Thanksgiving this year had its successes and fails. I did not try anything too complicated but tried to look at more 'traditional' Thanksgiving dishes - cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, soup, etc.
Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
This was a great success. It was silky and rich. The extra dollop of sour cream on top help tremendously. The only fault of this recipe? It makes a TON of soup so be prepared to have leftover soup for several days. Recipe here from Ina Garten. My variations: I did not add any curry powder, I added the sour cream on top and instead of using a food processor, I used my sister's handy immersion blender! I want one now!
Here is the big sha-bang, the TURKEY! It turned out pretty tasty except the wings were a little crisp. I used the same recipe as last year, found here. No variation this year.
Have I told you that I love pinterest? I found this recipe for a great salad several weeks ago and love it. It's delicious. I think the charm is the combination for the dressing - 3/4 poppyseed dressing and 1/4 balsamic dressing, which I simply use balsamic vinegar than the pre-mixed dressing type. You can really add anything to this salad but I think the musts are the toasted walnuts and the pear or apple slices. I also used the crispy bacon from the turkey above and crumbled a few slices for the salad - double yum! You can find the recipe here from Espresso and Cream.
You know from previous posts that I love simple roasted cauliflower - but I can't just have simple roasted cauliflower for Thanksgiving so to kick it up a bit, I followed this recipe. My variations: No anchovy paste or raisins. Honestly, I think the extra work was nice but I'll stick to simple roasted cauliflower with just garlic, olive oil and S&P - taste just as good.
No feast is complete without mashed potatoes. Not just any mashed potatoes but Boursin mashed potatoes. I buy the garlic and herbs variation of Boursin cheese but I'm sure any of the flavors would work. My variation: I added heavy cream instead of the milk and cut it in half, 1/2 stick of butter (yes, I know. Over indulgent but it's okay.), and freshly chopped thyme and rosemary. Next time, I'd push to roast a whole garlic clove in the oven (or even take from the turkey) and add to the potatoes.
Ross' mom has shared a few recipes with me - Rum cake, pecan pie and cream corn. I've made this every Thanksgiving since she bestowed these amazing recipes to me and I'm surprised I have yet to share it with you! This is not for the health conscious, those that are scared to use cream, or those who don't want to taste awesomeness. A future post to come soon.
I was first introduced to a cheese ball by Laurie during a holiday party and simply remember myself stationed next to this cheese ball for a good portion of the night. I've looked through pinterest and came upon this recipe. For me, this was a fail - I'm not sure if it's the way I prepared it, the amount of time I let it rest in the fridge or that I'm simply comparing it to Laurie's amazing cheese ball. I'll attempt this again and may work on some slight variations but if anyone has a solid recipe to share for a cheese ball, please let me know!
In addition to the aforementioned Rum Cake, I also made a carrot cake for dessert. It's dense, has pineapples and is not sharp with hits of spices. Having had this since I was little, I actually thought this was the norm - until I had the carrot cakes that are covered in creamy frosting, light/flaky at times and with a heavy cinnamon flavor. After asking my mom if this was her recipe, I found out that she pulled this recipe from a Chinese newspaper back in the day! No online recipe as it's on a handwritten and I'll work on putting up a separate post soon.
The last item we made was cranberry sauce. If you can believe it, we've never had cranberry sauce during Thanksgiving. I gave it a shot and most of us agreed that we weren't a fan. Unfortunately, this particular side probably won't make an appearance at future dinners. I realize that I didn't even take a picture of this final dish...
What do you think of our Thanksgiving 2011? My mom also made her Asian noodle dish (recipe here) and oily rice (similar concept to this). I didn't have time to take pictures while she was making the latter dish, but will do so next time as it's quite good and easy to make.
Stayed tuned for some Christmas holiday cooking and some recent cookie recipes!
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