It was ages ago now. But I clearly never got round to posting them. I love making Thanksgiving dinner. I love making dinner anytime I get to feed my family. I get all giddy about it, actually. And with something like Thanksgiving- well, I get to plan for weeks, and show off a bit, and that’s about the best I could ask for.
Ah, yes. That’s what it’s all about. How beautiful. I try to keep my turkey simple- rubbed with butter and herbs, stuffed with onion and a lemon and the whole thing over with salt and pepper and basted in white wine and heavy chicken stock.
It looks so small like this. But it was a fairly sizable turkey, I swear. Enough for all 12 of us, or whatever it was.
Oh look, gravy! The drippings from the pan, plus lots of hearty stock (made, of course, from bones), a little flour, and some seasoning. I don’t actually like gravy- but I really enjoy making it. Something about using up all the drippings.
Mashed potatoes. With skin, of course. Because it’s just criminal to take the skin off a potato, in my opinion. May as well just eat a big bowl of white flour, otherwise. And I love using different colored potatoes- white and yellow and everything.
And- of course- pie. Apple pie. And you can see in the background some chives. We still had lots of herbs in the garden, then, and got to use all the fresh stuff in the cooking. I had never made a pie with a top, like this, but it turned out lovely.
But- the most important- is what you do when Thanksgiving is over. You have this carcass- the last of the turkey. And how do you use it? You can’t just throw the thing away- well- that’s what a lot of people do. But I could never do such a thing. So I boiled down the carcass, and picked off all the meat.
And that was what was left. And that’s about the best you can hope for- the meat gone, the bones cooked down for broth- and nothing left but this.
So the broth and the meat were left in the pot, and to that I added carrots, and rice, and onions, and um, I think plenty of seasoning. I love to use wild rice- I love the texture and all the different colors.
Mmm. The finished product.
I also made a pasta sauce with the giblets (the organs), that was actually very good. But apparently I didn’t take a picture. I have no idea why not. I suppose I haven’t been good with the pictures lately. Organs are kind of pretty in their way, aren’t they?
I don’t know that I’d like to make such big dinners all the time- but sometimes I think I might. I do love to cook these heartening, satisfying, filling dinners!