Thanksgiving

Turkey – remove from oven at 150 degrees, see below
Gravy
Parsley Puree
Stuffing
Broccoli with whole-egg Hollandaise sauce
Green beans with almonds, butter & lemon juice
Peas with mushrooms
Cucumber salad – 1 cup white vinegar, 1 cup sugar, boiled, peel English cucumbers, slice, marinate, then drain before serving.
Cranberry sauce –use recipe on bag – on bag, one cup sugar, one cup water, cook
Fruit salad – clementines, pineapple, grapes & bananas, plain yogurt or sour cream with powdered sugar, marshmallows
Sweet potato casserole?

Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie

Recipes

Butter Pie Crust

* 3 cups all-purpose flour * 1 teaspoon salt * 1 cup butter (2 sticks) unsalted is best * 1/4 cup ice water

DIRECTIONS

In a bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in butter until crumbly. Gradually add water. Tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Divide dough in half. Roll out one half to fit a 9-in. pie plate for bottom crust.

Pumpkin Pie 1 large or 2 small

4 cups canned pumpkin
3 cups sour cream
˝ cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
4 Tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
˝ teaspoon nutmeg or allspice
Ľ teaspoon cloves
4 slightly beaten eggs
Mix everything together, bake in pie shell for 425 for 15 minutes then 350 for about 45 min.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Gravy: 3/4 cup of flour, browned in oven, ˝ cup of fat, 6 cups turkey broth & liquid, lemon juice, cream, pureed mushrooms

Mushroom Bread Stuffing
2 Sticks Butter
1 cup chopped onion
8 cups coarse fresh bread cubed (one large round Hoboken bread from McCaffrey’s was about right, about 2 ľ lb.)
˝ cup chopped parsley leaves
ľ cup pistachio nuts
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 lb. mushrooms, chopped
3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
Sautee onion, pine nuts, mushrooms in butter, combine with bread and other dry ingredients. Add broth, eggs. Cook covered fro about 45 min, uncovered for 39 more minutes. (I forgot to uncover it but it was good that way.)

Bake 45 min covered, 30 minutes or until golden

Parsley Puree 4 cups parsley leaves, washed
Salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, more as needed
Juice of one lemon.
1. In a food processor, combine parsley with a pinch of salt, about half the oil and 2 tablespoons water. Process, scraping down sides of work bowl, if necessary; add rest of oil gradually. 2. Add lemon juice to taste, then more salt, if necessary. Add more oil or water to thin mixture, if you wish. Serve, or cover and refrigerate for up to a couple of days.
Yield: 2 cups, 8 or more servings.

Whole Egg Hollandaise Sauce

8 large eggs
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 sticks butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup water
Ľ teaspoon white pepper

Mix eggs, lemon juice & salt in blender, add hot melted butter, can cook in microwave if it doesn’t thicken

There’s No Undoing Overdone
By MARIAN BURROS
Our definitive turkey test was conducted with the help of Cedric Maupillier, executive sous-chef at Citronelle in Washington.
Each time I took the temperature of a turkey, Mr. Maupillier — without looking at the thermometer — would feel the breast and tell me whether he thought it was ready.
The heritage and wild turkeys, he said, cannot stand as high a temperature as the broad-breasted whites because they have much less fat. When the internal temperatures reached 150 degrees, he agreed that the birds were done. Overcooking is irreversible: better to undercook the turkey and put it back in the oven if the juices run pink when it is cut. Here is a no-frills guide to a moist Thanksgiving turkey (with stuffing cooked separately): 1. Remove giblets from turkey cavity; wash turkey, and season inside and out with salt and pepper. Place turkey in roasting pan breast side up, and brush all over with a mixture of oil and butter. You needn’t truss the bird; just tuck the wings under the body.
2. Let turkey come to room temperature, which will take at least 30 minutes. Place shelf in lower third of oven, and preheat to 475 degrees. Roast turkey for 20 minutes; reduce heat to 350, and continue to cook, at 15 to 20 minutes a pound. (Fifteen minutes is the rate for leaner turkeys.) Every 15 or 20 minutes baste with pan juices. If any part of the skin begins to brown too much, cover with aluminum foil.
3. One hour before you estimate that the turkey should be done, insert a digital instant thermometer straight down to where the leg meets the breast. Don’t let it touch the bone. If it reads 130 or above, check again in 20 minutes. Once it reaches 140, check every 10 minutes.
4. Remove turkey from oven at 150 degrees, and cover with foil. It should rest 30 minutes before carving; by then, it will reach 160 degrees. Cut into a thigh. If the juices are still pink, cut off both thighs, and return them to the oven for as much as 35 minutes, checking every 10 minutes. When juices are clear the thighs are done. If joints show some redness, that is not a concern. If you are serving turkey to elderly people, young children, women who are pregnant or anyone with a compromised immune system, cook their servings separately to 165 degrees.
Mr. Maupillier’s method for carving the turkeys may have helped them retain their moistness. He removed all the meat from the breast and thighs, and rather than carving them into very thin slices he cut them half an inch thick and served them with a little golden brown skin attached, as duck is served in a restaurant. Very appealing.
Whatever you do on Nov. 23, forswear revelry for the last hour of roasting and stand guard over the turkey. It can go from just right to overcooked in five minutes.