This is part 3 (and the conclusion!) of “Thanksgiving in Pictures”. On Thanksgiving Monday here in Canada last weekend, we celebrated with a Thanksgiving menu taken from recipes in the November 2008 issue of Bon Appetit:
- Salted Roast Turkey with Herbs and Shallots with Dijon Gravy and Wild Mushroom and Spinach Stuffing
- Glazed Pearl Onions in Port with Bay Leaves
- Citrus Glazed Carrots
- Roasted Winter Squash and Parsnips with Maple Syrup Glaze and Marcona Almonds
- Creamy Corn and Chestnut Pudding
- Scalloped Yukon Gold and Sweet Potato Gratin with Herbs
- Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie with Chocolate Almond Bark and Toffee Sauce
Ward did quite a bit of prep work on the Saturday before, which made things much less hectic on Thanksgiving Monday.
The Turkey - into the oven
We were going to try brining our turkey this year, but according to an article in the Nov 2008 issue of Bon Appetit, salting was actually better than brining, so we gave that a try. Here’s the turkey, ready to go into the oven. It was a small bird, because there were only five of us at dinner. The stuffing is actually just a filler - the Wild Mushroom and Spinach stuffing was cooked separately.
The Sides
The Glazed Pearl Onions in Port with Bay Leaves were very good. You can serve them at room temperature, so they were no problem (although Ward served them warm). They had a wonderful sweet tartness that worked well with the rest of the meal. We had leftovers, and they were lovely the next day - I think they’d make a great appetizer, too.
Here’s the Creamy Corn and Chestnut pudding - it, too, was very nice:
The Roasted Winter Squash and Parsnips with Maple Syrup Glaze and Marcona Almonds was also very lovely - a taste of traditional fall vegetables with just the right hint of sweetness.
The Citrus Glazed Carrots were probably the only dish we weren’t as happy with. The carrots were just a little too, well, citrusy. The flavors didn’t really work well with the rest of the flavors on the menu. It was a beautiful looking dish, though.
Another huge hit of the night: the Scalloped Yukon Gold and Sweet Potato Gratin with Herbs. The kids absolutely loved this dish. The potatoes and sweet potatoes were creamy and the combination of the two made for a different taste than a run-of-the-mill scalloped potato dish. The dish went very well with the rest of the menu. We had leftovers, but they were the first leftovers to be polished off over the next few days.
The Salted Roast Turkey, with Shallots and Dijon Gravy with Herbs, and Wild Mushroom and Spinach Stuffing
We used a small free-range turkey for the Salted Roast Turkey recipe. Salting was very easy - Ward did it the previous morning, and then we left the bird in the fridge until the next day.
Unfortunately, because we have never had brined turkey before (although lots of our American friends talk about it, so it sounds like it’s quite popular in the States) we can’t offer a taste comparison between brined turkey and the Bon Appetit salted version. Our salted roast turkey, though, was an incredibly juicy and tender turkey, with just the right amount of saltiness. And unlike turkeys we’ve had in the past, the leftover breast meat was incredibly succulent the next day. Normally we enjoy leftover dark meat but find the breast meat to be dry - not so in this case. And we’re chalking that up to the salting!
The Wild Mushroom and Spinach stuffing was something different for us - we’ve always had a very traditional stuffing before last weekend. We were glad we gave this a try, though - it was excellent.
The Shallots and Dijon Gravy with Herbs was just amazing. We will definitely be making this gravy again. It had a beautifully savory taste that went really well with the turkey. The leftover gravy went very quickly - we ate it with leftover turkey the next day, as well as a big bag of French fries bought especially for eating with the gravy.
The Dessert: Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie with Chocolate Almond Bark and Toffee Sauce
We had to rest for a while before anyone was ready for dessert, but the Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie with Chocolate Almond Bark and Toffee Sauce was a huge hit. Just the right touch of after-dinner sweetness, and not too rich. If we hadn’t been so stuffed, we’d have had seconds. As it was, the rest of the pie was polished off over the next few days.
All in all, our rather ambitious Thanksgiving feast turned out really well. We’re filing some of the recipes away as favourites to cook again the next time we have roast turkey or chicken: the Shallots and Dijon Gravy with Herbs, for example, and the Scalloped Potato and Sweet Potato Gratin. And we’ll definitely try salting the turkey again, although for Christmas we’ll likely try brining just so we can compare. If we did a similar meal all over again, we’d leave out the Citrus Glazed Carrots and make mashed or roasted potatoes in addition to the scalloped dish, in order to have something more to pour the delectable gravy over!
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October 27th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Hi, I’m popping in via Sunday Salon. Your Thanksgiving dinner looks amazing! and I had to ask if salting the turkey was more or less prep than brining it, or about the same? I’ve never brined a turkey before but been tempted…now I’m wondering if I should try this technique instead.
October 27th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Ali, we’d never brined a turkey before but were all prepared to brine this year, until we saw this technique. It was VERY easy salting the turkey, so I suspect that it must be easier than brining - no big heavy pot to find space for in the fridge, filled to the brim with liquid. Just imagining hauling it in and then out, lifting the turkey out … yikes! Sounds very cumbersome to us. We’ll know better at Christmas, since we’re thinking we’ll brine a turkey then just for comparison!
October 29th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I was so excited to read about your turkey salting experience. I have always brined my turkeys, but this year (for American Thanksgiving) I am going to use Martha Stewart’s salting recipe. It does sound pretty simple, although having to rinse the turkey off afterwards is a little yucky. With brining, you just lift it out of the pot and into the roasting pan. I’ve always felt brining made the turkey very moist, but from what I’ve read salting is supposed to have the same effect.
November 14th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
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