing hubbard and butternut squash, and I tried an interesting recipe for gravy made from smoked turkey wings, carrots, onion, garlic, celery and herbs. Since I only did the turkey breast, there wasn’t much in the way of drippings, so I tried this new gravy recipe from Tyler Florence of Food Network TV. I will tell you, it smelled fantastic while roasting in the oven and it looked fantastic when complete. However, it tasted AWFUL! The carrots made it taste oddly sweet and overly starchy. Thank goodness I had a few drippings from the breast pan. I scooped those up, made a small batch of gravy and mixed in a little of the roasted gravy. It tasted pretty good and no one was the wiser. I will try that gravy again with NO carrots.
You must try my cranberry relish recipe. I add a little Chambord to it (black raspberry liquor). It’s your basic relish with cranberries, apples, oranges, walnuts and sugar, but the splash of Chambord has everyone wondering why they’re having seconds when normally they hide the first serving under the uneaten green beans!
MENU:
- Roast Turkey Breast
- Baked Sausage Dressing with Cranberries
- Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes
- Gravy from Roasted Smoked Turkey Wings & Aromatics
- Puree of Mixed Squashes (Hubbard & Butternut)
- Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots & Crispy Bacon
- Cranberry Relish with Chambord (black raspberry liquor)
- Warm Wheat Rolls
- Traditional Pumpkin Pie, Warmed From the Oven with Melty Whipped Cream
Meals For My Mother-In-Law 