Thanksgiving with CT’s Family

This was the first year in a long time that I did not spend Thanksgiving with my family. Instead I was invited to spend the day with CT’s family. CT’s Sister (ML) and Brother-in-Law (TL) are quite the chefs themselves and have been hosting their own feast in their apartment the past couple of years. Just to show you how seriously they take the day/meal, we were given our “assignments” about two weeks before. Although I was only assigned a side dish, I made the executive decision to make an appetizer too.

We started off with seven different cheeses from Murray’s. I didn’t write down the names of all of them, but can tell you there was an aged cheddar, gouda, black truffle goat cheese, and my favorite, a smoked brie. There was also some Prosciutto di Parma.

ML also made 2 patés. Even though I tried a little, I am still not a paté person. I’ll let CT tell you more about those.

CT says: I was so impressed when she made paté for the first time last thanksgiving, so I was excited to see their return appearance. This year she made one standard chicken liver paté with cognac and another one using port and walnuts (and orange slices on top). They were both amazing, as before. Even though I don’t love walnuts, I liked the walnut paté a lot, and just brushed aside the chopped nuts on top. Last year, she also made a blackberry paté which was fantastic, so hopefully that will make a return next year as it was probably my overall favorite!

ML & TL made some cranberry walnut bread to go along with the baguette and other crackers for the various cheeses. They even made their own pumpkin challah, but more on that later.

My appetizer was a pancetta crisp topped with goat cheese and a roasted beet with a little thyme sprinkled on top. I found this recipe a couple of years ago and it is fantastic. Aunt B made it once with fresh pear instead of the beet and it was just as good. This bite is all about the ingredients; fresh pancetta from my local butcher, beets from the farmers’ market, and goat cheese from Trader Joe’s. This seemed to be well liked by all those in attendance, so I am glad I decided to do this extra dish.

CT says: Apparently TT likes my family more than me, because I can’t believe he’s had this recipe and never made it for me before! It was a perfect balance of flavors – sweet beets, salty pancetta and creamy cheese. They were so good, I couldn’t stop eating them even though I knew I would be mad at myself for filling up before dinner. I’m pretty sure I ate my “portion” and they snuck a couple extra.

After some time for digesting, we were ready for the feast. Keep in mind there were only 8 people celebrating. FBM REPRESENT!

We started off with some homemade French onion soup. It was topped with traditional Gruyère (I think from Murray’s) that was melted by ML’s new blowtorch. This soup is making me a bigger onion fan day by day.

CT said: Not always my favorite soup at restaurants, but I really liked that this was a lighter version, without too much my cheese weighing it down. A little scary to see my sister with a blowtorch in her hand though!

CT’s Mom brought a salad to try to counteract the four pounds of butter that we would be consuming shortly. There was some fresh jicama and fennel in there, yum!

CT: I love jicama and snow peas, so even though I was reluctant to waste stomach space on salad, I gobbled down a small plate!

Here is turkey fresh out of the oven. TL previously cut the backbone out and trussed it so it only took about 1.5 hours to cook. Pretty fast for a twelve pound turkey. Underneath is the stuffing made with sausage and homemade pumpkin challah. Unfortunately, the stuffing got a little burned, but I liked it that way. Carcinogens taste good.

Jalapeño cornbread. This had a just the right amount of kick to it.

CT says: This is my favorite cornbread in the world! Slightly sweet, moist, spicy, yumminess! I’ve tried to replicate it several times, but just can’t get it right, even with her exact recipe (which she’s altered many times over the years to sheer perfection).

Cranberry Mango Relish. I really liked the mix of the tartness from the cranberry and the sweetness of the mango.

CT says: It was a fun, new twist on cranberry sauce and great accompaniment to the turkey.

Here is the stuffing as presented in bowl form.

CT says: This was really good – the pumpkin challah wasn’t super pumpkin-y, but it lent a nice flavor to the dish. TL has made several types of stuffings over the years, and I really enjoyed this one as one of the best. The homemade challah made this even more impressive!

CT made creamed spinach. It was super creamy and garlicky goodness.

Potato Gratin served in individual ramekins. I admit I only had a bite or two of this since there were so many dishes to try.

CT said: These were so cute! They were like mini baked mashed potatoes bowls; ML was nice enough to even make two kinds to satisfy everyone – creamy smooth for me and partially chunky for the husband. Everyone else got to pick their preference too. The pecan on top signified smooth.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Pecans & Currants. This was really good and simple to make. ML just sliced the squash and roasted in the oven with some olive oil and fresh herbs.

CT said: I learned about a year ago that I actually like squash, so I’ve been eating my way through various preparations of it. This was so simple yet really delicious. The dressing was light and vinagery, which helped refresh the palate after all the heavier, creamier dishes.

Here is my other dish, Bacon-Braised Brussel Sprouts topped with toasted panko breadcrumbs and parmesan.

CT says: Delicious, as usual; it had a great bacon flavor without chunks of bacon present. (TT says: the bacon was hidden, but it was there ;))

The turkey sliced and ready to chow down with homemade turkey gravy.

CT says: I was impressed by the minimal cooking time, and the moistness of the meat. I generally only eat turkey on Thanksgiving as I usually find it dry and bland, but this turkey I would happily eat again.

I don’t think we finished one dish. Everyone had leftovers for days.

Since it was a holiday after all, we had to have dessert.

CT made her traditional apple crisp. Although she wasn’t happy with the way it turned out, the bite I had was delicious.

CT says: It was more liquidy than usual and I have no idea why. I’ve been making this since I was a child and never had this problem. Fortunately, it didn’t affect the taste.

CT’s Mom brought a Pumpkin-Ginger Cheesecake from her favorite bakery near her house. Although I was beyond full and am a savory person, I am pretty sure I ate my entire small slice. It was super light and airy with a pronounced pumpkin flavor.

CT says: Light and delicious. I ate this for a few days after.

CT’s Cousin brought an Apple Cider sorbet and Biscotti gelato from Screme Gelato Bar. They have a couple locations in Manhattan. I liked the styrofoam containers they came in even though they were not very eco-friendly. The Apple Cider sorbet was great and refreshing.

CT says: Both flavors were really delicious. The biscotti creaminess matched the apple crisp well, while the apple cider sorbet went nicely with the cheesecake. I’ll have to investigate more flavors from this place.

What would Thanksgiving be without a Thanksgiving sandwich the next day? Here is CT’s creation.

CT says: I love Thanksgiving, but the thanksgiving sandwich for brunch the next day is the biggest tradition in my family. I scooped a little of everything, except the cornbread which was on the side, onto a flat bagel and gobbled it down. SO GOOD!

All in all, it was a wonderful meal and I was so happy to spend it with CT’s family. They really know how to do holidays right!