"glue...ton?" -heffer "glue-ton!!" -pinky
let's get this shit sorted shall we
-Turkey Mole Poblano (guidelines here and here), Slow Cooker Cajun Turkey Breast (I'm skeptical but it will suit for leftover turkey with the leftover sweet potatoes and chutneys etc. in a way mole turkey won't...hoping that like with chicken breasts so long as it goes in frozen it won't overcook and dry out)
-Masa Cornbread Stuffing with Chiles (requires making cornbread a day or so ahead, but that's fine bc unlike biscuits I can make cornbread in my sleep)
-Wild Rice with Pumpkin or Squash and/or Pork Sausage and Bread Salad
-Roasted Sweet Potato Salsa or Afghan Pumpkin and Yogurt Kadu
-Cranberry Bacon Chutney with Rosemary and Port or Cranberry Salsa with Cilantro and Chiles (the former sounds better, but I'm tempted to make the latter to see if it compares at all to my current standby cranberry chile salsa, which I loooove)
-Cider Ice (? maybe not, because every year though it intrigues me I pause because apples and cider are NOT Memphis strengths, alas)
some other possibilities:
-Spiced Nuts (I usually do a mix of Ina's; standbys from old cookbooks like Judith Jones' or James Beard's, etc.; and recipes from more modern magazines like Saveur but I'd like to try Lisa Fain's which are on the spicy side)
-Queso Cookies
-Lisa's Smoky Deviled Eggs with Chipotle or Orangette's (confession: I really don't care for deviled eggs at all, I mean I'll eat one if forced to out of politeness and it's fine, but I never actively want one...I'm thinking maybe I just need to try a different tack and then I'll like them, hopefully)
-Pumpkin Empanadas (can you tell I am trying to cook my way through her entire book?)
-"Pumpkin Crack" (because lately end-of-year holidays have me doing one ironic junky terrible-for-you throwback for shits and giggles; this actually came in handy for reference last year when I made Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad, bc this summer at Salt we had a highfalutin molecular gastronomized version of it!)
-Melissa Clark's Sticky Cranberry Gingerbread (though I'm pretty sure like a lot of things I've found lately and am psyched about I'm saving this for Christmas)
/
ok, final thanksgiving menu meal plans:
-Turkey Mole Poblano (guidelines here and here), Slow Cooker Cajun Turkey Breast
-Masa Cornbread Stuffing with Chiles (requires making cornbread a day or so ahead, but that's fine bc unlike biscuits I can make cornbread in my sleep)
-Wild Rice with Pumpkin or Squash
-Roasted Sweet Potato Salsa
-Cranberry Bacon Chutney with Rosemary and Port
-Cider Ice
-"Pumpkin Crack"
some other possibilities:
-Spiced Nuts (LFHT117)
-Queso Cookies (LFHT97)
-Smoky Deviled Eggs with Chipotle (LFHT98)
field notes:
-Robert took one bite of the masa cornbread and said "i think this might be the best cornbread i've ever had" and hours later after having seconds reiterated. at first i was sad (i love my cornbread recipe and am super loyal to it) but i did have to agree with his mention of how the masa gives it an extra dimension both flavor and texture-wise. and it was easy as hell, just as easy as my standby version, so i don't see why i can't rotate 'em as i please. i mean, it was for making stuffing the following day and it was HARD not to eat it all instead; i would've made a second batch just for straight up enjoyment if my oven wasn't reserved all day for other side dishes. one more for the permanent repertoire, hooray.
-the stuffing made with the cornbread the next day is also quite good, though chopping aaaaall those chiles (it ends up being something like 15+ fresh ones!) is rather time-consuming. spicy, but (miraculously) not too spicy. definitely a nice twist to the usual stuffing.
-that crockpot turkey breast did surprise me by being super moist. i mixed the spice blend into some butter and then rubbed it all over the turkey breast including between the skin. it was so juicy and moist it almost fell entirely off the bone when i was taking it out of the crock. yay for hands-off oven-free bird ready for leftovers and sides!
-my suspicions have been confirmed: mole is waaay better the next day, yay.
-the cook time in the tyler florence mole recipe seemed awfully short to me, so i added 5-10 minutes out of paranoia. fine for the dark meat, but the breast meat wound up a little dry. there's tons of sauce to spoon over the sliced meat, so it's not a disaster, but i will have to make note to trust him, braising for only 30-35 minutes really is plenty of time somehow.
-Turkey Mole Poblano (guidelines here and here), Slow Cooker Cajun Turkey Breast (I'm skeptical but it will suit for leftover turkey with the leftover sweet potatoes and chutneys etc. in a way mole turkey won't...hoping that like with chicken breasts so long as it goes in frozen it won't overcook and dry out)
-Masa Cornbread Stuffing with Chiles (requires making cornbread a day or so ahead, but that's fine bc unlike biscuits I can make cornbread in my sleep)
-Wild Rice with Pumpkin or Squash and/or Pork Sausage and Bread Salad
-Roasted Sweet Potato Salsa or Afghan Pumpkin and Yogurt Kadu
-Cranberry Bacon Chutney with Rosemary and Port or Cranberry Salsa with Cilantro and Chiles (the former sounds better, but I'm tempted to make the latter to see if it compares at all to my current standby cranberry chile salsa, which I loooove)
-Cider Ice (? maybe not, because every year though it intrigues me I pause because apples and cider are NOT Memphis strengths, alas)
some other possibilities:
-Spiced Nuts (I usually do a mix of Ina's; standbys from old cookbooks like Judith Jones' or James Beard's, etc.; and recipes from more modern magazines like Saveur but I'd like to try Lisa Fain's which are on the spicy side)
-Queso Cookies
-Lisa's Smoky Deviled Eggs with Chipotle or Orangette's (confession: I really don't care for deviled eggs at all, I mean I'll eat one if forced to out of politeness and it's fine, but I never actively want one...I'm thinking maybe I just need to try a different tack and then I'll like them, hopefully)
-Pumpkin Empanadas (can you tell I am trying to cook my way through her entire book?)
-"Pumpkin Crack" (because lately end-of-year holidays have me doing one ironic junky terrible-for-you throwback for shits and giggles; this actually came in handy for reference last year when I made Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad, bc this summer at Salt we had a highfalutin molecular gastronomized version of it!)
-Melissa Clark's Sticky Cranberry Gingerbread (though I'm pretty sure like a lot of things I've found lately and am psyched about I'm saving this for Christmas)
/
ok, final thanksgiving menu meal plans:
-Turkey Mole Poblano (guidelines here and here), Slow Cooker Cajun Turkey Breast
-Masa Cornbread Stuffing with Chiles (requires making cornbread a day or so ahead, but that's fine bc unlike biscuits I can make cornbread in my sleep)
-Wild Rice with Pumpkin or Squash
-Roasted Sweet Potato Salsa
-Cranberry Bacon Chutney with Rosemary and Port
-Cider Ice
-"Pumpkin Crack"
some other possibilities:
-Spiced Nuts (LFHT117)
-Queso Cookies (LFHT97)
-Smoky Deviled Eggs with Chipotle (LFHT98)
field notes:
-Robert took one bite of the masa cornbread and said "i think this might be the best cornbread i've ever had" and hours later after having seconds reiterated. at first i was sad (i love my cornbread recipe and am super loyal to it) but i did have to agree with his mention of how the masa gives it an extra dimension both flavor and texture-wise. and it was easy as hell, just as easy as my standby version, so i don't see why i can't rotate 'em as i please. i mean, it was for making stuffing the following day and it was HARD not to eat it all instead; i would've made a second batch just for straight up enjoyment if my oven wasn't reserved all day for other side dishes. one more for the permanent repertoire, hooray.
-the stuffing made with the cornbread the next day is also quite good, though chopping aaaaall those chiles (it ends up being something like 15+ fresh ones!) is rather time-consuming. spicy, but (miraculously) not too spicy. definitely a nice twist to the usual stuffing.
-that crockpot turkey breast did surprise me by being super moist. i mixed the spice blend into some butter and then rubbed it all over the turkey breast including between the skin. it was so juicy and moist it almost fell entirely off the bone when i was taking it out of the crock. yay for hands-off oven-free bird ready for leftovers and sides!
-my suspicions have been confirmed: mole is waaay better the next day, yay.
-the cook time in the tyler florence mole recipe seemed awfully short to me, so i added 5-10 minutes out of paranoia. fine for the dark meat, but the breast meat wound up a little dry. there's tons of sauce to spoon over the sliced meat, so it's not a disaster, but i will have to make note to trust him, braising for only 30-35 minutes really is plenty of time somehow.