Thanksgiving 2019

Time for a breather amid my tales of our trip to Japan . . .

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and, as always, our family met at our apartment. This year we had fourteen, and I decided to repeat my menu of 2018 with few changes. Why argue with success? Here's what I made:

For hors d'oeuvres, I made Michael Romano's great bar nuts from the Union Square Cafe Cookbook, roasted with an inspired combination of rosemary, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, butter and salt,

Union Square Cafe bar nuts

as well as Whipped Feta Dip, from Milk Street, served with fresh pita chips.

Whipped Feta Dip from Milk Street

For some reason, I have been craving tonnato (tuna) sauce lately, the kind used in vitello tonnato. I turned to Marcella Hazan's iconic Essentials of Italian Cooking for her recipe, but altered it greatly to make it into a stand-alone dip, served with little endive leaves for dipping.

Tonnato dip with endive leaves

This was accompanied by Dorie Greenspan's simple but delicious mustard batons and my hors d'oeuve de résistence, Shrimp with Toasted Garlic (Camerones de Ajo) from Tyler Florence.

Tyler Florence's Shrimp with Toasted Garlic (Camerones de Ajo)

This is always a huge hit, especially with my seve year-old great nice and her grandfather (my brother).

For me the actual dinner is less interesting. I made my usual turkey, a version of Julia Childs' deconstructed turkey (which Michael Chiarello's fennel seed rub) cooked over sausage stuffing from The Food Lab (also the source of my gravy recipe),

Deconstructed and carved turkey

accompanied by hashed Brussels sprouts quickly sauteed with lemon and poppy seeds, also from the Union Square Cafe Cookbook (I added toasted pine nuts, which I love, but found they offered little to this dish),

Union Square Cafe's Hashed Brussels Sprouts

and Sweet Potato Gratin from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook,

Ottolenghi's Sweet Potato Gratin

together with my fiery cranberry mostarda, a confit of dried cranberries and cranberry juice, mustard seeds soaked in wine, mustard powder, orange zest, cinnamon and lots of Champagne vinegar, a recipe from Food and Wine.

Cranberry mostarda

For dessert, guests were kind enough to bring a pumpkin pie, a chocolate cake and (yes, it's true) a peppermint cake, but I had to make at least one, in this case Clotile Dusoulier's Flourless Orange and Ginger Cake, a moist masterpiece of a cake suitable for serving friends with celiac disease (my celiac-afflicted friend has become addicted) and for Passover. This is one of my best recipes: it's easy, can be made a day or two in advance and never ceases to please. By the way, I use clementines rather than oranges.

Clotilde Dusoulier's Orange and Ginger Cake

So there it is, a large meal, followed by a good night's sleep and thoughts of what to do next year.

Bobby Jay

Thanksgiving 2018

Bourbon caramel pumpkin tart

If it ain't broken . . .

Although the guest list was a bit different, I decided to stick with the 2017 menu for our 2018 Thanksgiving, with exceptions in the dessert category. To see a full post on last year's feast, click here.

As usual, Joan prepared a gorgeous table.

Passover table awaiting guests and feast

Here's what I served (and cooked except for the truly delicious salted chocolate pretzel cake):

Thanksgiving Dinner
 November 22, 2018

• Slow poached garlic shrimp (from Tyler Florence's Ultimate TV show)
• Mustard and tapenade batons (from Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table)
• Whipped feta with home made pita chips (from Milk Street)
• Tuna and cannellini bean crostini (Bobby Jay)
• Bar nuts (from The Union Square Cookbook)
• Turkey with chicken sausage and sage stuffing, gravy (from Cook's Illustrated for Turkey, The Food Lab for stuffing and gravy)
• Cranberry mostarda (from Food and Wine)
• Sweet potato gratin with sage (from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook)
• Hashed Brussels sprouts with poppy seeds and lemon (from The Union Square Cookbook)
• Bourbon caramel pumpkin tart (from Fine Cooking)
• Coconut, almond and blueberry cake (from Ottolenghi Sweet)
• Salted chocolate pretzel cake (from Momofuku's  Milk Bar bakery, furnished by my niece's boyfriend)

And here's what some of it looked like:

Shrimp with toasted garlic

Salmon and smoked salmon rillettes

Hashed Brussels sprouts

Chicken sausage and sage stuffing

Broken down turkey in the style of Julia Child

Even though it ain't broken, I plan to change a lot of the meal next year. Change, not for its own sake, but to keep me challenged and enjoying the process.

Bobby Jay

Thanksgiving 2017

This year we had 11 adults, one five-year-old and a three-year-old for Thanksgiving dinner. With careful planning, and knocking off a couple of dishes a day, I was able to get a huge amount done in advance and actually had a pretty relaxed Thanksgiving day.

I made the turkey the same way as I have a number of times: deconstructed, then the breast cooked upside down in a saute pan, and finally all cooked over the stuffing. I dry-brined the turkey with salt for one day, instead of wet-brining the breast as the recipe suggests. It looked pretty good, and turned out to be the best I have ever made, moist white meat that held up even as leftovers the next day.

Turkey breast ready to be carved

Here's what I served (and cooked except for the Opera Cake):

Thanksgiving Dinner
 November 23, 2017

• Slow poached garlic shrimp (from Tyler Florence's Ultimate TV show)
• Mustard and tapenade batons (from Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table)
• Whipped feta with home made pita chips (from Milk Street)
• Tuna and cannellini bean crostini (Bobby Jay)
• Bar nuts (from The Union Square Cookbook)
• Turkey with chicken sausage and sage stuffing, gravy (from Cook's Illustrated for Turkey, The Food Lab for stuffing and gravy)
• Cranberry mostarda (from Food and Wine)
• Sweet potato gratin with sage (from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook)
• Hashed Brussels sprouts with poppy seeds and lemon (from The Union Square Cookbook)
• Apple Tart Mémé  (from Essential Pépin)
• Giant cannelé with pumpkin pie spices (from Atelier des Chefs cooking lesson, modified by Bobby Jay)
• Chocolate espresso Opera Cake furnished by Payard (for mother's 95th birthday)

And here's what some of it looked like:

Hors d'oeuvres were served in the living room, around our old art deco table.

Mustard and green olive tapenade batons

Slow-cooked garlic shrimp

Then we moved to the dining room, spectacularly arranged as always by Joan, for a buffet style dinner.

Thanksgiving table

The turkey, deconstructed and carved:

Carved turkey

Sweet potato gratin:

Sweet potato gratin

Hashed Brussels sprouts:

Hashed Brussels sprouts

Finally, a chocolate espresso Opera Cake furnished by Payard to celebrate my mother's upcoming 95th birthday and two desserts that I whipped up the day before and the day of: Jacques Pépin's Apple Tart Mémé and a giant cannelé inspired by Michel Trama, with a recipe from Atelier des Chefs and added pumpkin pie spices (my [very good] idea).

Apple tart Mémé

Giant cannelé with pumpkin pie spices

Many commented that it was the best Thanksgiving meal I have ever served. Maybe true, maybe not, but when in doubt, say thank you.

Bobby Jay

Thanksgiving 2016

As I have for quite a few years now, I prepared Thanksgiving dinner for the family yesterday. I generally try to cook some things that are proven hits, mixed with some new ones that seem promising. Sometimes I try the new ones before the holiday, like these hasselback style butternut squash with bay leaves,

Hasselback style butternut squash

sometimes not.

This year's hors d'oeuvres consisted of bar nuts, courtesy of the Union Square Cafe Cookbook and now Food52 Genius Recipes, my renowned (if inevitable) ricotta, sun-dried tomato and lemon zest crostini,

Rcotta, sun-dried tomato and lemon zest crostini

shrimp with toasted garlic, from Tyler Florence (no photo), spinach and dill hummus, topped with dill, toasted pine nuts and olive oil, from Food and Wine, served with my own pita toasted with za'atar and sumac,

Spinach hummus with dill, toasted pine nuts and oil; pita with za'atar

and cheese gougères, from Clotilde Dusoulier's Chocolate and Zucchini, with a food processor technique for mixing the chou pastry from Jacques Pépin's Essential Pépin.

Cheese gougères

For the main event, I made turkey breast, porchetta style, from a recipe in The New York Times, with chicken sausage and stage stuffing from Kenji Lopez-Alt's masterpiece, The Food Lab. The turkey started out like this, after I broke it down and stuffed the breast and also the boned-out thighs,

Turkey, with porchetta style breast and thighs, before cooking

and turned into this:

Turkey, after roasting

Sides were the hasselback style butternut squash pictured above, a very mustardy and spicy cranberry mostarda, from Food and Wine, and hashed Brussels sprouts with lemon and poppy seeds, from the Union Square Cafe Cookbook.

Hashed Brussles sprouts with lemon and poppy seeds

Finally, desserts: Marie-Hélène's Apple Cake, from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table and now Food52 Genius Recipes,

Marie-Hélène's Apple Cake

and and incredibly gingery, light and moist Fresh Ginger Cake, from Davis Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert, served with crème fraîche.

Fresh Ginger Cake

No one left hungry.

Bobby Jay

The Week of Cooking Dangerously -- Part 2 -- Thanksgiving in January

I have often said that I should make a Thanksgiving dinner at some other point in the year to try things that I wouldn't dare to try at the real Thanksgiving for fear of a failure at the all-important feast.

So when Joan invited a group of friends and family to dinner on Thursday, I determined that this was the moment. And, in contrast to the meal I prepared a few days before, everything went right, and I actually discovered a new turkey presentation that I will use next November: roast turkey breast, porchetta style. This roasted breast, which was seasoned and rolled a day ahead, proved to be incredibly juicy with the exact taste of Italian porchetta, as a result of the massive amount of sage and rosemary rub inserted in the center and under the skin.

Roasted turkey breast, porchetta-style

Before the meal, hors d'oeuvres consisted of the same sturgeon I had served on Sunday, my proprietary ricotta and sun-dried tomato spread and cheese gougères.

Ricotta and sun-dried tomato spread

The meal began with ginger beet soup with tarragon, a vibrantly gorgeous and foolproof recipe from Gordon Hamersley's Bistro Cooking at Home.

Ginger beet soup with tarragon

The turkey, described above, was accompanied by a sage and chicken sausage stuffing and classic gravy, both from Kenji Lopez-Alt's wonderful new book, The Food Lab (see my post of October 10, 2015 for more on this book). The secret to the gravy was a deep dark brown turkey stock that I had made earlier in the week by roasting the hell out of turkey necks, onions, carrot and celery before making  them into stock.

Sage and chicken sausage stuffing

Roasting turkey necks and aromatic vegetables for stock

I will repeat both the stock and the gravy at Thanksgiving.

Finally, a Tarte Tatin, made according to the recipe of the Confrérie des Lichonneux de Tarte Tatin, which came out perfectly. I will be doing a separate post on this tart, so enough said for now.

My advice, therefore, is to invite some friends to non-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving and experiment.

Bobby Jay

Thanksgiving 2015

As usual, we hosted Thanksgiving this year, with 10 adults, our one-year old great nephew and our three-year old great niece. The two kids more than made up for the smaller adult group in terms of energy and excitement (and noise).

Dinner was largely a repeat of 2014's, with substitutions for things that did not work or had becoming boring after too many years (like Ottolenghi's excellent sweet potato gratin).

Here's what I cooked:

Thanksgiving Dinner
 November 26, 2015

Salmon rillettes (from a class at Atelier des Chefs in Paris)

Slow poached garlic shrimp (from Tyler Florence's Ultimate TV show)

Mustard and tapenade batons
(from Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table)

Smoked ricotta and sun-dried tomato spread with lemon zest (Bobby Jay)

Bar nuts (from The Union Square Cafe Cookbook)

Turkey with sage and dried apricot and cranberry stuffing (from American's Test Kitchen)

Cranberry mostarda (from Food and Wine)

Roasted acorn squash with maple butter (from American's Test Kitchen)

Hashed Brussels sprouts (from Union Square Cafe Cookbook)

Bourbon caramel pumpkin tart (from Fine Cooking)

Fresh Ginger Cake (from Sylvie Thompson, via Food 52 Genius Recipes)

Marie-Hélène’s apple tart
(from Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table)

Here are the hors d'oeuvres:

 Mustard and tapenade batons

Garlic shrimp tapas style while cooking and as served

Salmon and smoked salmon rillettes with pumpernickel rounds

And here are the turkey with stuffing and the roasted and broiled acorn squash (the cranberry mostarda and brussels sprouts were camera shy):

Turkey and stuffing à la Julia Child

Roasted and broiled acorn squash with maple sugar butter

Finally, two of the desserts:

Pumpkin tart with bourbon caramel glaze and candied pumpkin seeds

Marie-Hélène's apple cake

I had considered retiring Marie-Hélène's apple cake this year because I have made it so often, but we recently lost a great friend named Marie-Hélène so I could not bring myself to make the change just yet. I think of her every time I make this cake even though it is named for a different Marie-Hélène.

This meal obviously involved a lot of work, but I knocked off three items on each of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving only the shrimp, turkey, stuffing and sides (already much prepped) for Thanksgiving day, leaving me plenty of time to watch the spectacular Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with very dear friends and our niece.

Bobby Jay

Thanksgiving 2014

This year we had a bigger Thanksgiving, 14 adults, one two-year-old and a three-month-old, and that turns out to be a lot more than the 10 adults we had last year. With careful planning, and knocking off three dishes a day, I was able to get a huge amount done in advance and was looking forward to a restful Thanksgiving day.

Until the turkey! I made it the same way as I did last year - deconstructed, then breast cooked upside down in a saute pan, and finally all cooked over the stuffing. But this year I dry-brined the turkey (salt plus baking powder) for two days, instead of wet-brining the breast overnight. And this year's turkey weighed in at 18 pounds instead of 14. For whatever reason, the breast just wouldn't get done and it was so fat that it had dried out on the outside by the time it had cooked through on the inside. In addition, it took 45 extra minutes, thereby throwing off the entire schedule. Finally it got done, and looked pretty good,

Turkey breast ready to be carved

but I ended up with the Thanksgiving nemesis - dried white meat - and a disorganized meal.

That being said, everyone had fun and enjoyed the meal, which did have some real highlights.

Here's what I cooked:

Thanksgiving Dinner
 November 27, 2014

Salmon rillettes (from a class at Atelier des Chefs in Paris)

Slow poached garlic shrimp (from Tyler Florence's Ultimate TV show)

Mustard and tapenade palmiers
(from Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table)

Feta with sumac, black sesame seeds and olive oil (from Bon Appétit)

Bar nuts (from The Union Square Cookbook)

Turkey with cornbread and turkey sausage and dried apricot stuffing

(from Cook's Illustrated for Turkey, Food and Wine and myself for stuffing)

Cranberry mostarda (from Food and Wine)

Sweet potato gratin with sage (from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook)

Brussels sprouts (from Food and Wine)

Bourbon caramel pumpkin tart (from Fine Cooking)

Chocolate hazelnut torte (from Gourmet)

Marie-Hélène’s apple tart
(from Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table)

And here's what some of it looked like:

Hors d'oeuvres were served in the living room, around our old art deco table.

Slow poached garlic shrimp

Feta cheese with sumac and black sesame seeds

Then to the dining room, spectacularly arranged as always by J,

for a buffet dinner:

The turkey, deconstructed and carved

Sweet potato gratin

Roasted Brussels sprouts with caramelized onions

Thanksgiving plate, fully loaded

Finally, three desserts that I whipped up earlier in the week:

Chocolate hazelnut torte

Pumpkin tart with bourbon caramel and toasted candied pumpkin seeds

Marie-Hélène's apple cake

A good time was had by all, I think, except for myself during the turkey breast crisis.

Bobby Jay