Thanksgiving 2011

Menu

• Turkey (8-16 hour brine, 3 hours of roasting)
• Cranberry Sauce - Use frozen cranberries.  Source 1, 2
• Pumpkin Pie
• Maple Ice Cream with Salty Buttered Nuts (Jeni's p114) 
• Roasted Sweet Potato

Left overs (camping / on the road)

• Turkey cranberry sandwich
• Roasted Sweet Potato (bring along raw potatoes and cook them in the fire)

Monday Night

• Start packing
• Prepare turkey brine
• Defrost turkey in freezer 
• Bake & puree pumpkin

 Tuesday Night

• Prepare ice cream base
• Prepare pie dough
• Brine turkey (11pm - 3pm = 16 hours)

Wednesday Morning

• Rotate turkey
• Brine turkey (8-16 hours) 7am - 3pm = 8 hours

Wednesday Night

• Roast turkey (3 hours - 500 for 30 min, 350 for 2.5hr)
• Place sweet potatoes in hot water (1 - 3 hours)
• Pre-bake pie crust & Prepare pumpkin pie filling
• Bake sweet potatoes (1 hour - 400 degrees) & pumpkin pie (1/2 hour - 400 degrees)
• Make cranberry sauce (1/2 hour)
• Churn ice cream
• Make rice

1. Roast Turkey (3 hours)

• Preheat 500 degrees
• Prepare aromatics: Microwave sliced apple, 1/4 onion, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 cup water 
• Wash off brine, pat dry and rub with canola oil: place on rack in roasting pan
• Stick aromatics, rosemary, sage into cavity
• Tuck wings under bird
• Prepare breast shield made of aluminum foil
• Put probe into thickest part of breast, Roast 30 minutes at 500 degrees, then stick on triangle & then cook at 350 until 161 degrees

2. Sweet Potatoes (15 min)

• Slice Sweet Potatoes into 1/2-inch disks or 1/2-inch chunks
• Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Remove from heat and add 1 quart room temperature (70°F) water to pot. 
• Immediately add potatoes to pot and cover. Place in warm spot in kitchen for at least 1 hour, and up to 3. (Keep 135 - 170)

3. Make Cranberry Sauce (1/2 hour)

3. Pie (1/2 hour)

• Let dough stand until malleable
• Roll between 2 sheets of parchment paper then transfer to pie plate
• Refrigerate for 40 minutes (go prep potatoes, then freeze it for 20 min)
• Adjust rack to lower-middle position & preheat to 375 

3.5 Prep Potatoes (15 min)

• Drain sweet potatoes and transfer to large bowl. 
• Toss with olive oil, and season to taste with salt and pepper. 
• Spread sweet potatoes on two rimmed baking sheets

3. Pie Continued (Only after turkey is done - 1.5 hours)

• Pre-bake the shell lined with 2 layers of aluminum foil over the edges & penny weights on top for 30-35 minutes until dry & light golden brown in color.
• Prepare filling: Whisk following together over medium heat in a medium sauce pan.
• 15oz pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• When the pumpkin begins to cook, whisk in the 1 cup dark brown sugar.
• Add 3/4 cup heavy cream, 3/4 cup whole milk and continue to whisk. Remove from head when it starts to sputter
• Place the three eggs into a blender and blend for 2s until nice & creamy
• While blending on low speed, pour the pumpkin pie filling through the feeder hole in the blender cap. 
• Adjust rack to lowest position & preheat to 400°F
• Pour the pumpkin pie filling into the HOT prebaked crust.  
• Place pie on lowest rack & potatoes in middle rack.  
• Bake pie for 25 minutes or until center of pie is jiggly when pie is rotated gently.

4.  Potatoes Continued (1/2 hour)

• After 30 min, carefully flip potatoes with thin offset spatula and roast until second side is browned and potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes longer. Serve immediately.

5. Churn Ice Cream
6. Make Rice

This was super crazy.  Pie was a bit watery, probably because I didn't let it strain through a cheesecloth for a while (will do with the rest of that frozen pumpkin!).  The sweet potatoes were great, I remembered to slice them up this time!  Turkey was meh, I think we overcooked it.  Thermometer is wonky? Or maybe we just don't know how to use it.