Guest blog: Melissa's Thanksgiving lunch, New York

When Lex first asked if I’d like to be a guest blogger on ‘lexeat.co.uk’ I was both excited and nervous…. it felt like she was asking me to look after her new born baby and like any first time Mum I was petrified!
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Lex and I have been friends for nearly 23 years (yes – we met at age 1). The past four of those I’ve lived in New York and the last two she has lived in London. Our friendship has only grown stronger during that time thanks to the daily emails about what we are each cooking for dinner that night, or which new restaurant we are trying on the weekend.
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I was discussing with Lex the menu I was planning for our first Thanksgiving lunch when she proposed the ‘Guest Blogger’ idea. It was the first Thanksgiving I’d ever hosted and I was nervous about cooking for 13 people (and seating 13 people in my NY apartment!) however those nerves were soon replaced by fear and angst when I realized I actually had to ‘write’ the blog.... You see, Lex has been returning my letters, birthday cards and emails with spelling and grammar corrections in red pen since we were 5 years old… my husband agreed to spot me on the grammar and luckily our mutual good friend Carrie was visiting that week from London and would handle the photography. I couldn’t say no… with my support crew in place I felt brave enough to be the first to ‘babysit’ her beautiful new baby…
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Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday. Its purpose is to ‘give thanks and express gratitude’ no matter what race or religion you are. Its origins date back to 1621, when the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast. It was actually in keeping with a very long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. There are two autumn harvest ingredients that appear on nearly every Thanksgiving menu – turkey and pumpkin.
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Now I’m a practical person. Lex is the creative, artistic and adventurous one. As much as I wanted to cook a ‘whole’ turkey like the one depicted in my Martha Stewart magazine, I just couldn’t. I think whole Turkeys are a whole lot of effort for not a lot of reward (the same way you felt about roasting chickens Lex …regular readers refer to lexeat.co.uk blog entry Sunday October 4th). The bird looks so pretty when it comes out of the oven but carving it………too hard for 13 people. Everyone gets a tiny bit of hacked up breast and only a few people are lucky enough to devour the legs and wings. Instead I decided to go for a boneless turkey roll with an Italian sausage stuffing, recipe courtesy of one of my favorite American chefs Giada De Laurentiis.
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The final menu was as follows:
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Starters
Pumpkin soup served in shot glasses (A very easy Jamie Oliver recipe)
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Baked artichoke dip (based on an amazing version served at Freeman’s in NYC – a great place for dinner or brunch for anyone who is visiting…)
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Main Meal
Stuffed Turkey with Italian Sausage
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Glazed Ham (I do a glazed ham for every function – luckily my friends aren’t sick of it yet. You can’t stuff up a glazed ham so if everything else tastes awful at least no one will go hungry. My favorite is a Donna Hay's Glazed Ham.)
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Beef Rendang curry (my husband is Sri Lankan so every special occasion must involve a curry)
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Sweet Potato and Sage Butter Casserole gratin
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Maple glazed carrots and parsnips
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Arugula, endive and walnut salad (another Giada recipe I saw on the Food Network TV channel)
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Pecorino & Bean salad
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Dessert
Chocolate Honey Almond Tart
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Apple crumble & ice cream – A Bill Granger Classic
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Pumpkin pie (ok.. I bought this.. I’m not a pumpkin pie fan, but wanted to serve one in order to give our overseas guests a real ‘Thanksgiving’ experience)
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My menu selection was based around things I could partially prepare the day before. I didn’t want the preparations to interfere with the time I could be spending with Carrie! She was only staying with us for a week and we had wedding errands to run!
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I’m a huge fan of Donna Hay, in particular her ‘Christmas’ cook book. She prepares her menus outlining things she can order and prepare in advance. That was how I tackled my 2009 Thanksgiving:
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Weekend Before:
Pick up pre-ordered ham and turkey from Chelsea butcher (they had lost my turkey breasts so I waited whilst they cut down a 10 pound turkey into the two turkey breasts for me.. they rolled and tied them so nicely that I wished I’d brought my stuffing so that they could have stuffed and rolled the turkeys for me!!!)
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Order non-perishable items from freshdirect.com to be delivered Sunday morning.
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Husband to make Beef Rendang Curry (always tastes better when cooked in advance – freeze until Wednesday). My mother in law is an amazing cook and it’s a recipe passed down from her. (Recipe at the end of this post)

Cook pumpkin soup to freeze until Thursday. I made Jamie Oliver’s pumpkin soup (recipe at end of post). The soup had a lovely smokey texture from the bacon.

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Day Before:
Do last minute shop for fruit and vegetables from Wholefoods.
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Make Italian sausage stuffing and ‘stuff’ turkey breasts (recipe at end of post). I clearly need to visit Ashburton Cookery School as I had no idea how to tie the turkey with my kitchen twine. I’m embarrassed to even show you the photos!

Next I made the Baked Artichoke Dip (recipe at end of post). This can also be made in advance and simply baked, then grilled the day of.
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The Chocolate Honey Almond Tart (recipe at end of post) was something I was dreading cooking. I always seemed to be jinxed when it comes to dessert, so I followed the instructions carefully.
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Last thing to ‘pre-prepare’ was the Sweet Potato Gratin (recipe at end of post). Again, the great thing about this dish is you can partially prepare it the day before. On the day I only needed to take it out of the fridge, cover it in the butter/breadcrumbs/sage mixture (combine 1 cup of breadcrumbs with 2 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 tablespoon of chopped sage) and bake for 40minutes in 375F oven!
Carrie, Jeremy, and I also set the table that night before we went out to dinner so we didn’t have to worry about it the next morning. Day of:
We awoke Thanksgiving morning to a nice hot coffee, bagel and the papers (thanks Jeremy!) Following that Carrie was put to work (on her holiday – sorry Carrie!)
First up, we made Donna Hay’s ham glaze consisting of 114ml orange juice, 4 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, 5 tablespoons of brown sugar and 5ml of honey. We scored the ham and studded it with cloves, poured it over the glaze and baked in a 350F oven for 30 minutes (re-glazing the ham every 10 minutes).Whilst the ham was cooking Carrie peeled and diced 14 green apples for Bill Granger's Apple and Passion fruit crumble (minus the passion fruit). We doubled the recipe for our large number of guests (recipe at end of post). Next – the maple glazed carrots and parsnips (recipe at end of post). I decided to pre-cook these for 40 minutes (the 20 minutes recommended wasn’t enough) so that I could finish them off for 20 minutes between resting and carving the turkey.

We then made the very very easy Arugula, endive and walnut salad, and the pecorino & bean salad. Both recipes are also by Giada De Laurentiis! (recipes at end of post)30 minutes before the first guests arrived I put the artichoke dip in the oven to bake at 350F (remembering to sprinkle the top with pecorino and paprika and grill for the last 2 minutes). I served this with fresh crostini I bought from Wholefoods the day prior. I didn’t watch the grill closely enough (was too busy doing my make up!) and the top burned just a little Right before everyone arrived I put the turkey and sweet potato gratin in the oven to start cooking. The turkey was to cook at 400F so I kept a close eye on the gratin to make sure the top didn’t burn (like the artichoke dip…whoops..)
30 minutes into drinks I heated the pumpkin soup and served it in shot glasses.

2 hours into our Thanksgiving celebration the turkey was cooked (and then rested for 10 minutes), the ham re-heated, sweet potato gratin cooked (not overcooked – I was actually hoping the top would be a little browner!) and the maple glazed carrots and parsnips finished off. I dressed the salads and everything was ready to be devoured (our Turkey photo looks a little moody... promise it tasted better than it looks!)

Whilst the clean up was happening after lunch I popped the apple crumbles into the oven, took the Chocolate Honey Almond Tart out of the fridge and plated the delicious Bouley Bakery Pumpkin Pie our friends bought. The Chocolate Honey Almond tart was delicious and rich – next time I might put a little less honey in it. The honey taste was a tad overpowering at times.

The afternoon was spent in a food coma, the boys watching the highly anticipated Thanksgiving football games on TV…the girls devouring a cheese plate…
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As I said, Thanksgiving is about ‘giving thanks and expressing gratitude’. I am very thankful to the cooking gods that there were no major food disasters at our Thanksgiving lunch. I am also thankful to have a wonderfully, talented friend in Lexi. I am so proud of everything you have accomplished this year and am grateful that you let me be the first to babysit your ‘baby’. Mel Xo
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P.S I’m also ‘grateful’ for the numerous spelling and grammar corrections I’m sure Lexi made before posting this blog…
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Recipes

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Beef Rendang Curry Recipe Ingredients:
1 1/2 kg chuck steak
2 medium onions
10 cloves garlic
1 tbsp ginger
6 fresh chillies (Optional)
1 tea-spoon ground turmeric
1 tea-spoon chilli powder (Optional)
2 table-spoon curry powder
10 fresh curry leaves
1 stem lemon grass cut into 2 inch strips
3-4 slices fresh galangal
3 tea-spoon tamarind concentrate
2 cups coconut milk
1 table-spoon sugar
Instructions:
cut beef into strips about 1 inch by 2 inches.
put onion, garlic, ginger and fresh chillies in food processor and blend until smooth (alternatively chop really fine).
heat oil in large saucepan and fry blended mixture for about 2-3 minutes.
add meat and fry for another 2 minutes.
add remaining ingredients except tamarind and sugar. mix well and bring to boil.
add tamarind and simmer on low-medium fire uncovered until gravy is thick, stirring frequently for about 1-1 1/2 hours.
towards the end take some liquid and put in a small pot…add some oil and add the sugar and let caramalise…than pour back in.
allow meat to fry in gravy until dark brown and tender.

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Jamie's pumpkin soup

You start by halving two butternut squash, removing the seeds and drizzling each piece with olive oil, two ground dried chili’s (I cheated and used 2 table spoons of dried chili flakes) and ground coriander seeds (cheated again and used already ground coriander…..don’t tell Jamie…). Jamie then told me to roast the butternut squash, skin side down, in a 400F oven for 15minutes until soft… 1 ¼ hours later my butternut squash was finally soft (I know my oven is not HOT HOT but I think he underestimated just a tad). Whilst the butternut squash was cooking I fried in a pan with a touch of olive oil: 1 onion, 10 slices of pancetta (I used bacon), ½ bunch of sage and 300g of chestnuts. When the butternut squash was cooked I spooned it out of the skin and into the pan where I covered the butternut squash and fried goodness in 1 ½ liters of chicken stock. I let the soup boil for about 5 minutes before I took it off the stove to cool. Jamie recommends you puree only half the soup but I’m serving it in shot glasses and didn’t want any lumps so I pureed all of it. The soup had a lovely smokey texture from the bacon.

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Turkey stuffed with Italian sausage

To make the stuffing I took 18 oz of sweet Italian sausage and removed the meat from the casing. I mixed it in a bowl with 10 oz of finely diced prosciutto, 2 cups of boiled chestnuts, 1 cup of diced green olives and 4 tablespoons of fresh sage. I flattened the two 4 pound turkey breast on a wooden board and drizzled with oil, salt and pepper. I then spread the stuffing on top and rolled up the turkey.

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Baked artichoke dip

This can also be made in advance and simply baked, then grilled the day of. In a large bowl I mixed 4 tablespoons of grated pecorino cheese, 3 tablespoons of light mayo and 3 tablespoons of light sour cream, ½ teaspoon of dried marjoram, ¼ teaspoon of black pepper, ¼ teaspoon of onion salt and 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder. I then stirred in one 14oz can of chopped artichoke hearts (drained) and once mixed transferred to an oven proof bowl. The day of I’ll simply bake in a 375F oven for 30minutes, then sprinkle the top with pecorino cheese and paprika and grill for another 2 minutes or until cheese melts.

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Chocolate honey almond tart

Following the instructions carefully, I placed 5 ½ ounces of chocolate graham crackers and 2 tablespoons of slivered almonds into a food processor and pulsed until the mixture resembled fine bread crumbs. I added ½ stick of room temperature butter (ok I cheated… I forgot to take the butter out prior so I simply nuked it in the microwave for 15sec first to soften) and mixed to combine. Following that I pressed the mixture into the bottom of a spring form pan and baked for 20min at 350F. After 20min I took the pan out to cool… whilst it was cooling I put ¾ cup of heavy cream and ¼ cup of honey into a saucepan and whisked the mixture over low heat to combine. Once combined I poured the hot mixture over 12oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips. After mixing well to melt the chocolate chips I poured the mixture over the baked crust and will refrigerate until tomorrow.

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Sweet potato gratin

I boiled 2 pounds of peeled sweet potatoes and 1 pound of Yukon gold potatoes in salted water until tender (about 15 minutes). The recipe then asks you to pass the mixture through a ricer…I had no idea what that was so I just mashed my mixture. I then melted 1 stick of butter in a saucepan until golden brown (about 5 minutes) when I then removed it from the heat and added 2 tablespoons of chopped sage. I added this mixture to the mashed potatoes with 1 ½ cups of warmed milk (what did we do before microwaves???). I seasoned with salt and pepper then transferred the mixture into a large casserole dish. On the day I only needed to take it out of the fridge, cover it in the butter/breadcrumbs/sage mixture (combine 1 cup of breadcrumbs with 2 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 tablespoon of chopped sage) and bake for 40minutes in 375F oven!

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Apple & passionfruit crumble

We mixed the diced apple (14 apples to feed 13) with 3 tablespoons of lemon juice (to replace the passion fruit) and 1 cup of sugar. We split the mixture between two baking dishes and topped it with 2 cups of rolled oats mixed with 7oz butter, 1 ½ cups of brown sugar and 1 cup of flour. These went in the fridge and were cooked in a 350F oven for 30min after lunch.

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Maple glazed carrots & parsnips

Put 1 ¼ pounds of parsnips (cut in half lengthwise), ¾ pound thin carrots and 10 sprigs of fresh thyme in a baking dish (the dish also calls for 4 slices of bacon but with the smokey bacon flavor in the pumpkin soup and the prosciutto stuffing in the turkey I abstained..) Drizzle with ¼ cup maple syrup (I also used a little olive oil) and then pre-bake.

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Arugula, endive and walnut salad

For the Arugula salad, combine one packet of arugula, 2 chopped endives, and 1 cup of walnuts in a bowl. (I also added raddicio for color). Drizzle over dressing consisting of 2 tablespoons of white wine, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, ½ teaspoon honey, ½ teaspoon of Dijon mustard, ½ teaspoon of salt and pepper and ¼ cup olive oil.

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Pecorino & bean salad
For the bean salad I combined 2 cups of shelled edamame beans, one 15oz can of drained cannellini beans, 5 oz of roughly chopped pecorino cheese, ¼ cup of chopped parsley, and salt and pepper in a serving bowl. In a small saucepan I heated 2 tablespoons of olive and added 2 cloves of minced garlic until fragrant but not brown. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 2 teaspoons of chopped rosemary leaves. Pour over the bean salad right before serving.