Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you have a good holiday!

Tim and I got a head start on the festivities by cooking a turkey and mini-Thanksgiving meal this past Sunday to ensure that we had leftovers.  We've also got a pot-luck party coming up on Thanksgiving itself with a bunch of folks we met here in Jakarta. 

Here's how we did our turkey... it was a bit of free wheelin', so bear with me:

• cleaned the bird up, salt and peppered the cavity
• stuffed it with half an onion (cubed), half a head of garlic (cut in half), half a lemon, a carrot (rough cut), a handful of fresh thyme, rosemary and sage
• rubbed it and stuffed the skin with a compound butter made with minced rosemary, sage and garlic, lemon zest, salt and pepper
• tied up the legs with a strip of foil, tucked the wings in
• put it in our pre-heated mini oven (adopted from Ben and Erin), which was at approximately 375 F, give or take
• let it brown a bit, then loosely covered it in foil
• let it cook for about 3 hours, taking off the foil again towards the end to brown it up again
• let it rest for 20 minutes while 

It came out pretty tasty!  Definitely not overcooked, definitely moist, definitely delicious.

We also had some great leftovers concoctions:

1. The most delicious leftovers sandwich ever: toasted bread spread with mayo on one side, cranberry sauce on the other, a thin layer of stuffing, mixed white and dark meat turkey, lots of lettuce and two pieces of bacon.  Awesome.  Like a Thanksgiving turkey club.

2. Turkey and white bean chili, made loosely based on this Martha Stewart recipe, with the addition of 2 chipotles in adobo, 2 cloves of garlic, and a handful of leftover stuffing to thicken it up.  I also left out the water because it looked far too liquidy already.  Pretty good, though!

Butternut and Caramelized Onion Pizza

Wow, this pizza was pretty awesome... the sweetness of the butternut, creamy mozzarella, spicy/garlicky oil on the crispy crust, earthy sage and caramelized onions. Awesome.

Inspired by, but not adhering to these recipes, I whipped up a batch of the same pizza dough and used the same upside-down cookie sheet method I used a few weeks ago on my kale pizzas. Then I topped the pies with olive oil that had been marinating with red pepper flakes and a ton of garlic, laid thin slices of fresh mozzarella and roasted butternut squash, tossed on some caramelized red onions, and sprinkled it with minced sage, parsley and Romano cheese. So good with a green salad on the side!

Butternut Carbonara

OK, this is snowverkill.
I am snowverwhelmed. And stir crazy. Yet too lazy to leave the house. It's a weird combination.

For dinner tonight Chuck and I scrounged around the fridge a bit, but rocked out a somewhat nontraditional, yet delicious pasta carbonara. The dish included butternut squash and sage... sage from our rooftop garden... sage that I had to shovel 4 feet of snow to get to.
4 FEET OF SNOW!!

Anywho... it was worth it. This dish was awesome. The slight sweetness of the butternut, the super salty bacon. Fabulous. Make it.

Ok, bye.

Thanksgiving Extravaganza: The Sides and Desserts

The side dishes and desserts served at our Thanksgiving were provided by the gracious guests:

Butternut Squash Risotto, handmade by Ms. Guitar as a main dish for the vegetarians in the group.

Sourdough Bread Stuffing, by the always jovial Jenny (she switched it up a little by omitting the mushrooms, using veggie stock and adding more of everything else!).

Sauteed Brussel Sprouts with Garlic and Lemon, expertly executed by Heather.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes, peeled by Meg, but made delicious by Chuck.

Scalloped Corn, a delicious Yehl family recipe made with loving attention to detail by Mark:

" I usually make the corn in that Corningware dish of mine- I think it's a 3 qt. I use 4 or 5 cans of regular corn- not cream- drained. Put in 1 cup of milk. If it's not soupy- put in another 1/4 cup. Sprinkle breadcrumbs across the entire top lightly and then do it again. Mix it up. Beat one egg for each can of corn. Pour in and mix it up. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper.Okay here's the hard part- now I kind of play with it. If it's too dry I add a little more milk. If the breadcrumb doesn't seem to be enough to not make it dry but where you can really see it and it has thickened the consistency of the corn, I add more a little at a time. Put a teaspoon of butter or margarine- whatever you use- close to each corner and in the middle. Bake at 350 for at least 45 minutes. It needs to be cooked, but not dried out. You've seen and made it before, so hopefully you can tell the right consistency and know if it is done or not. Remember it seems to dry out a little more after you take it out of the oven."

Traditional Pumpkin Pies, possibly one of the last desserts to come out of Amy's New Hampshire Avenue kitchen.

Apple/Pear Galette, a rustic treat from Jenny.

Butternut Squash Lasagna: Partial FAIL

Ug... I was trying this butternut squash lasagna recipe out, hoping that I could possibly serve it to the vegetarians this Thanksgiving, but it didn't quite work out. I made a half recipe, and made individual lasagnas for me and Chuck.

The flavors were really good, but I had some major noodle cooking issues- I think due to a lack of sauce, but I'm not sure. The bottom noodle wasn't fully cooked, and the sauce was sorta burnt onto the bottom of it, and the top noodle wasn't cooked on the edges.

I think my bechamel sauce got too thick maybe? I don't know- there just didn't seem to be enough of it. Also, cooking the diced squash in the frying pan on high heat was kinda odd, too. It burnt the squash and onions. I think next time I would dice it and then roast it.

Squash and Ricotta Tortellini with Brown Butter Sage Sauce

I made these squash and ricotta tortellini with some delicata squash I had from the CSA. Pretty tasty, although I find working with the wonton skins to be kinda a pain in the butt... they stick, they rip. I'm not sure I have enough patience for them! The sauce is nice, though: browned butter, crispy sage, dried cranberries and toasted walnuts.

Roasted Delicata Squash Stuffed With Cheese Tortellini

I had some whole wheat cheese tortellini from Costco that needed to be used up, and a bunch of cute little delicata squash fresh from the CSA... Tyler Florence had this recipe for squash stuffed with tortellini in a creamy/Alfredo-esque sauce, so I gave it a try. This is a great fall vegetarian recipe- the creaminess of the Alfredo sauce goes really well with the earthy squash. The little squash bowls are pretty cool, too.

Chicken with Mustard Sage Sauce

The first time I made this, I asked Tim to get me some whole-grain mustard at the store... he was confused, so I clarified by describing the mustard as "the one with all the tiny balls in it." That seemed to work for him.

I've made this chicken recipe a bunch of times and it's really tasty and easy. Made even easier if you use chicken tenders like I did... they don't take very long to cook. I used sage from our rooftop garden. I like the flexibility of this sauce- you can make it as is, or you can splash some cream in. Mmm.

Served with roasted potatoes with garlic and rooftop rosemary (the potatoes were fresh from the soil as of today... picked by yours truly at Amy's CSA farm). Also, roasted broccoli with garlic, red pepper flakes and lemon juice.