Your No Stress, Go Skiing in the Morning, Three-Hour Thanksgiving Dinner
Your No Stress, Go Skiing in the Morning, Three-Hour
Thanksgiving Dinner - Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson
This week my Facebook newsfeed brought me a post from New
York Times Food: The Eight-Hour Thanksgiving Dinner. The website included classic
recipes, glossy, well-produced videos, and the promise that you would even have
time to sit down and have lunch during the eight hours of cooking. All of which
sounded promising until I did the math.
If I assumed sitting down for dinner at four o’clock and
worked backward from there, I’d have to start cooking at eight a.m. and then
spend the next eight hours mostly on my feet chopping and stirring and using
every pan in the kitchen. Which might be okay, given my TV line up for Thanksgiving
mornings: the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, followed by the Purina National
Dog Show, which always sends me to the digital archives to watch one of my
favorite movies: Best in Show, and then football. Since I know nothing about
football this is mostly for background noise.
Even with this entertaining line-up viewed from behind my
kitchen island, even with friends popping in to offer support, even fortified
with a glass or two of wine, by the end of eight hours of intense cooking, the
only thing I’d be ready for is a nap, not a holiday meal with friends.
And yet! I am not suggesting restaurant reservations or
purchasing a pre-made Thanksgiving dinner. Never! Instead, I encourage you to
relax and enjoy cooking for friends and family. To prove this is possible, I
gave myself the challenge of creating a delicious Thanksgiving dinner in
three-hours.
I started cooking at three and sat down to dinner with
friends at six o’clock. There’s a caveat, I cooked a five-pound turkey breast,
instead of a whole turkey, which is perfect if you are planning Thanksgiving
for four to six guests. The other secret is to have all your ingredients
assembled when you begin so time is not wasted searching for them.
For appetizers, I suggest my favorites: shrimp cocktail or a
simple platter of three cheeses, grapes, and crackers, or fresh vegetables and a
cold dip of your choice, all of which can be store-bought.
I’m listing the recipes in the order that you’ll want to
make them, based on their cooking time. All the recipes were made in one 350F
oven. The turkey went in first and remained for the entire three hours. The
other dishes were rotated in and out, just as you would open the oven door to
baste the turkey. Now, let’s get cooking.
Roasted Turkey Breast
1 – thawed or fresh turkey breast
1 – teaspoon poultry seasoning
4 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 350F
If you buy your turkey a day or two before, I strongly
suggest brining it in buttermilk for 24 to 48 hours. When you’re ready to cook
the bird, wipe the buttermilk off turkey, pat dry, and place in a roasting pan.
Tuck slabs of butter under the skin of the turkey and rub the remaining butter
over the skin of the bird. Season the skin with salt, pepper, and poultry
seasoning, also season the cavity of the bird. Place the bird in the pre-heated
oven.
Chocolate Pecan Pie
1 deep dish frozen pie crust
6 Tablespoons butter – melted
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
¾ cup dark brown corn syrup
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups pecans (1 cup roughly chopped, 1 cup whole)
Combine all the ingredients (other than the pie crust, of
course), mix well together and pour into the pie crust. Bake the pie for 50-60
minutes, until the filling is slightly firm. Let cool for 2 hours.
Rustic Garlic Mashed
Potatoes
3 lbs. russet potatoes cut into chunks (I leave the skin on
but you can peel the potatoes)
5 cloves of garlic, skins removed
1 stick of butter
1 cup of half and half
salt and pepper to taste
These mashed potatoes are rustic because they are mashed
with a simple hand masher which leaves them lumpy, and because I leave the
skins on the potatoes. Both choices give the potatoes a homey, not gluey,
texture. I boil the cloves of garlic with the potatoes giving the garlic a
wonderfully mild taste. The potatoes and garlic are boiled in a pot of salted
water until the chunks of potato are easily pierced with a knife. Drain the
potatoes and garlic, return them to their cooking pot and stovetop to allow any
remaining water to evaporate. Add the butter, half and half, and roughly mash
the potatoes and garlic, then add salt and pepper to taste. You can finish the
mashed potatoes with a scraping of your favorite hard cheese.
Dried Fruit and Bacon
Thanksgiving Dressing
12-ounce bag of dried bread cubes
6-ounce bag of dried cranberries
1 apple diced
1 pear diced
8 ounces’ bacon cut into one inch pieces
3-5 stalks of celery
1 medium/large sweet onion diced
1 Tablespoon fresh sage leaves finely chopped
2 teaspoons thyme leaves finely chopped
2 teaspoons rosemary finely chopped
salt, pepper, freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
4 cups chicken stock
Sauté celery, onion, and bacon pieces together until the
bacon is cooked by not too crisp, and the onions and celery are softened.
Toss these ingredients with the bread cubes, chopped fruit,
and fresh herbs. Place ingredients in a large baking dish, add chicken stock,
use your clean hands to mix the dressing together. Season to taste. Bake for 20
minutes covered with foil. Remove foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes
uncovered.
Roasted Brussels
Sprouts with Balsamic Glaze
1.5 lbs of Brussels Sprouts, trim stems and cut in half
length-wise
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
2 Tablespoons Balsamic Glaze
salt and pepper to taste
Toss halved Brussels Sprouts with EVOO and Balsamic Glaze,
season to taste with salt and pepper, roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until
the sprouts are tender.
Pan Gravy
¼ cup flour
water or chicken stock 1 cup or more as needed
Remove the turkey breast from the pan, but leave the
drippings in the pan and move the pan to the stovetop. Sprinkle the flour into
the pan, and using a whisk, allow the flour to cook and disintegrate into the
pan drippings. Add water or stock in a stream, continuing to whisk the gravy
until it reaches the consistency you like. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy Thanksgiving!
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