Saturday, December 3, 2011

Thanksgiving 2011


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!















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