time to catch one's breath

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I can now catch up with the review and recipes for my Thanksgiving dinner. Perhaps some of these recipes will intrigue you enough to prepare them for the Christmas and New Year holiday.
 
For appetizers, my son and daughter-in-law brought over a wonderful cheese board. They went to our local Wegmans for the ingredients. The standout on the cheese board was the goat brie and the olive tapenade, yum! We also had a sinfully rich Alexian Truffle Mousse with pork, turkey and chicken liver mousse. By request, my son wanted to make sure that we had Mr. Shrimp’s crab spread. We had a little taste of everything. Next, we had fresh cheese ravioli from Pastosa. Nothing beats fresh pasta. Again, we had a few each with leftovers sent home with each our children. 

Our main course consisted of two entrees, the turkey and a short rib pot pie. My son-in-law found the recipe and I decided to make it for Thanksgiving. The recipe is from the March 2014 issue of Buon Appétit Magazine. I prepared both the crust and filling ahead. On Thanksgiving morning I zapped the filling in the microwave for approximately five minutes on reduced power and completed assembling the dish. Everyone loved it, it was delicious. As I didn’t prepare the filling in a big enough pot, I didn’t add all the required liquid. However, based on the comments online from others, I’m glad I didn’t. There was plenty of gravy in the dish. There was enough left over for my husband and I to have on Friday.
 
I also tried to new side dishes this year, Duchess Potatoes Casserole and bourbon glazed carrots . I was watching an episode of America’s Test Kitchen (Season 19 Elegant Dinner Party) where they prepared this dish. The recipe uses Yukon gold potatoes and is flavored with half and half, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and egg yolk. Before baking, the potatoes are covered with an egg white wash that includes 2 tablespoons of butter, and a pinch of salt. My son-in-law was afraid they were going to be heavy and rich like another potato casserole I make, however, were light and heavenly.
 
My husband was intrigued by the bourbon glazed carrots that were listed as a side dish on the menu at one of our favorite restaurants. I found a recipe for the carrots on the website Serious Eats. Again, it was an easy dish to prepare. The potatoes are roasted in the oven and before serving, are dressed in a bourbon sauce that includes a bit of butter, brown sugar, orange juice and a pinch of salt. I used Makers Mark bourbon and these were absolutely scrumptious!
 
For the turkey, I used Williams-Sonoma Quick Brine (good for turkey, chicken and pork) that I applied on Wednesday and, before roasting, I applied their Turkey Seasoning Paste. The turkey came out moist, flavorful and tender. To make life simple, I purchase the Williams-Sonoma Classic Turkey Base. To be honest, I start scouting Williams-Sonoma post Thanksgiving sale of food products for use all year long. To accompany the turkey, I prepare my husband’s great grandmother’s dressing. One year I made a Williams-Sonoma box dressing and there was a minor revolt because great grandma’s dressing was missing.
 
To cap off dinner, my daughter made a S’mores pie that was delicious. She used a combination of dark and semi-sweet chocolate. It had a nice balance of flavor and wasn’t overly sweet.
 
My family thoroughly enjoyed the menu I prepared. I got rave reviews from my husband on the new dishes prepared this year. I hope I have inspired your to try something new for for holiday season
or any night of the week!