My First Thanksgiving, or, My First Snow

If any clarification is needed, I have experienced twenty-three Thanksgivings (some more traditional than others; the one in Spain not being one of those traditional feasts) however, I have never prepared my own Thanksgiving in its entirety. Joakim, on the other hand, has never even tasted a bit of Thanksgiving chow so I changed that this year!

Sadly, I had to work on Thanksgiving and the days surrounding. So the first day after Thanksgiving that I could get around to this task was December 1. Ironically, this was the first day of snow fall in Lund. For more bloggage of my thoughts on said snow, see my Sweden blog by clicking this link.

Now, I am not going to post recipes for everything because everybody has their own special stuffing mixture or sweet potato pie recipe that your great-great-great aunt smuggled from Ireland 167 years ago. I don't care. Just cherish the fact that for not being in America and only having three tiny burners on my electric stove, I kicked my first Thanksgiving's ASS. Boo-yah. 

But I will post some recipes! First of all, let me say that maybe it wasn't a 100% true Thanksgiving as I didn't do a whole bird. I know, I know. But I worked all week around my day off for this feast and we are unable to buy all the supplies (the cooking pan to catch the grease/thermometer, etc) until we're in our new place in January. So I bought two huge turkey breasts and browned them with butter and on the stove then baked them with the stuffing. It tasted GREAT.

I made a green beans almondine with bacon. I just cooked the green beans until tender, browned some almond slivers in butter. Cut some bacon into bits and fried it. Mixed it all together with some lemon juice and bam! Delish.

Naturally, we had mashed potatoes and gravy. We used the fat from browning the turkey breast and followed some tips my mom gave me on flour usage (thanks Ma!).

The rolls were a winner though. I hate to admit where I got this recipe for dinner rolls... It was... (sigh) Martha Stewart. But holy cow, they were good! Joakim took the lead on the rolls (I forced him into this recipe though) as well as the gravy. Both were amazing. He's a hero.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup warm water (115 degrees)
• 2 packets (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm whole milk (115 degrees)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for bowl and pans
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 large eggs
• 6 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for work surface

Directions

• Place water in a small bowl; sprinkle with yeast, and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, butter, sugar, salt, and 2 eggs. Whisk in yeast mixture.
• Using a wooden spoon, stir in 6 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, until you have a soft, shaggy dough (if necessary, add up to 1/2 cup more flour). Turn dough out onto a floured work surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 5 to 10 minutes. Butter the inside of a large bowl; place dough in bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let stand in a warm spot until dough has doubled in size, about 1 1/4 hours.
• Butter two 13-by-9-inch baking pans. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a 15-inch rope; cut each rope into 15 1-inch pieces. Press each piece into a disk, then shape into a ball. Arrange dough balls in prepared pans. (To make ahead: Wrap pans well, and freeze, up to 2 months.) Cover pans loosely with plastic; let stand in a warm spot until rolls have doubled in size, about 1 1/4 hours (2 hours more if frozen).
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a small bowl, beat remaining egg until blended; brush onto rolls. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes, rotating pans back to front and top to bottom halfway through. Let rolls cool 15 minutes before serving.

Yum!

So what have we so far... Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans almondine, dinner rolls... Aah yes! Cranberry sauce. Used my mom's recipe and it is the best I've ever had!

Ingredients

1 Pkg Cranberries

1 Cup Water

1 Cup Sugar

1 Orange 

1/4 Brandy

2 Cinnamon Sticks

Wash cranberries and pick out the god awful squishy ones. Put into pan with water and sugar and start them cooking over a low simmer. They will pop. If they don't all pop I kind of mash them to the side of the pan with a spoon. 

Zest the orange and add zest to mixture, cut orange in half and squeeze juice in as well. Turn off heat, add brandy, turn heat back on (nothing worse than losing eyebrows over brandy vapor explosion) add cinnamon sticks and let the whole thing cook for about 10 min. Remove from heat and let cool.

I also made her apple cider, but had to replace the cider juice with regular apple juice but it was incredible anyway.

Ingredients

Apple Cider

8 Cups Cider

1 Cup Brown Sugar

2-4 cinnamon sticks (plus 1-2 dashes of ground)

8-10 whole cloves

5-7 whole allspice

Pinch of Nutmeg

Put everything on the stove and bring to a simmer slowly. Let it simmer, with lid on, for about 40 min. Keep warm and serve.

Last but not least, I made a pumpkin pie with maple whipped cream. For instructions on this delight click this link to see a previous blog of mine.

The final touch! And here's a plated close-up...

Not too shabby, Team Fennell-Krantz. Not too shabby.

Date Night

Call us boring, but Joakim and I like to stuff our faces in the comfort of our own home on date night and THEN hit the town (or just shrug and skip it and watch a movie on the couch but ANYWAY). However, we don't just grill a cheese sandwich and call it food, we get bizz-ay in that kitchen and choose a new, delicious recipe each time.

This was several date nights ago (maybe a few months ago; I've been slacking) but well worth the recap. We dialogued with the Barefoot Contessa and created this bad boy:

For the sake of brevity (and perhaps the sake of posting more blog entries today and catching up) I will share the Food Network's digital version of the recipe from her book.

Ingredients

• 2 cups peeled, seeded, and (1/2-inch) diced butternut squash
• 2 cups peeled and (1/2-inch) diced Yukon Gold potatoes (2 medium)
• 2 cups peeled and (1/2-inch) diced parsnips (3 parsnips)
• 2 cups peeled and (1/2-inch) diced carrots (6 carrots)
• Good olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
• 6 (8-ounce) skinless fish fillets such as striped bass or halibut
• 6 thin slices prosciutto di Parma
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 6 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

For the vegetables, place the butternut squash, potatoes, parsnips, and carrots on a sheet pan and drizzle with 1/3 cup olive oil. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper and toss together. Spread out in a single layer and roast for 30 minutes, turning once during cooking. After 30 minutes, toss with the garlic and roast for another 10 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender and starting to brown.

Meanwhile, line another sheet pan with aluminum foil, and place a baking rack on top of the foil. Brush the fish fillets on both sides with olive oil and season them liberally with salt and pepper. Wrap each fillet with a slice of prosciutto to form a wide band around the center of the fillet, overlapping the ends on the skin side. Arrange the fillets on the rack with the prosciutto seam side down and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, until barely cooked.

While the vegetables and fish are roasting, melt the butter over medium heat in a medium-size saute pan. Add the rosemary sprigs and cook over low heat until the rosemary leaves are crisp and the butter begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Discard the rosemary, stir in the lemon juice, and set aside.

To serve, place the fish on a platter or individual plates, spoon the rosemary butter on top, and surround with the vegetables. Garnish with lemon wedges and serve hot.