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| Our festive board was particularly pretty this year, I thought. |
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| Some hand-painted plates that belonged to M.P.'s mama added a charming touch to our place settings. |
M.P. had dinner with his children and grandchildren down in the big city last Thursday, so we had our turkey dinner on Sunday, and it was grand. This being his favorite meal of all, M.P. worked on it for two days and nights, and pulled out all the stops as usual, as you can see.
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| Scrumptious appetizers: from 12 o'clock, cranberry cheese, stuffed mushrooms, gruyere cheese, ham and cheese pastry rolls, and pâté made with chicken livers, gizzards, and pork pieces, all ground very, very fine of course. Captain's wafers were on hand, not shown in this pic. |
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| The turkey, about 18 lbs., roasted to perfection low and slow, and every bite tender and juicy as could be. M.P. stuffed it with a truckload of cornbread dressing and basted it with wine and herbs every 15 minutes for about six hours. |
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| Left to right: sliced turkey, green bean casserole, and sweet potato soufflé topped with mini marshmallows. I made the last two dishes, which require no particular skill. At top under the mixer is a bowlful of mashed potatoes. |
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| Giblet gravy, left, and maque choux, a Cajun corn dish covered with crumbled bacon. |
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| Plated: from 1 o'clock, schoolhouse roll, turkey partially covered with cranberry sauce, maque choux, green bean casserole, sweet potato soufflé, and mashed potatoes with giblet gravy. At center is cornbread stuffing, also covered with giblet gravy. Every single bite was luscious. |
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| Homemade pecan pie headed the dessert list, along with a pumpkin pie (not shown), and real whipped cream. |
What else can I say? Everything was larrupin' good, boys. I tell you what. Sure do wish I could hand each one of you a plate. Hope your Thanksgiving was as happy and tasty as ours, and you have as much to be thankful for as we do.
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5 comments:
A very pretty table and a delicious looking spread. Wish I was there.
Ours was just OK. I forgot (?) to baste the turkey the whole time so it was a little dry; and the fennel with béchamel was under-cooked; the pie crust on the McIntosh apple pie was crumbly (I can't make a good crust to save my life) and I forgot to brush the top with milk and cinnamon-sugar from the bowl that the apple slices were in so it did not brown; there was only a neck and liver inside the turkey - no gizzards so the gravy was made with neck broth and pan drippings; I couldn't find pie pumpkins in any store so I made my ricotta chiffon pumpkin cheesecake pie with butternut squash instead; I cubed the bread for the dressing too large; the mashed potatoes and acorn/butternut squash mash were both good; and this year I did not burn the cranberry sauce.
All sounds good to me, Frank, and pretty elaborate - I'll bet Leon didn't complain!
My cauliflower au gratin was a big hit and the husband's fennel and walnut salad was divine. But being stuck with family, rather than chosen family, makes for a less than satisfactory holiday to me.
I love the cauliflower done that way.
BTW I saw someone online the other day refer to being with their biological family, instead of their logical family. Good quip.
Yeah, I like that - logical...
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