This Thanksgiving we were fortunate to have my sister and brother seated at our table as well as our children. They came for a visit, spending several days in LA before driving to San Luis with our son and daughter-in-law on Thanksgiving Day.
They have each visited Slo before, but this is the first Thanksgiving we have been together since our move here four years ago.
Prior to that we have celebrated almost every Thanksgiving together for as long as we can remember, and for 30 of those years it was in our home in Chicago or Maryland.
They stayed for the week after the holiday, and we really enjoyed letting them get to know this fantastic town even better. In fact, my sister is planning to come back for the Slo International Film Festival in March.
But enough about that… I assume what you really want to hear about is our Thanksgiving Feast!
If you have been a follower of my blog for some time the photos above are probably beginning to look very familiar…the usual suspects, with a few exceptions.
Most of the recipes for this holiday menu have already been featured in previous posts, and you can find most of them in the archives under the past years’ Thanksgiving entries.
Our family, like so many, prefers the traditional foods with which we grew up.
I read a very interesting article called The Meals That Still Matter, by Bee Wilson in the Wall Street Journal, the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
If you can find it online, it is a very good read. Here are a few excerpts I especially liked…
...Holidays are now the only time of year when we really focus on what and how we eat-and that is a source of security.
…With each passing year, holiday food seems to become more intensely ritualized. The repertoire may have widened over the past decade to take in new items such as “festive” kale salad and quinoa and pomegranate stuffing, but our fierce attachment to cooking itself hasn’t changed.
Whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, Rosh Hashanah or Diwali, the list-making starts ever earlier. I have a friend who starts anticipating the candied walnuts she makes every Christmas as early as September.
The recipe columns advise that we treat holiday preparation like a “battle plan” and provide lists of cooking instructions for the big day, mapped out minute by minute, starting at some ungodly hour with, “Get up. Switch on oven. Have coffee.”
Perhaps our excitement about holiday meals has increased because the rest of your eating is now so divested of ritual (except, perhaps, our morning coffee).
For most of us, holiday eating is less about religion and more about food. It’s about treating dinner like it is the most important thing in the world.
…In our daily meals, we have become starved of ritual, which can make it feel like life has lost its rhythms. Holidays are the only time of the year when we know what we are meant to be eating, collectively, and in these uncertain times, this bestows a wonderful feeling of security.
Here are a few more photos I snapped while happily cooking away …
The Shrimp Cook in boiling water in a large stockpot to which you have added some black peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves, fresh lemon slices, fresh parsley, and lots of salt! When they turn pinky orange they are done. Drain well. Remove to an ice water bath to cool. Refrigerate overnight and serve cold with cocktail sauce.
The Salad Assorted organic living greens, small cucumbers, watermelon radishes, red onions, and persimmons, all from the local farmer’s market. Add some dried cranberries and/or pomegranate seeds. Toss with a red wine vinaigrette.
The Cranberry Fruit Mold with a garnish of mandarinquats (from the farmers market) fills the center.
Mom’s Challah Stuffing Lots of sautéed onions and celery, shallots, and fresh herbs, tossed with large toasted challah bread cubes, and homemade turkey stock. Season well.
The Turkey. Refrigerate overnight uncovered to produce a golden crisp skin. Bring to room temperature before preparing for roasting. Then slather with butter and olive oil, fill the cavity with orange and lemon quarters, onion, garlic, sage, thyme, and rosemary, Season well with salt, pepper. Let rest sufficiently before carving. Turkey will continue to cook while resting so allow for that when checking temp with an instant read thermometer.
The Turkey Gravy It’s my Make Ahead Gravy recipe !
The Pumpkin Pie (Mix the filling the day before and refrigerate overnight.)
The Banana Cream Pie
This Banana Cream Pie is new to the line-up this year, but pretty sure it will make the cut! Recipe to come! Yum!
Happy Thanksgiving!