28 Nov 09 My Thanksgiving

Rather than heading back to Eden Valley this weekend for Thanksgiving, I stayed here in Minneapolis and helped my roommates make a gigantic feast for ourselves, our neighbors, and my sister Catie (who had to work a few hours after the meal).

Before I go into great detail about all the other awesome, delicious (and really easy to make) foods, let me just show you the turkey. This was the centerpiece, the crown jewel, of our entire meal.

Amazing turkey, cooked with fresh vegetables and liver and heart broth, and stuffing, by Cody Heinold.

Even though we put the turkey into the oven fairly late, and had to call Mom to ask for tips, it came out great, and we have some 18lbs of leftovers remaining (turkey sandwiches, anyone?). We also saved the broth (for gravy, which was perhaps the most perfect gravy ever) and the stuffing, which was excellent.

Beyond the fabulous turkey, though, we had a ton of other dishes that really contributed to the meal. When I sat down at the table, I was literally excited to begin eating, we had so much variety and diversity.

Ham: Slow-cooked with pineapple and glaze, and served with Grey Poupon and organic honey. I actually didn’t have any ham, as it seemed to mysteriously miss me when being passed around the table…but word across the table was that it was excellent.

Green Bean Casserole: I made this! Very simple, too–cream of mushroom soup, green beans, and then topped with dried fried onions. It came out very creamy and was a great vegetable side.

Jellied Cranberry: The usual, American-style jellied cranberry from a can. Served in slices.

Corn Bread Casserole: Made by Cody, this was a mixture of corn, sour cream, and corn bread all cooked together and topped with melted cheddar cheese. Tasting bread-y and corn-y at the same time, it had a perfect texture and structure that made it less of a casserole and more of an improved cornbread. Was a great vegetable side dish!

Our Thanksgiving meal was supplemented by some choice red wines, mostly Chilean (Carmenere and Malbec).

Cranberry Relish: This was a new dish, made by Cody. Finely chopping cranberry, honeycrisp apples and oranges, he made a relish of cranberry that served as a sweet & tart side to the meats on the table. Just a couple of spoonfuls made my mouth tingle.

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy: Mike made the mashed potatoes, and was very feral in his work–but he did a great job. With flavors of garlic and salt, the mash potatoes were nice and creamy. But even better was the gravy that Cody made to go with it. It was perfect–literally perfect. A nice light brown color, with clear vegetable and turkey flavoring, it was not too dark or too soupy. Arguably the best gravy man has made.

Relish Dish: Green and black olives, served with sweet gherkin pickles. An excellent appetizer to the meal–I love olives.

Pumpkin & Apple Pie: This was a weird combo that I had grave misgivings about. Mix two different types of pie!? With a bottom layer of apple and a top layer of pumpkin, this pie was delicious–smooth and sweet on top, tart and jellied on the bottom. Excellent!

Beverages: Since Catie had to work, she sipped some sparkling grape juice; but the rest of us had red wines that I picked out to go with dinner. A couple of our neighbors also brought over a few bottles: Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Carmenere, and Merlot were all on the table at one point. We also broke out the last bottles of Pumpkin Beer to show (and push off on) our neighbors–they liked it!

All in all, this ranks as one of the best Thanksgivings I have had. With so many awesome new foods to try–many of which were incredibly easy to make–I was literally in food heaven. Everything was so delicious I only had one plate–and was very very full. Now, does anyone seriously want to come over for turkey sandwiches?

All in all, this ranks as one of the best Thanksgivings I have had.

Tags: deliciousness, food, recipes, Thanksgiving, turkey, turkey day