Turkey Gravy with Mushrooms

After the turkey has been removed to a cutting board or serving platter, everything leftover (except for the burnt bits) are fair game to be incorporated into the gravy. If the burned charcoal bits bother you for health reasons, simply take a spoon and scoop them out of the pan before proceeding with the gravy.

Ingredients

8 oz cremini mushrooms (small brown mushrooms), washed and sliced

4 green onions, white part only, sliced

1/2 c dry red wine

1 1/2 c turkey broth

1 1/2 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

3+ tbsp all purpose flour

roasting pan juices, lard and bits from the roasted turkey

Directions

Place the roasting pan over two stove burners and turn on both burners to low-medium heat. Use red wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan. You may need more than the specified amount of turkey broth to dilute the saltiness of the gravy. Hopefully you started a stock pot with extra turkey necks when the turkey was put into the oven. Add all the ingredients and whisk to combine the flour with the gravy. More flour may be needed after the broth is added.

The gravy should be thickened and runny; and certainly not gloppy with flour.

From a 15 pound turkey, this made roughly 3 1/2 cups of gravy.

Buttermilk Biscuits

I'm not sure what I did wrong here. They didn't rise at all; but at least there weren't any leftovers for this side dish. The only ones that looked "normal" had two biscuit rounds stacked on top of each other when baking. Maybe if I had used fake ingredients like vegetable shortening they might have risen to great poofiness like the Staypuft marshmallow man. When it comes to preparing dishes for Thanksgiving, I shudder at the notion of using post-industrial methods; like using shortening in baked goods. Frankly, I don't think vegetable shortening existed in 1621, but hey, in today's America it's all about speed and convenience.

These biscuits are easy enough to make and I could have posted the recipe years ago; but never got around to it because it is so simple.

Ingredients

2 c all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
8 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled, cut into chunks
3/4 c buttermilk

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

1. Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in butter with a fork or pastry blender until it resembles pea-sized crumbs. Add buttermilk and mix. Dough will be sticky.

2. Pour dough onto a floured surface and roll out with rolling pin. Be sure to not overwork the dough, because I think that's what I did during the folding-in-half and rolling out part.

3. Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness, fold in half and cut out rounds with a biscuit cutter.

4. Place onto a Silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the tops are golden brown.

5. Remove from oven and set onto a rack to cool before putting into a clean kitchen-towel-lined bowl or basket.

Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread

This recipe is used just about every year I've been in the Northwest as the bread base for cornbread stuffing for the turkey. I suppose it could be baked in different pans or shapes; but if the end goal is to cube all the bread, then a) it doesn't matter how moist the cornbread is, and b) its baking shape doesn't matter either. The recipe ratio comes from The Cast Iron Skillet cookbook.

Ingredients

1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c fine white cornmeal
1/2 c medium-coarsely ground yellow cornmeal
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 large eggs
1 c half-and-half
1/2 c sour cream
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream, butter and half-and-half together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until it forms a batter.

Butter the interior of the cast iron skillet, bottom and sides. Pour in cornmeal batter and bake for 10-15 minutes, until the top is lightly golden brown.

Yield: 4 1/2 c cornbread, or 8 servings if sliced into wedges

Rosemary-Garlic Roasted Yams and Sweet Potatoes

I really don't get why Americans would put a layer of marshmallows on top of an already sweet root vegetable; perhaps to get the kids to eat it? to salute industrialized manufacturing? to pad the coffers of the corn industry? At any rate, this recipe ignores all of that marshmallow nonsense.

Depending on how many guests you have, it is likely that you'll either have a few leftovers or a lot. This side dish is for people who don't necessarily care for mashed potatoes for their starch allotment at Thanksgiving; like me. I don't like putting a serving size estimate on a side dish since it doesn't really reflect a true serving size when paired with a larger holiday meal. A whole yam or potato is the typical serving size for an adult.

Ingredients

6-8 medium-sized yams, any variety, peeled and cut into 1" wedges
1-2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in to 1" wedges
3-4 small sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves only, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c olive oil
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

1. In a very large bowl, combine peeled yam and potato wedges with garlic, olive oil, salt, and black pepper. Mix with hands or a large spoon to evenly coat the wedges.

2. This may need two rimmed baking sheets, depending on the amount of cooked. Spread into a single layer on a prepared baking sheet (either use a Silpat, or a buttered baking dish, otherwise the wedges will stick to the bottom of the sheet)

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the wedges are fork-tender.

Kitchen Note: Thanksgiving on the Sides

 I received a real chef's jacket for my bday. It even says "Executive Chef" under my name. It's really cute. :) One could say that my true passion in life is food; isn't that the same for everyone who eats on a daily basis? While I don't particularly have good knife skills, am able to keep a tidy mise en place and meals eventually get prepared, though not entirely in a timely manner.

For a food event like Thanksgiving, planning the dishes and prep times takes a few days of researching recipes and ingredients with what is locally and seasonally available. Planning is what allows a succession of dishes to be baked one after another at different temperatures before and after the turkey is roasted with the same oven.

This year I made the following side dishes:

a batch of skillet cornbread (from the Cast Iron Skillet cookbook; for the stuffing)
roasted brussels sprouts (Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa cookbook)
a loaf of beer bread (in case the cornbread wasn't enough for the stuffing)
rosemary and garlic roasted yams and sweet potatoes
burnt pecan vinaigrette
buttermilk biscuits
roasted garlic-sage butter (for the beer bread)
mushroom rosemary turkey gravy

The gravy and vinaigrette are new recipes; as they were made on the fly as I was doing it. I'll have these posted soon.