Thanksgiving in Boston

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, I mean really, it’s all about cooking, eating, and spending time with family.  What’s better than that?  I served dinner at my apartment this year with seven adults and my two boys.  I like having dinner with a small group of people like I do every year, but one year I would love to make dinner for a large group of people.  Here is our menu for this year’s dinner!

Anyway, this year I started prepping two days before by boiling a chicken for Dustin’s dressing and for broth for my soup…Dustin’s dressing is really more like a chicken stuffing, something his family from Missouri made every thanksgiving.

My soup is pretty much an Italian Wedding soup:

Ingredients & Directions:

1 lb extra-lean ground beef
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 C dried bread crumbs
1 tsp dried basil
2 1/2 quarts chicken broth
1 C Orzo
3/4 C diced carrots
1/2 C chopped celery
1/2 C chopped onion

In a medium bowl, combine the beef, egg, bread crumbs, & basil. Shape mixture into 3/4-inch balls and set aside. In a large crockpot heat chicken broth to boiling; stir in the onion, pasta, carrot, celery, and meatballs. I set it to the lowest setting (10 hours) and usually put it on right before I go to bed or early in the morning depending on when I want to serve it.  Just check that the meatballs are cooked thoroughly (not pink) before serving.  You can also serve with shredded Parmesan cheese on top if you like that.

I started on my Pumpkin Creme Brulee next.  This is my favorite dessert.  I only make it once a year to keep it special and it is always worth the wait.

Ingredients & Directions:

2 C heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla
8 egg yolks
1/3 C sugar
1 C pureed pumpkin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 C sugar (for caramelized tops)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  In a large bowl, whisk together heavy creme, vanilla, egg yolks, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.  Blend well.  Strain into a large bowl to remove foam or bubbles.  Divide mixture among ramekins (I usually use 6-8 ramekins).  Place in a water bath, and bake until set around the edges, but still loose in the center.  Approximately 35-45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and leave in water bath until cooled.  Remove ramekins from water bath and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.  When ready to serve, sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of sugar over each custard.  Caramelize sugar (I used my little torch, but you can place in broiler).  After caramelizing, re-chill for a few minutes before serving.

I was reading the November issue of Martha Stewart Living and read about spatchcocking your thanksgiving turkey and I knew immediately I was going to do it.  I was really worried that I was going to mess up the only turkey we had for dinner, but I was not going to back down once I told everyone I was going to do it.  I mean seriously cutting the cooking time to only 90 (less with smaller birds) minutes was a no brainer!  Just cut along the both sides of the turkey’s backbone to remove it (I used sturdy kitchen shears).

Flip the bird over and flatten it by breaking the breast bone. I then put an herb butter (simply 1/2 stick butter, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, parsley, or whatever herbs you prefer) underneath the skin and then brush the bird with olive oil, salt and pepper (2 T olive oil, 1 T salt, & 1 tsp pepper).

Place on a large baking sheet, baste, and rotate it about halfway through.  I actually did that twice since my Turkey was 17 pounds.

Dustin made simple fall floral arrangements for the dinner table.

My mother made an antipasto, which is one of my favorite things she makes for Thanksgiving.  I requested it.

Here is our dining room table set and ready for eating!

The turkey breast cut so easily and was really the juiciest bird I think I may have ever cooked.

I made a spicy broccoli, simple mashed squashed, and canned peas (which I hate, but my stepfather loves them so I held my breath and cooked them anyway).  And my grandmother’s hand-painted turkey gravy boat is a staple of our Thanksgiving dinners no matter where we eat.

Mashed potatoes and Dustin’s Green Bean Casserole.

Here’s my plate.  I made stove top stuffing muffins as well which were delicious and always one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving Dinner.

Dessert was a Pecan Pie Dustin made and my Pumpkin Creme Brulee.

Once our meal was over, we went to my aunt and uncle’s house for more dessert.  There were 18 different desserts, which does not top the record of 27 desserts one year (seriously, one dessert per person).  I hope you had just as good a Thanksgiving as I did with my family!

(Steven)