Post-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Feast!

This Thanksgiving, I was a little let down about the amount of overeating I had done. I only got to feast at ONE Thanksgiving meal! And no leftovers! OH NOES! After spending the week smelling the delish leftovers that work people were microwaving at lunchtime, I decided that I was going to undertake my own personal Thanksgiving feast. How exciting! I made a list of all the recipes I would make, all the ingredients I would need, and set to work planning a timetable.



The thing I was most worried about was the turkey. How do you take out the guts? How do you make gravy? How do you keep it from getting too dry, too burnt, too raw? I watched a bunch of videos on YouTube on how to prepare a turkey, and started to become more confident (if not entirely grossed out; I thought prepping this turkey may just turn me into a vegetarian). Turns out, frozen turkeys have all the innards taken out for you and stuffed into a little bag! Who knew!?! I felt a little more comfortable about the events about to take place. I decided just to go for it (and a couple of expert tips from my Mom sure didn't hurt) and hope for the best!

I got myself a 12-pounder from the market and let it defrost in my fridge for 3 days. On cooking day, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees, and scrubbed out the sink so my turkey (we named it Cletus) could have a nice place to sit. I put Cletus, package and all, into the sink, and cut his wrapper open. Juicy! I gave him a shower, making sure to spray in between all the nooks and crannies, and removed the bags with the giblets and neck in them. I stuck my hand in between the skin and the breast and began to slowly separate the two, making sure to get across the entire thing. I thought that would be entirely disgusting, but I actually enjoyed it; I guess it was akin to doing a dissection. I defrosted a bowl of butter (about 4 T) and rubbed humongo gobs of it all inside, under the skin, and outside, on top of the skin. After that I sprinkled a whole bunch of course salt and pepper all over Cletus' buttery body. Ew!


I stuck the big fella in the oven and let him sit for 4 hours, turning him after 2 because our oven cooks unevenly. Turns out, the turkey is the easy part! I took the giblets and the neck and put them in a covered simmering pot of water to get some turkey stock going.

About half an hour before Cletus was scheduled for his big debut, I stuck the yams in the oven. Lately I have been getting better about trusting myself to create dishes using improvisation based on experience, as opposed to following a strict recipe. For the yams, I peeled the skins off, then chopped them into 1/2 inch - 3/4 inch thick medallions. I laid them in a buttered glass dish, sprinkled a generous amount of brown sugar on top, swirled some maple sugar and molasses over them, and layered the whole thing with a bag of marshmallows. Ooh la la! I covered it with aluminum foil and let it hang out with Cletus in the oven for a while.

Prior to removing Cletus from the oven, I stuck in a pan of Pepperidge Farm stuffing, prepared as directed on the package. I also started a pot of boiling water for the potatoes I had peeled and chopped up earlier in the day. After exactly 4 hours had gone by , I checked Cletus's temperature, and sure enough, he was done with the sauna. I took him out of the roasting pan and stuck him on a cookie sheet to cool for 1/2 an hour. While he was cooling, I went to town on the gravy. Directions (and Mom) call for making gravy in the roasting pan, but in the process of doing this, I discovered that was way too difficult in a flimsy roasting pan with an uneven bottom.

Making gravy:
Move bird from pan, remove grease and fat from drippings, retain 1/4 C of fat for future use. Place roasting pan over 2 stove burners on medium heat, add 1/2 C of your turkey stock. (Now would be a good time to remove the organs from the stock). Stir constantly and scrape bottom of pan. Pour off liquid into turkey broth. Add the 1/4 C of reserved fat to the roasting pan on medium heat. Whisk in 1/4 C flour. Cook gently, stirring until golden. It was at this point that I had to change something, because my small floury lump was sitting in the middle of this unwieldy disposable roasting pan that was just impossible to stir. I dumped what was in the roasting pan into the stock solution, whisking all the while. I added a bunch more flour, a little at a time (maybe 1 t), whisking like a wild woman and praying to the gravy gods. I must have gotten lucky, because the gravy thickened up and was lump free. At this point I added some salt and pepper and poured it into a serving bowl that I kept on the stovetop for warmth.

Somewhere in there, I took the stuffing out of the oven after half an hour, and pulled the potatoes out of the boiling water. I added 1/2 C warm milk, about 5-6 Ts of butter, 1 t of salt, and a dash of pepper, and mashed them all up together. YUM! I added more butter, more salt, and a spoonful of sour cream to taste, then got it into another serving dish. I pulled the sweet potatoes out of the oven, at this point they had been in for over an hour, so that was an oversight on my part. All of the marshmallows had melted, but at least the yams were soft, and turned out to be mighty delicious! I put some cranberry sauce in a dish, and set it all out for our Post-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Feast! I was actually shocked at how good everything came out; it was all perfect and scrumptious.

Mmmmm, dinner's over. What could that possibly mean? Why, don't tell me you thought I forgot dessert! Sacrilege, blasphemy, heresy! NEVER! I love dessert so much, I actually dreamed about eating at a cookie buffet last night. For reals.

Since I am a total type-A, I had actually prepared the dessert the previous day. It is a dish I had made before as a gift, but never actually got to eat. May I present....

Martha Stewart's Apple Pie with Cheddar Cheese Crust

Yay, yay, clap, cheer, hooray!!!! Man, as expected, that is one fantastic pie! It was so awesome that I even impressed myself. Highly recommended. Ever since I got my beloved food processor, I have been a dough/crust machine. It really makes creating your own crusts and doughs *easy as pie*!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!