I originally posted this blog in November 2017, the year after my son was born. Thanksgiving 2016 was two weeks after we brought him home from NICU and we three didn’t feel up to big company, but we had gratitude to spare. In 2020 so many of us are planning a smaller Thanksgiving, so it made sense to post this again. I raise a glass to each of you who are celebrating love by keeping apart. May you have much to be thankful for.
Thanksgiving 2016 found me exhausted, scattered, and not looking to spend the holiday anywhere but at home with my husband. It also found me extremely thankful. Two weeks earlier, after thirteen days in NICU, we finally brought home our beautiful, healthy, loving son. With all that new baby on our plate who had time for turkey? But I am a traditionalist, and one who loves to cook at that, so I determined to make a simple feast for two - turkey, dressing sides, and pie. And I determined to do it in the space of my son’s naps. Turns out a small feast is pretty easy. So gather only your closest of friends or your immediate family and enjoy an intimate feast.
The turkey breast could easily serve 8, the side dish recipes serve 4 and can easily be doubled.
Roasted Turkey Breast
Sourdough Dressing
Green Beans with Butter Fried Shallots
Roasted Tri-Color Carrots and Parsnips
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Apple Pie
Nap One: Pie Crust and Cranberry Sauce plus the Brine
I generally make cranberry sauce and pie crust early in the week and do Thanksgiving baking the day before. There’s a reason they say simple as pie - it really does come together pretty easily.
DOUBLE PIE CRUST
2 1/2 c. Flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c. Cold bacon grease (or lard)
10 tbsp. Cold Butter cut into small cubes
1/4 c. Vodka
1/4 c. Water
Put half the flour, salt, bacon grease and butter in a food processor. Process until mixture forms a smooth paste. Add in the rest of the flour and process until it looks like crumbly oatmeal. Add in the water and the vodka and pulse until it all come together in a ball. Remove the dough to a clean counter and divide it into two balls one about one and a half times the size of the other. Pat each into a flat shape, roll it out to about 8” and fold it in half several times. Pat the folded dough into a flat disk, wrap it in plastic or parchment, and put it in the fridge.
Yeah what? Vodka? Bacon grease? Folding dough? I know I bake like your depression era aunt, but here’s the thing: the bacon and the butter give the crust both flavor and a lovely soft flaky texture; the vodka adds more liquid so the dough handles easily, then it evaporates away during baking so the crust becomes tender and flaky. (I go to my local liquor store and ask the clerk for the cheapest vodka he’s got, the one that the winos buy to get plastered on. It’s $3.95 a quart. I use it for pie crust, and serving to guests who refuse to leave a party hours after everyone else has.) The folding? I find that really ups the flake quotient.
CRANBERRY SAUCE
1 c. Sugar
3/4 c. Water
12 oz. bag of Cranberries
Rinse the cranberries and pick out any that look rotted or bad. Put the water and sugar in a sauce pan, add in the berries and bring to a boil. Boil about 5-7 minutes or until the berries begin to pop. Chill.
I’ve heard a lot of fracas over traditional cranberry sauce. Personally I think this classic has been around as long as it has for a reason. It’s a tart, refreshing jam that provides a perfect bright taste against the rich saltiness of gravy and stuffing. Plus it is probably the easiest holiday dish you will ever cook. I love this stuff. I love it for the feast. I love it on sandwiches. I love it with pork roast on a cold night weeks later. Seriously, it’s good stuff.
OK, so now I had a little time and I wanted to brine my turkey breast. I ordered a whole breast with the bone and skin attached (crispy skin is part of the deal right?) and I wanted to get as much flavor into that meat as I could before roasting it to done. Breasts sold this way are usually somewhere between 4-8 pounds, ours weighed in between 5-6. Another bonus of roasting a breast (or a small turkey in the 8 lb. range) is that you do not need a Home Depot bucket or a child’s wading pool to brine your bird. This is a half gallon of brine and it should cover your breast pretty nicely.
TURKEY BRINE
1/3 c. Kosher salt
1/3 c. sugar
1 medium orange
1 medium onion
1 generous sprig of rosemary (1 tsp. dried)
2 generous sprigs of thyme (1 tsp. dried)
2-3 sage leaves (1/2 tsp. dried)
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 c. wine or 2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 quarts of water.
Peel and quarter the onions, slice the orange, put everything together in a large bowl or Dutch oven and stir to combine. Gently, drop in the bird, cover with lid or plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge overnight.
I managed to clean everything up, wipe down the counters, and get the turkey breast into the brine and into the fridge just about the time my son awoke crying out for my actual breast. Time for a comfy chair and some cuddling.
Nap Two: Pie!
After my lovely boy went to sleep for the first shift of the night, I decided to bake the pie. I’ll be honest, I was lucky here because I had made and frozen apple pie filling about six weeks before after my husband and I went apple picking. So all I had to do was assemble. It’s pretty easy though and doesn’t take to long. I like my pies fruit forward and not too sweet. You can add more sugar if you want to. This was just a little bit of loveliness at the end of our meal with some whipped cream and a cup of coffee. Made darned good breakfast the next day too.
APPLE PIE
Double Crust (recipe above)
5-6 apples peeled, cored and quartered
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. white sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
grated zest of half a lemon
2 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
Cut each apple quarter in half length wise and then slice crosswise into thin pieces into a large bowl. Add all the other ingredients and toss. Set the filling aside. Preheat oven to 425. Roll out the larger piece of pie dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about 4” wider than your pie pan and about 1/8” thick. Drape the dough over the rolling pin and transfer it into your pie pan. Use your hands to center it and work the dough tightly into the edges of the pan. Roll out the other piece of dough until it is about two inches wider than your pie pan. Place the filling in the pie and put the top on. If you are going to make a lattice top pie as I did here, cut the dough into strips and weave into a lattice. Reserve three strips to secure the outside edge of the crust. Cut off any excess crust and crimp the edges to seal. If you do not do a lattice-top make sure to cut slits in the top of the pie crust. Bake for an hour until crust is richly brown and filling is bubbling. Place pie on a rack to cool.
OK. Nighty, night! The pie is cooked. The turkey is brining. The cranberry sauce is made. Tomorrow we just have to cook and eat the meal. Hooray!
Nap Three: Making Dressing, Setting up the Roast.
It should be noted that I did everything for the roast but actually put the bird in the oven early in the day. Our turkey only took 90 minutes to cook, so I used an early nap to prep the roast and the dressing and then just put it all in the oven later in the day.
ROAST TURKEY BREAST
1 turkey breast skin and bones attached
brine from recipe above
1 celery stalk
a few small carrots
rosemary
Remove your brining container from the refrigerator an hour or so before you begin your roast. This will allow the meat to come to room temperature which will help it roast faster and more thoroughly. Preheat the oven to 425. Remove the breast and the onions from the brine. Pat the roast dry and set aside. Place the onions, a washed stalk of celery, a few small washed carrots, and a sprig of rosemary in the roasting pan. Place a rack over the veggies and set the breast on it skin side up. Pour 1/2 cup of the brine in the roasting pan. Roast the breast in the oven for 15 minutes a pound or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast registers 160 degrees. Let sit for 20 minutes before carving. It will continue to cook while it rests.
The veggies and the brine in the roasting pan help make a flavorful broth for your gravy later. Since you are only roasting a breast, you will not get a lot of fat in the pan drippings. Do not worry. You will still have the makings for flavorful gravy.
Now onto the dressing. I have a friend who makes some of the best starter bread I’ve ever had. She very kindly brought a large crusty loaf of homemade sourdough to help feed two tired hungry new parents when she came to meet our new son. This was the bread I had on hand to make dressing with. Lucky, lucky me! Any good quality white bread will do. I like the tang of sourdough, a baguette will yield similar results, but an Italian loaf, a white or wheat sandwich loaf, or even Challah could work just as well. I put this in to bake next to my turkey breast 30 minutes before I expected the meat to be done.
SOURDOUGH DRESSING
2 cups cubed bread
1 small onion chopped
1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 stalk of celery washed and chopped
1 sprig of thyme
1/4 c. chopped parsley
3 tbsp. butter
1 c. chicken stock
salt & pepper
Melt 2 tbsp. butter over medium heat in an oven-proof pan. Sautée the onions until soft, then add in the celery and apples. Cook until the apples and vegetables are soft and translucent. Add in the herbs and the bread cubes. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the chicken stock. Toss. Add a pat of butter to the top. Remove from heat. Bake covered at 425 degrees for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Now I had my roast and dressing ready pop in the oven. I had some time so I washed, trimmed, peeled and prepped all my other vegetables. Time to go hold my son for a good long cuddly while.
Nap Four: The Feast
About two hours before we planned to eat, I put the bird in the oven and began to cook my vegetables. I boiled the potatoes and steamed the green beans right away. The green beans went in an ice water bath to stop them from cooking and preserve their bright green color. I drained the potatoes and let them sit, covered on the stove top. Once the turkey was done, I put the carrots in the oven to roast and made the gravy. Then I mashed the potatoes, sautéed the green beans in butter and shallots and served up dinner. It was delicious and memorable even with just the two (plus one) of us! And best of all everything cleaned up in one dishwasher load. May you have good food, may you have loved companionship, may you have much to be grateful for. Those three things make the best of Thanksgivings.
MASHED POTATOES
5 medium potatoes (I like yukon gold or redskin potatoes for mashing)
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 c. milk
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
salt
Peel and quarter the potatoes and boil them in cold salted water until a small sharp knife slides evenly in and out of the potatoes. Drain off the water. Add the milk, butter, and nutmeg. Mash with a potatoes masher.
GRAVY
2 cups chicken broth
pan drippings
1 sprig of thyme
2 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
Remove roast from pan and set aside to rest. Place pan over low heat and add chicken broth. Bring to a simmer and whisk to remove all the browned bits form the roasting pan. Pour broth and drippings through a sieve into a clean pot. Add thyme. and whisk until boiling allow to roll at a boil for a minute or two. Mix flour with 1/4 c. water. Remove thyme. Add flour paste to gravy while whisking. Add in vinegar and season with slat and pepper.
ROASTED CARROTS AND PARSNIPS
6 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4” buttons
2 parsnips, peeled and sliced into 1/4” buttons
olive oil
Lightly grease a sheet pan. Spread vegetables in an even layer over the pan. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
BUTTER GLAZED GREEN BEANS WITH SHALLOTS
1 lb. green beans, washed and tried
1 large shallot, peeled and sliced thinly
2 tbsp. butter
1 sprig thyme
ice
Steam beans with thyme over boiling water for about five minutes or until just crisp-tender. Remove from heat and place in ice water. Right before serving, drain water and ice from the green beans. Melt butter in a large pan over medium heat. Cook the shallots until wilted. Add in the beans and cook until heated through. Sprinkle with salt. Serve immediately.
