Our first home cooked Thanksgiving Dinner
After being in the US for over 15 years, we have grown to love and celebrate American holidays like Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving to us has always meant getting invited over by friends to their homes, savoring incredible wholesome food and enjoying fabulous company. And no family does Thanksgiving better than our friends Annemarie & Mark!! I jokingly call it “Thanksgiving on steroids” - not just because of the incredible food (her dinner menu can rival an entire buffet at a gourmet restaurant especially the pineapple stuffing and the desserts) but also because of the warmth with which they welcome all of us over to their home!! We still remember Annemarie’s mom and her special love for our daughter and for Vikram’s famous Chicken Curry and Puris!! After the meal, there would be fights on who would take the leftover chicken curry while I would quietly pick up an entire tray of her pineapple stuffing and sneak out :-). Truly, one of the things we miss out here in the pacific north west are Annemarie’s thanksgiving parties!!
This year we finally decided to take the plunge and make our first home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner. We will be honest though, the thought of cooking an entire turkey at home was VERY intimidating!! But a BIG shout out to Annemarie for sharing some of her tried and tested recipes with us without which we wouldn’t have been able to make such a great meal. We also attempted a few additional recipes that have always intrigued us but we have never had a chance to make before. Sharing a few pictures below of our thanksgiving meal and links to some recipes.
Sweet Corn Bread (Link to recipe)
Annemarie had shared her Corn bread recipe which was simply excellent. The link above comes pretty close to the proportions in her recipe.
Cream of Mushroom Soup (Link to recipe)
Vikram loves Mushrooms and our local grocery store had a really fresh batch of locally grown mushrooms, so we decided to make this soup. This recipe came out delicious and was complemented very well by the corn bread.
Pineapple Stuffing (Link to recipe)
Ah - this stuffing is heaven on earth!! It has become synonymous with Thanksgiving for me and am happy to report that this year it found a new fan in my daughter!! Almost a dessert - this is like a bread pudding with the taste of pineapple added to it. As per Annemarie, made this recipe with butter instead of margarine and 8 slices of bread instead of 5.
Gingery Sauteed Carrots (Link to recipe)
This recipe was shared by Annemarie - the butter, maple syrup, lime juice and minced ginger combination truly elevates these carrots to an entirely different plane!!
Roasted Cauliflower and Aged White Cheddar Gratin (Link to recipe)
Another recipe from Annemarie’s repertoire, this calls for a bechamel sauce that is mixed in with the roasted cauliflowers and baked. Since I had a smaller cauliflower at home I also added in some roasted green peppers and they worked very well in the dish. This dish tasted AMAZING!!!
Mashed Potatoes (Link to recipe)
We spent days researching this dish - doing dry runs before thanksgiving and even ended up buying a potato ricer!! Who knew something so simple could have so many ways to mess up. We highly recommend the link above to learn how to make the lightest airiest mashed potatoes. The end result was SOOO GOOOD!!
Roasted Brussels Sprouts (Link to recipe)
Sometimes all it takes is some good olive oil, salt and pepper and allowing the authentic taste of the vegetable to shine through!! This dish is simplicity at it’s best!!
Blistered Green Beans with Tomato Almond Pesto (Link to recipe)
Since I had already chosen to make the Au Gratin above I did not want to make the classic green bean casserole and chose this recipe on a whim. I actually cooked the green beans along with the cherry tomatoes in the oven and then followed the rest of the recipe. Highly recommend this dish if you like your vegetables with a little bit of kick (from the cayenne and paprika).
Garlic Parmesan Baked Eggplant (Link to recipe)
If you are wondering “It is Turkey Day after all!! When are you going to get to the Turkey??” - well this is what happens when the Sous Chef (and the blog writer) is vegetarian!! Had to throw in an eggplant side-dish to the mix here.
Cranberry Habanero Salsa (Link to recipe),
Cranberry Sauce (Link to recipe)
, Herb Butter (Link to recipe)
The cranberry habanero salsa, again an Annemarie staple, was simply amazing!!
Had to try out the classic cranberry sauce - and was surprised at how simple it was to make.
We made the herb butter to use up the herbs like Thyme, Rosemary and Oregano and added in a dash of kosher salt. It was incredible to eat this butter with the store purchased dinner rolls.
Vikram’s Roast Turkey
And finally, we get to the star of the show!! Vikram’s first shot at making roast turkey for the very first time!! Days of research and with tips from an expert like Annemarie, the turkey was wet brined for a day with salt and a mixture of spices including cloves, black pepper, bay leaves and oregano. The turkey was then scrubbed with kosher salt , herb butter and a basting mixture of thyme and rosemary in olive oil. It was roasted for 3 hours with intermediate basting with the oil and herb mixture in the oven - in the end it came out JUST PERFECT!!
Pecan Pie (Link to recipe)
We wanted to make a pie from scratch and decided to make a pecan pie. We were truly blown away by how flaky and delicious the home made crust ended up being. Now to invest in a pie pan so that it ends up looking as amazing as it tasted.
Apple Pie
While this may not be the best looking pie it was definitely the most special since it was made by our daughter. Yes, we ran out of pie crust dough and could not cover the pie completely and yes, we forgot to peel the apples but the love in this dish was three-fold :-)
If you are wondering where the gravy is - we never got around to making it since we were so hungry and had to dive into the meal!! Also we had to put a stop to the “is the turkey ready yet” chant from our daughter’s mouth before it reached a count of 100!!
While this post was an attempt at sharing our first thanksgiving experience with all of you, we want to end this post by mentioning the two things we are especially thankful for this year. We are thankful for our friends and family. While we are not able to meet as often as we would like to, due to the pandemic, you are all still in our thoughts and hearts. And we are thankful for this blog and the folks who are reading it. This blog has allowed us to explore our passion for food in a new creative way and has also helped us maintain our sanity during these crazy times.
Hope all of you have something meaningful to be thankful for this year and are finding your own ways to stay healthy - both physically and mentally.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
