I had planned on doing a big huge Thanksgiving post, but the time has passed, I think, and I wasn’t very diligent in taking photos during the event (i.e., I took none). But I’ll try to recap! The photo above is of some leftovers the day after. The plate includes turkey (this is from the turkey my mom made), mashed potatoes and gravy, bread stuffing, and roasted root vegetables. And in the bowl is a mixture of cranberry relish and the good old canned cranberry stuff (which I love - fear not, they were served separately originally).

Joe and I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time and it seemed to go well. My family normally splits up the cooking duties, so we didn’t have to make everything. We did the turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, the cranberry relish, apple pie (which I made a post about last month), corn, and provided the shrimp and cocktail sauce and anchovies for appetizers (my uncle and cousins are the only ones who really eat those, but it’s tradition!).

My mom and two aunts brought the rest which included a second turkey, oyster dressing, hamburger dressing, sweet potatoes, bread dressing, squash and apples, sausage and pepperoni breads, cheese and crackers, salad, pumpkin, pecan, chocolate, and cream pies. I assure you that no one was hungry at the end.

A few notes:

• I brined my turkey and then rubbed it with butter under and over the skin. It tasted good and my grandpa enjoyed it in particular. I have to say though that I don’t know that I will brine again though. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but when I ate the leftovers from my mom’s turkey (which was roasted normally), they just tasted more like TURKEY to me. I’m glad I tried it out to experiment, but sometimes things are just good the way they are. I will definitely do the butter-rubbing again though!
• I used Yukon Gold for the mashed potatoes. Joe peeled them and my sister put them through the ricer and then added butter and heavy cream. They were Good.
• I managed to lose the neck and giblets from the turkey, but all was ok. I think I accidentally threw them out after putting the slimy ziploc bag they were in into a Wegmans plastic bag. I re-use Wegbags for the trash and probably confused them.
• Also, the gravy turned out very well even though I drained the potato water. I learned the trick of using the water the potatoes were cooked in to add starch to the gravy. My aunt Kathy, uncle Peter, and cousin John handled that. John also masterfully carved the turkey.
• We usually have more than one stove and oven at hand, but we made it work. The turkey came out and rested and other things went in to warm up. The only problem encountered was that our gas range doesn’t have a broiler large enough to brown the tops of the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes. We stuck them in the oven to just warm for a bit and then I tried to wave flame over them with a lighter, but it didn’t really work. They were melted enough, just not toasty.
• My aunt Kristie made salad. My sister insists (and it does kind of seem that way) that salad always tastes better when Kristie makes it.
• There were a whole lot of people packed into our kitchen, but it worked.
• Having a fireplace around Thanksgiving and Christmas is good!

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. Something about Thanksgiving should be coming along soon, but I must admit that my free time has been taken up with my early birthday/Christmas present:

So, for the time being, it’s leftovers, peanut butter toast, working on thesis, and thumpin’ the pagan skins. Food shall return as soon as possible.

Many of you are probably sick to death of hearing about the No-Knead Bread featured recently in the New York Times. I only got around to trying it today (well, starting it yesterday), though, so now you can hear about it from me.

It’s great! I don’t know that I’ll bake bread differently in the future. I had a very easy time of it, so the only hard part was waiting for the dough to rise the first time. I actually ended up letting mine sit for over 24 hours as we had things to do today with my mom coming over. The only thing I’ll probably change about the basic recipe is increasing the salt just a bit as I felt the flavor is just a *tad* bland. Also, I probably could have used a bit less flour on the towels, but I wanted to be careful. I’ve been knocking the excess off the loaf. The texture is absolutely perfect though and exactly what I’ve been trying to achieve at home. I’m lucky enough to have a nice, heavy Le Creuset dutch oven thanks to my mom last Christmas, but this bread recipe warrants the purchase of any kind of heavy pot even if you only used it for bread.

Coming out of the oven:

Crispy, bubbly crust:

Super holey interior!

Last night, Joe and I had the pleasure of taking part in the Syracuse Real Food Co-op’s 2006 Harvest Dinner. This year, it was held at bc Restaurant, one of the stand-out eateries in Syracuse, and showcased many of the local and regional farms and foods.

We arrived a little before 6, right before the onslaught of other attendees. The bar area got a bit cramped with everyone packing in, but there was also the opportunity to taste cheeses from Lively Run Goat Diary of Interlaken, NY, Neighborly Farms of Vermont, Evans’ Farmhouse Creamery of Norwich, NY, Old Chatham Sheepherding Company of the Hudson Valley, and Sidehill Acres of Candor, NY and sample organic wines provided by Vinomania. We were also all given coupons for 20% off our next purchase at Vinomania, so that will come in handy for the holiday season.

We were seated in the back dining room with Sally White at our table. As none of us were vegetarian or vegan, we tasted all of the meat-based dishes. Others who did not eat meat were given alternate dishes. One, with butternut squash, looked particularly good and I wanted a taste of that as well. Baskets of sourdough bread and olive oil were provided and Joe and I could have eaten about three of those baskets.

First off we had a Roasted Baby Carrot and Shallot Soup, with Chorizo Sausage and Creme Fraiche:

This was amazing and again, we could have eaten bowls and bowls of it. Definitely a recipe to figure out at home. The soup had a very deep flavor and the bits of sausage provided a nice spicy contrast. The vegetables were provided by Grindstone Farm and the sausage by D’Artagnan.

Next was the House Smoked Sable on a bed of baby lettuce, pistachios and pomegranate seeds with lemon ginger dressing:

I’m not usually a big fish person, but this was excellent. The pistachios and pomegranate seeds provided nice crunch and flavor. All over, a nice, light salad. The fish came from Fins and Tails and the greens from Grindstone Farms.

This was followed by a Porcini Mushroom Risotto with Short Ribs and Pea Sprouts:

The risotto was very creamy and flavorful and the meat of the short ribs very tender. If I absolutely had to choose though, this was probably my least favorite part of the dinner as I’m not a big mushroom person. Joe really enjoyed it though and the rest of the dinner was so good that saying it was my least favorite really isn’t bashing it that much. The purveyors for this portion were Cobblestone Valley of Preble, NY (this is where our turkey is coming from!), Fresh Herbs of Fabius, and D’Artagnan.

Oops.. I was a little late in remember to take the photo on this one.

This is the remnants of a Roasted Leg of Lamb with assorted potatoes, caramelized red onion, and rainbow swiss chard. This was probably my favorite of the entrees. The roasted crust on the lamb was amazing and swiss chard is one of my favorite greens. The food for this dish was provided by Eight O’Clock Ranch, Black Brook Farm, and Grindstone Farm.

The dinner was rounded out with a light dessert: an Apple, Goat Cheese, and Hazelnut Napoleon with Salted Caramel Yogurt Sauce.

This was very yummy indeed. The goat cheese and hazelnut filling was tangy and creamy and we were being ruffians and swirling up the remnants of the caramel sauce with our mint garnish. The goat cheese came from Lively Run, the yogurt from Evans, and the hazelnuts from Tierra Farm of Valatie.

We also left with a special “Co-op” blend of coffee from Freedom of Espresso, Syracuse’s premier coffee roaster (with locations on Pearl Street and in Armory Square). We were lucky enough to come away with three of the little bags (they had some extras at the end).

Overall an excellent evening! It was great to enjoy a meal knowing where all of the food had come from and to enjoy it with the farmers and producers in the same room (did I mention that a large number of the people behind the farms mentioned above were dining along with us?). I can’t wait until the next dinner!