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View Full Version : Pumpkin Carving Dinner


britneyelise
10-26-2003, 07:49 PM
Since my family does not have Turkey on Thanksgiving (City Chickens are our tradition), we always have a turkey on the day we carve all out pumpkins for Halloween. So here is the menu and the review:

Alton Brown's Brined Turkey from Bon Appetit Nov. 03. Never ever will I look at another way to cook a whole turkey. This was our first brining expirience and belive me it will not be the last.

Gingered Cranberry Sauce Cooking Light Nov. 03. Great change on the normal cranberry sauce, the crystallized ginger was perfect. I did cut down on the sugar from 1 1/2 cups to 1 cup.

Sweet Corn Bread (without berry topping) Cooking LIght Recipe finder. My family likes sweet cornbread, so I used the cornbread part of a recipe I found on the recipe finder. The texture was light and fluffy and the flavor was wonderful.

Blond Gravy Cooking LIght Nov. 03- Although I used regular chicken broth instead of the Rich Turkey Stock, this was fantastic. With the white wine, onions, and garlic it was full of flavor. I did have a hard time getting it to thicken so I swirled in a mix of cornstarch and water and that did the trick.

Rosemary Apple Bread Cooking Light Nov. O3. There is already a thread on this, but I want to add my kudos for it. Simple and delicious. I used dried rosemary and still used a teaspoon. Wonderful.

My sister made mashed potatos (potatoes, blue cheese dressing, and butter I think) which were great. And my mom made this thing with brussel sprouts that involves heavy cream and bacon. I did not partake in this, rather I removed the amount of brussel sprouts from the steamer I wanted before she made her concoction, a little black SEB pepper and I was good to go.

For dessert I made:
Spiced Pumpkin Pie with Walnut Streusel Topping from Bon Appetit Nov. 03. Will be making this again. I am having my own "Adventures in Pie Baking" this one being the second one, the first was the bourbon pecan pie from the same issue. I am getting better at pie crusts. My crust was still kinda ugly, but the filling more than made up for that. I already have a request to make it for my grandmother's lunchlady co-workers

Hazelnut Raisin Pound Cake from Cooking Light Nov. 03- I will have to report back about this one. I made this in case someone didn't like pumpkin pie, but as it turns out that is what everyone wanted. We will be digging in on this tommorow.

Had a great time, can't wait for the left overs!

Shannon

Shirley Panek
10-27-2003, 07:36 AM
Yum! Your menu sounds wonderful. :)

mrswaz
10-28-2003, 01:51 PM
After making the spicy pumpkin streusel pie myself- I've been eyeing up the bourbon-pecan one as well. (That pumpkin one was sooooo good). Anyway- I'm just curious- what did you think of the bourbon pie? Was it worth it? Or do you have one you like better? Thanks!

swquilts
10-28-2003, 05:17 PM
Wow!! How impressive, it sounds wonderful!!! Thanks for sharing!

Sami
10-28-2003, 05:47 PM
The menu sounds wonderful. Thanks for posting it.

Sami

britneyelise
10-28-2003, 09:36 PM
I didn't post an official review of this because I made so many changes. Here goes: I left out the candied orange peel, used chopped pecans (instead of halves) and also changed the alcohol to three tablespoons bourbon and 1 tablespoon grand Marnier. That said, it was a monumental hit!

By the way, I found out later that because my father has been so used to and accustomed to the dry turkey he always had in years past, he did not like the brined turkey, found it too moist! He was the only one though, what can ya do ;) ? I still am going to brine it in the future though as he doesn't really crave turkey in the first place, and doesn't eat that much of it anyway.

If anyone makes that pecan pie according to directions, I would love to know how it turns out.


Shannon