Happy Black Friday Everyone!!! I, myself, have never been out there, but I know some hardcore shoppers. You all be safe out there. Every year, I remind everyone to wear extra padding and a slingshot just incase folks get a little crazy.
So, there was this big American holiday yesterday. We ate so much food and my children decided to use ME as a trampoline afterwards:
I've been preparing for this meal all month as my husband has been away so I wanted to be prepared and not skimp on anything! And for the most part, everything went smoothly. My first virtual stress-free Thanksgiving since my first one. This year, everything but the pound cake and cookie topping used in the Pumpkin Tiramisu was from scratch!
If you follow me on
Twitter you've seen all my
annoying informative turkey day prep tweets! It was nice, because I was communicating others what I was doing it kept me on track! Especially my husband was awayand most days there were no one to talk to. I talked Thanksgiving to death with my friend Becca- poor thing hehe. Anywho, my husband arrived home early this Monday morning. He was pleasantly surprised and suddenly very hungry after seeing all the preliminary work I did!
This year I am also proud to say I got my first organic, free-range turkey. It was 5kg of awesomeness! It was also a pretty penny, so an early birthday present for me (it's tomorrow!). I also butterflied this massive bird by removing its backbone and breast bone! This mofo did NOT want to give up that breast bone, but I needed to remove it to ensure a flat bird! I also brined it the night before, then rinsed and dried it, made a butter/spice mixture and massage the lovely bird all over and under its skin. I then covered it, let it sit and dry, outside as it was COLDER than my fridge and there was no room left in my fridge (Thank goodness we do not live next door to
The Bumpasses' hounds, heh), then brought it to room temp, grilled it over indirect heat for about 2 hours. The most difficult part was flipping the bird, and I was pretty sure I was an expert at that (i hate traffic). This resulted in a perfectly cooked bird, tend er juicy, amazing flavor and I would most certainly do this again!!!
Finished
After reading all the POMs posts, I decided to to try something using pomegranate. I made a pomegranate glaze using pomegranate molasses, soy sauce, dijon mustard, and dash of salt and a lil dark brown sugar. My daughter could have ate the glaze alone! It was amazing! And it complimented the turkey very well!
Dinner was delicious! The menu I ended up going with was:
Grilled and Butterflied Pomegranate Glazed Turkey
Apple-Sausage Cornbread Stuffing - I made my own sausage!!!
Green Bean Casserole with Herbed Onion Ring Topping
Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon and Potato Chip Topping
Vichy Carrots
Sweet Potato-Thyme Rolls from scratch
Pear-Ginger-Cranberry Chutney
Pumpkin Tiramisu
Chocolate-Bourbon Pecan Pie with Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
I have to say my faaaaaaave of everything was the Chocolate-Bourbon Pecan Pie. I usually make pecan pie and leave it for the hubby. He's a southern boy who loves pecans and pie. However, after seeing him eat 5 slices, I asked for one. OH MY GOSH. The flavors were incredible together and I just needed more. I woke up thinking about PIE. I ate the last slice...how lady like! So here is the recipe, by my main man, Tyler Florence. This man never steers me wrong, I tells ya.
I made the crust two weeks in advance and froze, thawed overnight, then let sit at room temp about 20 minutes so it wouldnt crack when I rolled it out.
I am making this again next week!
Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
Tyler Florence
Ingredients:
For Pie Pastry
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 cup finely ground pecans
1 T sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small chunks
2 T ice water, plus more if needed
For Filling:
1/4 cup butter
2 oz unsweetened chocolate--i used 72% cocoa
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 t vanilla extract
3 T bourbon
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
To make the pastry: combine the flour, ground pecans, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and mix with a pastry blender or your hands until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour in the ice water and work it in to bind the dough until it holds together without being too wet or sticky. Squeeze a small amount together, if it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle. Carefully roll the dough up onto the pin (this may take a little practice) and lay it inside a 9-inch pie pan. Press the dough into the pan so it fits tightly and trim the excess around the rim. Place the pie pan on a sturdy cookie sheet so it will be easy to move in and out of the oven.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
To make the filling: melt the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, remove from heat and let cool. Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl until frothy and then blend in the sugar. Stir in the syrup, vanilla, bourbon, salt, and the melted butter mixture until well blended.
Arrange the pecans on the bottom of the pie crust and carefully pour the egg mixture over them. Bake until the filling is set and slightly puffed, about 45 minutes. Test for doneness by sticking a thin knife in the center of the pie, if it comes out pretty clean, you're good to go. Transfer the pie to rack and cool completely before cutting.
I served this glorious pie with homemade vanilla bean ice cream. Recipe
here or just purchase some nice stuff.
Post Turkey Day Sliders
NOW a quick idea for those leftovers. You all know I love sliders from previous posts, they're mini with a big bite! I made sure I had just enough rolls leftover to make these. I basically used my compund flavored butter to spread across the tops of the rolls, warmed turkey, chutney, stuffing and rolls in the oven, split the rolls in half crosswise, chucked in the goods and added some fresh sage. UH-MAZING!!! This will be a post huge dinner tradition!!!
Thank you for reading this!!!
