This year I will be bringing pies, garnishes and cranberry sauce to a friends house for dinner, but I thought I’d share this post from when I hosted Thanksgiving for some inspiration for setting the table, creating a centerpiece, a delicious turkey recipe and more.
I’m so excited to be head chef for Thanksgiving this year. I usually venture to my sisters place on the east coast and LOVE being her sous chef and decor queen. I always bring my garnish kit, fresh sage, rosemary, thyme and bay laurel to prep the platters
and table and bring a little PNW to Palm Beach {Oh, how I’ll miss going to all of my favorite haunts there}.
I am definitely in a sage state of mind when it comes to the table, I’m layering shades of green linens and dishes to create a serenely verdant scene for our afternoon feast.
The centerpiece is in a white Limoges soup tureen, I followed my classic rules:
Fill the vessel with a mix of greens {I used plenty of sage, some boxwood, sprigs of dusty miller and bay laurel},
then I plugged openings with creamy apricot colored roses, bronzy spider mums, and white freesia {I love that fresh, peppery scent}.
Morning after update: the bouquet and place settings clicked and created a serenely seasonal setting.
It’s been so fun researching, contemplating and considering different recipes and techniques for the big feast, I found some new notions I’m excited to try.
One of the things I am most excited to try is this new {for me at least} technique of wrapping the Turkey in layers of butter, broth, herb soaked cheesecloth to create a moist bird with crispy golden skin. Here’s a recipe from The Chew for Turkey wrapped in buttered cheesecloth that I’m going to use as a guideline.
This is what it looked like going in…
I let the bird air dry in the refrigerator overnight and then for 2 hours on the counter this morning, so the skin gets really dry, this is the key to crispy skin. As I do with my roast chicken, to ensure moist and tender meat I’ve brined the bird and I am going to cook it breast down so that all of the dark meat drippings go to the breast meat. I’ll flip it just before taking it out to brown the skin on the breast side.Morning after update: This method of cooking the turkey is a winner! We slid slices of butter and sage leaves under the skin on the breast side, then put the 15 pound turkey in, breast side down at 400 degrees for an hour. Then I reduced the heat to 350 degrees and basted it {over the cheesecloth} and let it cook for another 2 hours. After that I pulled off the cheesecloth and turned the bird over to crisp up the already golden brown breast for about 20 minutes. The meat was all so tender and moist a flavorful.
Also, Mr. Splendid made a wonderful turkey hash for breakfast the next morning, topped with poached eggs, it was the best way to start the day.
I’ll be serving up the rich classics, but I really wanted to create some refreshing and lighter courses to complement them. Donna Hay showed me the way…
I’m going to make this refreshing Celery and Apple Salad {adding slices of Persian Cucumbers}, the layers of green in a sparkling crystal serving bowl will look perfect on my sage shaded table.
Morning after update: This salad was a beautiful, delicious, refreshing addition to the menu. We added Cucumber slices and pomagrante jewels, this would be perfect for any holiday menu.
I made the Pickled Carrots using these muli-colored carrots yesterday, and I’ll be pulling them for a refreshing take on the traditional relish tray: pickled carrots, fresh radishes, nicoise olives and chunks of feta cheese.
Morning after update: The carrot were beautiful, but the pickling flavor wasn’t that great.
I love the complex flavors and textures of a classic cornbread stuffing with dried fruit. I’ll be making it up as I go along, but basically I’ll start sauteed onions, celery, carrots, and then adding in giblet broth and flavorful dried fruit, including prunes that have been soaking in Armagnac for days, dried sour cherries and dried apricots.
I baked off these pumpkin~pecan pies last night,
it took a lot of restraint to not dig into these for breakfast this morning.
Morning after update: I ate the leftovers this morning for breakfast, heated and topped with whipped cream, perfect with my morning latte!!
I am chilling a bottle of champagne because tonight I want to test out this saber… have you ever done this? You use the saber to whack off the top of the bottle… how dramatic….
Morning after update: We brought the chilled bottle outside, and after gently tapping the top of the bottle a few times {rotating the bottle} I whacked the top off {cork and all} and we enjoyed a festive glass of champagne together to start the feast.
One of these sabers would make a fun gift for your champagne loving friends.
Cheers dear readers, I hope you have had an absolutely splendid Thanksgiving!!
