Giving Thanks

It all began on Wednesday when the turkey plopped in the brine:

• 1 1/2 cups kosher salt
• 1 Onion cut into large chunks
• 6-8 Bay leaves
  
• Sprigs of rosemary, thyme & sage
• 10 black pepper corns
• 1tsp or so of Mustard Seeds
• 2-4 cloves of garlic ( I meant to put this, but forgot!
• 24 cups cold water

Combine the salt, onion and spices in a saucepan with 4 cups water. Bring to a boil. Let cool. Basically, you're going to take the brine and mix it with the remaining water. I didn't want to pour hot liquid on my un-cooked turkey, so I filled my brining bag with half of the water first. Then I poured a little of the salt mixture into a measuring cup and filled the rest with cold water to temper it. I repeated that until all the salt mixture had been used and the Turkey was covered in water. (I don't think a little more or less water is that big of a deal here.) Then he just sat in the refrigerator until 11pm when I turned him over. I took him out to warm up at ten, prepared him for the oven with butter and herbs, and popped him in around 11:30.

Friend arrived early to help, watch A Christmas Story and keep each other company until the food was ready. Garth made an amazing trifecta of mashed potatoes: garlic mash, fennel mash & rutabaga & carrot mash.

I swear this photo is taken every year!

Team Brussel

During the cooking we decided we should take Thanksgiving Portraits. I think we really only got Garth & Niegel:

At one point I turned around to find my official Thanksgiving decorating committee raiding my room to make a beautiful display for the food. For some reason we always drag my dresser out to act as a kind of buffet. It looks quite charming with food all over it, I have to say, but I try not to imagine my socks and unders though! Kj & Niegel realy went to town with my trees, candles and even an old empty picture frame. (Check out the FLickr Set for more photos!)
Then came the FOOD!

• Herb Roasted Turkey
• Brussel Sprouts with Lemon & Walnuts
• Roasted Cauliflower
• Pumpkin Gratin
• Pomegranate Carrots
• Cranberry Sauce
• Sweet Potato Pie
• Mac & Cheese
• Garlic Mash
• Fennel Mash
• Rutabaga & Mash
• 
• Stuffing
• Buttermilk Biscuits
• Gravy
• Apple Pie
  

We ate and ate bits of everything with my new favorite beverage, Pear Cider! Our tums got so full! We played games and then ate some more! Three plates?

This years experiment: pomegranate carrots. First I cooked the bigger guys in a bit of butter. Then I added the baby ones and let them cook a bit. Then I added freshly made pomegranate juice made by tossing the seeds in my food processor and straining. I let this cook, then added some stock and brown sugar. It thickened a bit, but tried adding a little flour/butter mix to make the sauce more gravy like. I think next time I'll skip the flour adding. The dish was a savory alternative to candied carrots. Not my favorite, but a general thumbs up was given.

The next day was a riot. Everyone showed up again to lounge and work together eating left overs. Here we all are each on a computer. We spent a lot of time playing online scrabble! I think it's about 3pm here and I'm still in my nightgown!

We finished up our Brooklyn Thanksgiving with a rooftop photo shoot.