November 26, 2020 Thanksgiving Supper

  November 26, 2020  Thanksgiving Supper 

We started prepping around 9:00. Suzette peeled the five beets and cubed them.  We divided them into two Pyrex baking dishes.  I then peeled two sweet potatoes and cubed them and added them to the Pyrex baking dish with fewer beets.  Suzette Baked both dishes of beets.  The mixed one we served for a thanksgiving Supper.  The other one Suzette put in a jar in the fridge to pickle tomorrow for pickled beets. When they were roasted Suzette removed the dishes and covered them with aluminum foil.

Then I diced an onion four or five stalks of celery while Suzette chopped bread for the stuffing.  Then she chopped pecans in the Cuisinart and I chopped a 6 oz. jar of oysters and went to the garden to pick thyme for the oyster and pecan dressing.  There was not enough thyme outside so I stripped leaves from several sprigs of frozen thyme we had harvested and froze a month ago. She then sautéed the celery, onion, and pecans in butter.  When they were cooked Suzette added butter and eggs to the vegetables and bread and mixed them with her hands in a large bowl.  She then segregated some of the dressing into a smaller bowl and added the chopped oysters and thyme and mixed those ingredients together. 

While Suzette was making the dressing I opened and cleaned the turkey and quartered the liver and heart and put them into a 2 quart sauce pan with the neck, a peeled and sliced carrot, the remaining pieces of celery, and 3 oz. of onion and water to boil to make a broth for the gravy.

Suzette then stuffed the stomach cavity with the plain dressing and the neck cavity with the oyster dressing.  We then trussed and closed each cavity with string and put the turkey into an oven bag Suzette had dusted with flour.  We then sealed the bag and placed the turkey into a large roasting pan and put the 15 lb. turkey into a 350 degree oven for 3 hours.

We zoomed with Suzette’s brother, Jeff, and sister, Jean, at 11:00.     

We were hungry and I prepared a bowl of granola, tropical fruit salad and yogurt for myself and fruit salad and yogurt for Suzette at noon.

Then we both took showers and dressed.

Suzette then snapped a dozen large asparagus and drizzled them with olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper and placed them in s Pyrex baking dish.

Willy arrived at 1:30 and we went to the garden and worked together to start a fire in the Ceramic 

Mexican fireplace and I poured Rivero Reserva Spanish Tempranillo (Costco $7.99) for Willy and Albrecht 2018 Pinot Gris (Total Wine $17.99) for Suzette and me.  Willy and Suzette set the table in the gazebo.

Then we returned to the kitchen and Suzette put the asparagus into the oven and removed the turkey from 

the oven and made a roux with butter and flour for the gravy in a sauce pan.  We then slit the oven bag and drained the liquid from the turkey into the roux to which Suzette added additional goblet broth that had been cooking since 10:30 to make the gravy.

While Suzette was making the gravy, I carved the turkey and removed the dressing from the cavities.  The oyster went into a medium soufflé dish and the regular dressing went into a large soufflé dish.

The turkey was incredibly tender.  I carved the thigh for dark meat for Suzette and me and four or five slices of breast white meat for Willy.

Suzette took the Asparagus out of the oven after ten minutes at 350 degrees and poured the gravy into a 2 cup Pyrex measuring pitcher and we were ready to serve ourselves buffet style from the kitchen counter and cutting board were the sliced turkey lay.

 

  

 

We filled our plates and carried them to the garden and ate in the sunlight by the fire.

 

 

Suzette took binoculars in hopes of seeing some birds and she was not disappointed. Toward the end of the meal a pair of flickers flew into out Dutch Elm tree and hopped along a couple of limbs looking for food I suspect.

  It was a lovely meal and we all took seconds.  

After the meal at 3:00 we zoomed with my family, Rita Holzweig, Bill and Elaine in Dallas, Luke in upstate New York, Rebecca and Mickie in NYC, and Willie on the hammock in the back yard in the afternoon sun.

When we finished zooming at 4:00 we took a ¾ mile walk in the neighborhood and when we returned at 4:30 I cut the meat off the turkey and bones and put the bones and carcass into a stock pot to which Suzette added water and the remaining turkey broth.

Willy took a couple of Pecan Dream tarts Suzette had made and said goodbye and went to my office and meditated with my zen group from 5:00 until 5:30 by Zoom.

By 6:00 we were full and tired from our day of cooking so we sat and watched TV and cleaned the kitchen. I watched the Washington v. Dallas game until it became apparent that Washington would win.

We decided to watch episode three of the Great British Baking Show.

Suzette made us a dessert of a pecan dream placed on top of a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  

When the baking show episode ended around 7:15 Suzette went to read a boo and I to blog.

After a day of cooking we were satisfied with our effort and the massive amount of PPIs we had for future meals.

We have developed a way of working together to create Thanksgiving supper with a minimum of effort so the cooking is enjoyable although it consumes 4 to 5 hours.

Bon Appetit