Friday, November 26, 2010

My new Thanksgiving short-cut: Kosher turkey!


A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Even though my Thanksgiving food prep time and amounts were drastically cut this year, I was still too lazy slammed to blog.

For the past few years, I've been cooking my turkey on our gas grill. I love this method. The turkey always turns out juicy and delicious but you really do have to brine it, otherwise you get sawdust turkey. Until now. Since I forgot to put myself on the list for an organic turkey at Vitamin Cottage, I ended up going to Whole Foods, which is where I found the kosher turkey. Oy vey, this bird was pricey, but so worth it! It's kinda sorta already brined via the way it's slaughtered and cleaned. I suppose you could go ahead and brine it, but I was afraid it would end up with an ankle-swelling amount of salt, so I took a chance and grilled it as-is--I just slathered this bad boy in lots of oil, stuck some chunky mirepoix inside and let the magic of the grill take over. We were not disappointed.

Along side the turkey, I served mashed potatoes, because you have to, you just have to. Also, roasted beets, carrots and parsnips, and my world famous dressing. It's got potato bread croutons, crumbled corn bread, toasted pecans, and dried chanterelles among other things. I usually add some sausage, but in an effort to make the meal less of a heart attack-inducing event I skipped it and it was just fine. I also didn't make any bread, because I was finally able to convince myself that dressing IS bread. No need for another one.

Instead of pie (OMG, never thought I'd ever use that phrase) I served this:


I crumbled a few gingersnaps to layer a la parfait-style, sprinkled on a few toasted pecan pieces, and topped it with waaaay less whipped cream than what the recipe called for. Oh yeah. THIS is a keeper.

You may have noticed the Etsy thingie at the top right-hand corner of this blog. I am now officially obliged to knit my fingers to the bone in the hopes of actually making a little money off my craft. Please visit my Etsy page if you get a chance. Sometime soon I will offer a couple of the patterns here and on Ravelry. I'm arranging for a test knitter now and will have the patterns once-overed by a tech editor. That should take care of ANY profit I make on Etsy. Gotta love capitalism!

11 comments:

  1. Your meal sounds incredible. I want to try a kosher turkey next year! I also want to try out roasted beets and parsnips and your dressing before next year! (I need dressing practice!)

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  2. Ooooh, your Thanksgiving dinner sounds DELICIOUS!

    Congratulations with the opening of your Etsy shop, beautiful work... I wish you good good sales. And also pattern offering!

    DO YOUR THANG, SUSAN!!!

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  3. Eeeeeeekkkk! Loving the Etsy site. It has nothing to do with the fact that our little pumpkin is featured :) Congratulation, about dang time!

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  4. Oy vey is right. Sounds like a delicious meal!

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  5. I love roasted root veggies.. carrots and parsnips have been my favorite veggies since i was a child.. turnip (yellow turnips) too.

    came to love beets as adult--and still do.
    Kosher turkeys are brined--(with kosher salt!) and yes, them, and kosher chickens are way more expensive, but so much better quality and flavor!

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  6. I have heard about the kosher turkeys ,too. They are presalted. Sounds like you also had a busy Holiday.
    Congratulations on opening your Etsy page. That is wonderful!

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  7. We're having our TG family celebration tomorrow. I bought a turkey from WF and a brine kit. I got a Diestel. Is that the brand you bought? Now I'm afraid I'll have a salty bird. That dessert looks seriously OMG. Did the ginger snaps stay crunchy? Happy belated Thanksgiving Susan.

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  8. Another question. What is the filling in that dessert? I enlarged the photo, looks like there's some sort of pumpkin type pudding?

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  9. NOM. NOM. NOM
    Sounds delish!
    And I envy your mashed potatoes. I decided to forgo those this year in the interest of lightening up the calorie load a bit. *sigh*
    We had roasted sweet potatoes with just a bit of olive oil instead. Good, but they are nooooooooo cream/butter mashed potatoes! lol

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  10. Congratulations on your etsy shop! looks great!
    Dessert sounds yummy!

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  11. Your meal sounds delicious!

    Congratulations on opening the Etsy shop. Your inventory is beautiful (of course!). From other etsy sellers i've heard that it takes quite a lot of persistence in marketing the shops to get the necessary momentum, but I have no doubt that you will succeed.

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