This year we decided we were going to tackle our first solo thanksgiving feast. We'd both done parts of big turkey dinners before, but never all of it on our own. We invited some of our friends over, and started planning! For a few of the parts we're going to do separate more comprehensive posts, but here's how everything came together on the day.
Our Menu:
Appetizers / Snacks
Cheesy dip
Main
Brined Chickens
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Brussel sprouts (steamed)
Carrots
Baguette
Dessert
Chocolate Cranberry Tart
Next because we were a bit apprehensive about getting all of that food prepared for the exact same time, we made ourselves a time line which we printed and stuck to the fridge to help us remember where we were supposed to be at.
Sunday
plan, shop,
plan plates
Make brine
Two nights before:
Tidy up
Night before:
Laura prepares dough for bread
Prepare cranberry topping (can be done 2 days ahead)
Mascarpone filling (can be done 1 day ahead)
Morning:
7:30 Starting brining
Make crust for dessert (Oven @ 350 for 14 minutes)
Bake baguette (Oven @ 450 for 20 minutes)
Prep cheesy dip (15 minutes)
Take Break for breakfast
Assemble stuffing
Figure out oven layout for chickens.
Wash trim and chop veggies
12:00 - take chickens out of fridge
12:50 - Cheesy Dip (Oven @ 350 for 20 minutes)
1:00 - Guests arrive bringing beautiful flowers!
1:10 - Chicken (Over @ 475 for 20 then 375 until done, approx 1.5 hours)
2:10 - Stuffing (Oven @ 375 for 40 minutes)
2:10 - mashed potatoes (30 minutes)
2:30 - vegetables (carrots, burssel sprouts)
2:40 - gravy
3:00 - eat!
Everything ready to be eaten!
Everyone's hungry!
A delicious feast! If I do say so myself.
If you want to see the final awesome dessert Jerome made stay tuned for next episode! It'll be worth the wait it was pretty epic!
