April 07th, 2020

A dear chef/writer friend suggested last week that we should do a Thanksgiving Sunday.  We were busy discussing meals we had made with other chefs on Facebook.  I was excited.  What was I going to do? What recipes would I try?  I can easily say, I was like a kid waiting to open presents at 5:30am on Christmas morning.  So, Amy Sherman, currently seen doing food stories with John Gonzales for MLive doing Michigan's Best Searches and I set out to do a home bound Thanksgiving meal.  If we ever needed a reason to do this, I think a stay at home order is all we need.  Below are the pictures (as best as I could get) of my meal.  If you know me...I am not a lengthy blogger.  Each Pic will have a description and some of them will have recipes.  During this stay at Home Order....take the time to get creative with your meals, post on my FB page pictures of those meals...have fun and be safe!

This here is my 3 day brined Turkey Breast.  A good brine flavors the turkey and helps in making it super juicy.  After the 3 days in the brine, I took 2/3 cup of butter, added zest of 1 lemon, 1 TB of chopped rosemary, 1 TB chopped sage, 2 TB chopped parsley and mixed it all together.  Then I put half the butter under the skin and half on top.  Before I put the butter on top, I squeezed the zested lemon over the skin, splashed olive oil over it, added a good amount of black pepper.  Then I placed it in the roasting pan with a natural trivet of carrots, celery and onion.  I covered it with foil and roasted at 425.  In the final hour of roasting, I removed the foil and put back in the oven to crisp up the skin.  Make sure you cook it to a temp of 165 in the thickest part of the meat.  Here's the Brine Recipe:
1 gallon of apple cider
1/2 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
2 oranges, halved
12 cloves of garlic
3 six inch branches of rosemary
12 sprigs of Thyme
Bring the apple cider, soy sauce, salt, and brown sugar to a boil to dissolve the sugar.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Place garlic, oranges and herbs into the container for the brine.  Place the turkey into the container.  Pour cooled brine over the turkey.  Put in fridge for up to 3 days.

Chantilly Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Crust
I used Food and Wine's recipe which turned out great!

Sourdough Sweet Potato and Cranberry Dressing
3 cups sourdough bread, 1 sweet potato (diced, about 1 cup), 1 celery stalk sliced thin, 4 cloves of garlic(chopped), 1/2 cup diced onion, 1/2 TB chopped rosemary, 1/2 TB chopped sage, 1 TB chopped parsley, 2 TB butter, 3 to 4 cups turkey or chicken stock (warmed), 1/2 cup dried cranberries.  Directions:  saute vegetables at medium heat in butter.  Add some olive oil if it gets too dry.  Add to bowl with bread, herbs, pinch of salt and pepper, and cranberries.  Toss in 1/2 of the warmed stock.  If still too dry, add more stock.  Place in a greased casserole dish, cover and bake at 425 for 45 minutes until internal temp is 165.  Serve.

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Corn and Bacon saute with Foraged Green Onions

Roasted Turkey Gravy.  Made with what I call "liquid gold"..aka Roasted Turkey Stock

Green Bean Casserole prepared from scratch.