Thanksgiving Start to Finish

The Bentley's Household Menu and Recipes:

• Cream of Pumpkin Soup with garlic croutons
• Turkey
  • Cut into pieces then brined in the Spice Hunter brine.
  • Grilled on the BBQ using a basting liquid of butter, white wine and sage.
• Gravy made from the stock of the turkey neck and left over bones for splitting the turkey
• Sage and Walnut Pesto
• Cranberry-Orange Chutney
• A traditional sour dough “Stuffing”
• Corn Bread Pudding
• Oven Roasted Autumn Root Vegetables
• Brussel Sprouts with garlic and bacon
• Mashed Potatoes with sour cream and chives
• Cream of Seven Onions
• Pumpkin Pie-plain and simple
• Chocolate-Pecan Pie
• Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
• Homemade Crystallized Ginger Ice Cream

My Game Plan:

• 3 weeks before:

1. Make the cream of seven onions and freeze it in an oven proofed serving dish.
2. Make the pastry and divide into pie ready portions and freeze.

• 10 days before:

1. Make the Cranberry-Orange Chutney and put into a covered jar in the fridge.

• 3 days before:

1. Make the vanilla Ice cream

• 2 days before:

1. Make the Ginger Ice Cream
2. Make the Soup and store in the fridge

• The day before:

1. Cut the Turkey and Brine it.
2. Make the pies.
3. Make the Pesto.
4. Make the stock for the gravy
5. Assemble the “stuffing” and corn bread pudding into their oven proof serving dishes and fridge until time to cook.
6. Defrost the cream of seven onions in the refrigerator over night.

• Thanksgiving Day -late morning:

1. Prep all the vegetables and potatoes.
2. Make basting liquid.
3. Put the soup in the crock pot, set to low to heat up and stay warm until dinner.
4. Cook the bacon for the brussel sprouts
5. Set the table.

• Two hours to dinner:

1. Start grilling the turkey on a low flame basting often

• One and half hours to dinner

1. Put the Cream of Seven Onions in the oven.

• One hour to dinner:

1. Put the Root vegetables in the oven
2. Pour myself a glass of wine.

• ½ hour to dinner:

1. Cook the potatoes for mashed potatoes
2. Put the Corn Bread Pudding in the Oven

• 20 minutes to go:

1. Sautee the brussel sprouts, make the gravy, mash the potatoes.

• 10 minutes to go:

1. Serve the soup
2. Rest the Turkey

After the soup is served and eaten, put the rest of the dishes on the table and serve family style.

• Autumn veg and brussel sprouts are the only side dishes needing a serving dish, all the rest were cooked in their serving dishes. Gravy goes into a boat and rest of the condiments should already on the table. The turkey was craved before cooking so there is one less thing to do and clean up.

Dinner is served, relax and have another class of wine.