Thanksgiving… where do I start?

I don’t put too much weight on holidays.  Birthdays come and go ticking away years and producing yet another reason to frown at your wrinkles in the mirror.  Anniversaries pass by largely forgotten and kicked to the side of the road.  New Year eves, although mostly fun, blend together in a spiral of booze and obscene costumes.  Thanksgiving is the only holiday when I truly look around and take stock of my life.  I celebrate everything that’s good in it and look back with some wisdom on what is bad.  Thanksgiving is when I go all out… for the ones who choose to celebrate it with me.

This has been a tough year, for me, for my family.  We lost loved ones, we fought, we battled home renovations (which should be equated to a natural disaster) and we endured natural disasters as well, straining me to the point of hysterics.  Now with only a few days left before Thanksgiving, I am mortified that I will not be able to put on my show ( in truth, I am mortified every year, but pour a bit of wine in me and it always miraculously works out).

I usually start my Thanking menu planning in mid-October, but now with only a few days to go, I am still playing with menu ideas and frantically trying to put a shopping list together that is now all of three pages long.  So here is this 2012 Thanksgiving menu.  Hopefully it will all work out and actually get made ( where those elves when you need them?).

 

 

Starters.

Fig and Berry glazed Duck Breast salad with arugula, raspberries and spiced peppitas

Mini-lamb meatballs with spicy beet slaw and yogurt sauce

Goat cheese puffs

Spicy lemony olives

Smoked Salmon toasts with honey mustard butter

Mango Scallop crudité served with fried plantain chips

Mushrooms stuffed with miso-glazed pork belly and squash salad

Harrissa deviled eggs

Edemame dumplings with spicy peanut sauce

Spinach and tomato confit roulades

Irish soda bread served with chicken liver mouse and salmon rillettes

Main course

Apple-cider and ginger brined turkey

Orange cranberry sauce

Chipotle caramel root vegetables

Parmesan and roasted garlic mashed potatoes

Wilted spinach with pears and pomegranate gremolatta

Fig corn bread

Wheat berry and corn salad with bacon and mushrooms

Haricot vert with roasted hazelnuts

Desert

Apple gallette

Salted Caramel grape pie

Spicy orange chocolate mousse with whipped crème fresh and pine nut brittle

Rum Pecan pie

Cranberry Truffles

Pistachio éclairs

Fresh fruit

If anyone knows of a good place to go into a food induced coma, speak now….

My Thanksgiving starts when I begin cooking and I always begin by making stock.  You can make stock weeks, even months ahead, frozen it will keep up to 6 months.  For me, home-made stocks are essential; I stopped buying the store-bought kind a long time ago.  There are just no shortcuts in making it, but the rewards are countless.

You cannot rush stock, it takes hours, as many as you got, you cannot cook stock too long.  The longer you cook it, the more concentrated the flavor gets, your sauces will taste deeper and richer.  And good stock does not come from meat, it comes from the bones, a great way to use up the entire animal.

 

These are the stocks to have in your freezer at all times:

1.        Chicken Stock

-          One full chicken or the bones from two or more birds

-          1 onion whole

-          3 ribs of celery

-          2 carrots

-          5 cloves of garlic

-          1 small parsley root

-          1 tbs of pepper corns

-          2 tsp of salt ( see Note)

-          5 springs of fresh thyme

 

Put all the ingredients in a large pot ( I don’t even bother peeling the vegies, the stock gets strained anyway).  Cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil, skim the shmutz off the top and reduce to a barely visible bubble ( Do not cover your pot, the stock will be cloudy, at least that’s what my mother always said).  Simmer on very low heat anywhere from 2 to 5 hours.  When done, strain the stock into containers and freeze right away if not using.

If you are using a whole chicken, you might ask “What do I do with all the meat”.  For goodness sake, don’t throw it away, it is moist and delicious and can be used for chicken salad, for pasta filling, grind it up, brown it with butter and a shallot and mix with pasta.  As a last resort, give it to the dog….

2.        Veal stock

-          Veal bones ( 6 or 7 if small)

-          2 tbs of olive oil

-          3 tbs of tomato paste

-          1 onion whole

-          3 ribs of celery

-          2 carrots

-          5 cloves of garlic

-          1 small parsley root

-          1 tbs of pepper corns

-          2 tbs of salt ( see Note)

-          5 springs of fresh thyme

-          A handful of fresh parsley

Smear the bones with olive oil and tomato paste.  Roast in 425F oven for 1.5 – 2 hrs until the bones are deep brown color.  Once done, remove the marrow ( reserve for another use).  Place the bones and all other ingredients in a large pot.  Cover with cold water and bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer and cook for 6 to 8 hrs on a very gently simmer, periodically skimming off the shmutz from the top.  Strain and freeze right away.

3.        Duck stock

Duck stock is made exactly like the chicken stock, except only the bones are used.  First of all, you do not want to waste any of the beautiful meat for stock.  Also, all the skin and fat would make the stock too oily.  So do what I do, learn to debone a duck ( I am so proud of myself now that I can do it in 10 minutes or less).  Reserve the legs for the confit.  Reserve the breasts for searing.  Take off all of the remaining skin and fat, place in a glass, oven proof dish and roast at 350F until most of the fat is rendered.  Strain the fat and part yourself in the back for acquiring culinary equivalent of gold, without spending an extra penny.  Now you are left with only bones, follow the steps for chicken stock ( I sometimes omit the garlic from my duck stock, I find that it interferes with the gaminess of the stock)

 

4.        Dashi – This is a staple of Japanese cooking and is used as a foundation for broths, sauces and glazes. It gives an absolutely unique umami flavor so I highly recommend it.   It is not a pretty stock, so strain it extra well ( I use a cheesecloth).

 

-          2 large strips of Nori ( this is a dried seaweed sold in all Asian markets.  There are many varieties and you will just need to experiment and find the one you like most.  If in doubt, look for a package that specifically, in English, says “for Dashi”

-          2 cups bonito flakes ( this is a shaved cured tuna. It is funky smelling but don’t get discouraged.  You can buy it at almost any Asian store or on-line.

 

Place Nori and bonito flakes in a medium pot.  Cover with water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 30 minutes.  Strain very well.

5.        Shellfish stock

Next time you are eating lobster or peeling shrimp, don’t throw away the shells.  Cooked or not, they have all the flavor.  Place them in a pot with some onion, celery, black peppercorns and a little salt and simmer the hell out of them for at least a few hours.  Strain and freeze.  This stock makes for a great sea food risotto or anytime you want to enhance a sea food dish.  Trying boiling your pasta in it… you will see.

Note:  I prefer to either not salt my stocks or salt them very little.  When you use them in recipes you will be adding salt anyhow and it helps to have a blank canvass.  I do not add any salt to Dashi, the stock will probably taste pretty bland, but the saltiness of the bonito will come out once the stock reduces. 

               Wish me luck in this year's cooking project.   I hope to post after the holiday with the update on how it all turned out.  I think, I will need  a few days of rest though….