Saturday, November 19th

I’m 5 days and 14 people away from Thanksgiving! I had a brief panic attack yesterday, but feel back on track now. My turkey breasts are ordered (all 12-16 pounds of them), my tablecloths are washed and ironed, and my new burlap table runners from FairStreetCrafts have arrived!

Grocery shopping started yesterday with trips to Whole Foods and Jewel. Today, I added a trip to Caputos along with a visit to Celidan Florist, to drop off vases for my Thanksgiving centerpieces. I have a batch of Sunday Gravy and my turkey stock both simmering on the stove and I just made the dough for my butter and parsley rolls (this is my test batch). I’m taking my first break since 6:30am - sitting on the couch in front of a nice warm fire with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon from Tin Barn and some soppresseta and crackers. It’s nice to finally get a break!

Well, I guess it is time to share some recipes, huh? Well, I used the Sunday gravy recipe already on this page, but I did make a couple of minor tweaks. This time, I added three anchovies packed in oil to the pot while I sautéed my onions. The anchovies melted completely and just sort of rounded out the flavor. I’m only 5 hours into the cooking process, so we will see what the final product tastes like! This time, I also used ¾ bottle of Chianti and a full box of beef broth. The tomatoes just didn’t have as much juice as normal, so it needed the extra liquid to get a good simmer going.

For my turkey stock recipe, I borrowed Sam Sifton’s Serious Turkey Stock recipe from the New York Times. I made a few changes to the original recipe:

• I used 4 turkey drumsticks instead of the combination of drumsticks and wings. Why? Because Whole Foods only had drumsticks!
• I tossed the drumsticks with canola oil, salt and pepper before roasting them in the oven. I also cut up two two slices of cottage bacon and placed that under each drumstick.
• I added the onion, celery, carrot, and thyme to the stock pot before even bringing the water to a boil. It was early and I hadn’t had any coffee yet, so this was just me, not fully reading the recipe.
• Instead of using all water, I used 6 cups of water and 2 boxes of chicken stock. I also added 6 cloves of garlic to the pot.

The recipe says “simmer as long as you can manage.” We are 5 hours in…I’ll let you know how long I managed!

I’ll add the recipe for the garlic parsley rolls once my “test” is complete. Right now, my break is over, so its back to the kitchen to stir the gravy and get those rolls in the oven!

More to come…