Six days later.

You'd think I would have rushed to the computer after my final bite of mashed potato last Thursday to regale you all with tales of my intrepid Cheftiness. I mean, I thought I would have. Such excitement no woman or beast could contain! My first soup-to-nuts Thanksgiving! But no. I had zero inclination to recap. And I didn't even really eat that much. I owe both of these conditions to sensory overload. After all that shopping, cooking, cleaning, stirring, and hand-wringing, I ran out of steam.

But all things considered, it was a delicious meal and as sensible it may be to scale it back next time, I'm not sure I'd be able to resist a yearly opportunity for such a festive meal. I guess the moral of the story is: next time, if you want to cook enough food to feed an army, invite more people.

Here's a little photoblog of my Thanksgiving.

First course, butternut squash soup with a swirl of cider cream and toasted pumpkin seeds. I liked having a little taste before diving into the main event. Soup will become a staple for Thanksgivings to come. Shout out to my brilliant older sister for the suggestion!



Here's a shot of the apple pie and the two sauces I made to serve with the turkey. I think I achieved perfection with this pie crust. It had a nice subtley buttery flavor and was both tender and flaky. Unfortunately Megnut beat me to the punch in claiming crust nirvana. Now I have to try the recipe she recommends and compare. Can Crisco really make that big a difference?


I made a cranberry-persimmon sauce and a kind of butternut squash relish. The cranberry sauce was good, a little on the tart side, but the flavor improved tenfold by the day after Thanksgiving. Giving the persimmon a little time to bloom with the cranberries gave the sauce a welcome note of sweetness and spice. I wasn't sure how the squash relish would be. The recipe called for golden raisins, but I used currants, and it was made with a reduction of sugar, white wine, and dry mustard. It was really wonderful, sweet but not overpoweringly so and cut with that mustardy bite. This would be just as delicious with any roasted meat and would probably also be a nice match with cheese or as a topping for a salad.

And here's the whole meal. Per my last post, brining was not fun, but I do think I tasted the difference. The white meat wasn't dry at all, even though I was fairly certain the breast had been overcooked. I made a pomegranate gravy that was OK, but it was a lot of work (it required pomegranate caramel. Caramel? It would have been wise for me to prepare this ahead of time.) and I think a little too sweet for my taste. Everything else was pretty straight up--yukon gold mashed potatoes, green beans with cippolini onions, and sage-rosemary stuffing with figs & walnuts.



Needless to say, the only thing that's been working overtime in the kitchen this week has been the microwave. But I'm gearing up for some cookie and perhaps bread-baking this weekend, so stay tuned.