Thanksgiving

It seems I wrote this last november, but never posted it, so here it is now.

Another thanksgiving has come and gone. Carmen made her turkey again, this time with a heritage turkey. The only real incident was an explosion involving the gravy. Carmen was making a slurry, shaking some of drippings with some flour in a tupperware container.  This technique had worked for her in the past, but this time pressure built up and gravy came shooting out of the container and all over the kitchen. We ended up using beurre manié to thicken the sauce, which worked out well.

My contribution to the evening was two custard ice creams, cinnamon and vanilla, and three side dishes. I made my parmesan mashed potatoes and green beans with shallots. And I also made brussel sprouts with butternut squash and fried sage, based on a Thomas Keller recipe that I got from Food and Wine magazine.  They were very tasty, but I'd probably augment it with bacon or parmesan next time. This dish is a little different from most brussel sprout dishes in that the leaves are separated and blanched.  I did notice that the sage had to be fried for a shorter time and at a lower temperature to keep it from burning.