You've got a Capriotti's close by don't you??? Get yourself a Bobby Jo man! They roast their turkeys there - it's not lunch meat. Makes all the difference...

Hmm - thanks Jinx. I haven't had a Bobbie since the spring. I may get one on the way home and have it tomorrow. Mmm, thanksgiving dinner on a roll.

Can't stand pumkpkin pie, so made a carrot cake. And soooo tired of the darned green bean casserole, changing it up for this dish this year:

Cauliflower with Mustard-Lemon Butter Bon Appétit | November 2006


This original take on cauliflower (the florets are thinly sliced) is equally good at room temperature.

Yield: Makes 6 servings


1 small head of cauliflower (about 1 3/4 pounds)
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley


Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter rimmed baking sheet. Cut cauliflower in half, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange slices in single layer on prepared baking sheet; sprinkle with salt. Roast until cauliflower is slightly softened, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in lemon juice, mustard, and lemon peel.

Spoon mustard-lemon butter evenly over cauliflower and roast until crisp-tender, about 10 minutes longer. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. If desired, rewarm in 350°F oven until heated through, about 10 minutes.

Transfer cauliflower to platter. Sprinkle with parsley and serve warm or at room temperature.

It has occurred to me that this needs to be a picture thread. Everyone try and remember to take a photo of the whole spread laid out on your table, and post it in the days afterward so we can all remember just what got us so fat.

Our Thanx-dinner will be improvised. We might score some groceries tomorrow A.M. Our car's been in the shop all week, driving our mechanic nuts. He's down to chasing an electrical short. Mechanics tend to hate finding out the problem's electrical. But without power to the fuel pump, car no go, no how.

But the pie for dessert -- that's under control.

Wow, so there is a Mrs. UG?

Okay, so it's not Thanksgiving here, but it is Curry Night!
I've already made potato and pea pakora's (apostrophe is allowed for clarity) and a red lentil dhaal. Tonight I'll cook either a Balti or a Rogan Josh. Both lamb and both helped out with a jar from M&S, but I do have all the spices now to start making my own from scratch. And I'm just defrosting two garlic naan.

I expect this to be the first of many.
I'm cooking again, huzzah!
(Last night was pork schnitzel with mashipots and ratatouille - the 'rents were most appreciative)

Okay - soz that we didn't lay up a festive table, it's a normal Thursday night for us.
Also, I forgot until after we all were eating!

k - you KNOW I'm going to ask questions!

what is elderflower presse, the Josh thing and dhaal? and didn't the british have other colonies besides India to steal food ideas from? what about, oh, I dunno, Hong Kong or something? You're constantly eating Indian over there!!!

"Let's go to Britain this summer!"

"no, I don't like Indian food!"

see? Like that.

We have a lot of cantonese food over here as well.

Curry is the national dish though :P

Rogan Josh is a kind of curry. It's one of the darker, more savoury kinds. You can make it with minced (ground) meat or with diced meat, or vegetables: though traditionally it's usually lamb. Quite hot, aromatic and complex. Dhaal is made from lentils: it's a savoury, usually quite mildly flavoured, side dish that goes very well with an aromatic, very spicy curry and plain basmati rice.

thanks, dana. I've never, ever had Indian food in my life though there are tons of Indians in the area and lots of authentic Indian places to eat (well, I'm told they're authentic!)

no one in my family will try Indian food with me. Might have to dive in all alone some day.

yum

I wish it was easy to make. ( authentically )

The turkey is still "brineing". A room-mate is supposed to make Adovada...No real sign of that though...

I am making a 5lb breast for me and the dogs...We are also having corn and green beans..Biscuits...Not much, but we will enjoy a fire later; I will have more hot chocolate with whipped cream! Nothing extravagant but it will still be awesome!

Gourmet, baby. :D

Luckily, I am cooking for dogs...lol!

Reminds me..it's time to prep. and pop the sucker in the oven!! lol!

Should have just gotten the turkey jerky...Dogs care about that just as much...:)

Pilau doesn't. He likes his poultry roasted but not too dried out.

I think they'll like it better than jerky really...Though it might turn into jerky....The directions are freaking me out...The directions don't even mention browning it...

The directions on the large breast say not to cover it..and not to steep it in any water on the bottom of the roasting pan...Not sure what to do here....I'm worried...:eyebrow:

Butterball has 55 live people with at least a degree nutrition, food science, or home economics, to handle the 12,000 calls they get on Thanksgiving Day alone, at 800-288-8372.

Well I did buy a butterball...Thnx Bruce!


I did listen to a talk radio show where they interviewed one of those butterball aficionados. Maybe I should call and ask...

Jim and Jinx, that was so lovely! Thank you for letting me share your Thanksgiving! (it moved me to tears)

Awesome video! :)

I like all the barfing...I want wretch when I get excited too.

In other news: The woman at butterball assured me that I won't have to cover my turkey with anything. Nor will I have to baste it...They have a turkey lab and have conducted tests in their kitchen....It shall be just as moist...


Adam Sandler: Thanksgiving song...:)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/110962/sat...nksgiving-song

Did you brine it???


Aww, thanks limey.

I did brine it....For 5 hours! I used salt, sugar, ground black pepper, garlic salt, and water.

I did notice that your turkey (Jinx) was in an oven bag. Are they just proud and insane at butterball or do they know what they are talking about? We shall see....

I knew where to find the information quickly because I'd put it in a comment at GFCF Lady. :)

I don't know.... I saw a commercial for the bags and thought "hey why not". I don't have a lot of turkey experience.

Take a leap. Indian food is one of my favorite cuisines. Experiment and don't forget the rice and naan.

I think I'm gonna burst.

beest did us proud. Brit style, though (but hey, at least we did turkey...)

We had turkey trimmed with stuffing, bacon rolls, sausages, and stuffing in bacon rolls, homemade gravy, roast spuds, broccoli, brussel sprouts, mushrooms. And sara Lee strawberry cheesecake as an afterthought dessert.

Everything went well. There is an unholy mess in the kitchen, but that will wait till tomorrow.

Butterball was right..It came out just fiiiiine.....:)

We Had Ham ,I smoked it for 6 or so hrs , it was YUMMMMMMMY !!!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2553/...048e0b0d_b.jpg
And Turkey , It didnt last Lonng enough for pics
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2795/...f79890ac_b.jpg
Sweet Taters , but these were different , insted of being Smashed into a Pulp they were roasted and Sliced , and topped , they were KILLLLLER !!!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2707/...fa09ac2a9c.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2731/...8fa16dbf70.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2753/...f32aa01a60.jpg
Veggies and stuffing
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2724/...881dbf394d.jpg
Yeah Gots to Have Deviled eggs !!!
Oh Check this out , a Heart shaped Egg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2799/...7113f946_b.jpg
Gotz to Lurvs them Country Eggs !!!

"You've taken your first step into a larger universe." Fear no turkey henceforth.

We had such car trouble logistics got in the way of our getting any goodies until T-day itself, so we baked some ham for the T-day and roasted the turkey with fixin's today. Still have to organize that pie, which needs only the filling and baking now... so it will probably end up being a latecoming "remove," vice actually a course. We are snarfing the turkey now, and it too came out fiiine. Next feast I make more sage-and-thyme bread stuffing, though. Inside old Tom just ain't enough.

I'm jealous of all of you that had interesting foods. My family's T-day meals are always dull as a brick. That's what they like, though. Picky people.

Turkey (at least I got a free range one)
mashed taters
gravy
cornbread stuffing w/sauteed onions added
green bean casserole
candied yams w/mini marshmallows (yeah, from a can)
whole berry cranberry sauce (from a can)
brown & serve rolls
Pecan pie
Brownies (SIL brought them)

Zzzzzzzzzz.....................

Part of the reason it was so boring is that we just had the hardwood floors installed and just didn't have time to do much more. Usually I would have at least made a homemade punkin pie. I would have liked more veggies too.

Neither have I, despite having worked for an Indian guy for 5 years.

Closest I got was when he forced us all to drink ginger tea one winter, saying it would keep us from getting sick. I managed to get him to stop by promising I'd drink ginger ale instead. :greenface

I'll go with you, Bri! You name the day!

We have a lot of Indian food at our place. I've just about perfected the recipe for butter chicken, and next on my list is lamb rogan josh. I make lots of other curries too, but none of them are to specific recipe's. Just whatever I happen to feel like that night.

sounds like a good plan!!!

I'll PM you my winter schedule

Oooooh. Oh that ham looks to die for! As does everything else in the spread. I am soooo jealous. I had a pot noodle for tea last night *sniffs* I probably ought to get my act together and clean my kitchen so I can cook some real food...




@ Bri: the great thing about curry is it comes in so many guises. If you want deeply savoury with meat and tomatoes and spice, go for a Rogan Josh, or a madras. Dopiaza is also very savoury, made with lots of onion in it. But if you want something sweeter and creamy, go for a Korma. My favourite curry is chicken korma, made with coconut and cream. Slightly spiced and very warming: a real comfort food, it is one I tend to associate with childhood. If you're not much for heavy sauces, get a Biryani: a rice dish with the curry mixed through it, much drier than the others.

Best way to eat curry (imo) is to go the full banquet route. Have two main curries on the table with plain white rice and some pilau rice, chapattis and papadums, naan bread, side dishes of dahl and aloo saag (spicy potatoes and spinach) a little salad, and some good chutney (tomato chutney works well, but my favourite is mango). Lots of different flavours and textures that all work together.

More to the point - no peas!?
What kind of a Brit are you?
Oh, yeah, one who hated Britain :p

thanks for the advice, Dana. That's very helpful as I've NO idea about the food. I'll be sure to hook up with some Indian food before christmas - now if juni wants to go along - that'd be great!

I'm late getting here but we served 12 fairly happy and hungry guests. I tried the high temp method that Alton Brown promotes and I do think it made for a very nice juicy turkey which weighed in at 18 lbs and the brine does help make it juicy yet with a nice crackly brown skim. I also did a 12 lb ham. I have 3 ovens which helped ensure that everything came out hot and was also served on heated plates.
We had lots of the usual side dishes but my favorite was a sweet potato gratin that I created on the spot. We gave a lot of the food to the kids as they departed so we don't have a ton of leftovers.

I've only seen Dopiaza twice in the US. Chappattis are rare here too. Also, the chutneys are usually pretty grim, except the tamarind. England just has better Indian food than the US, in my experience. That's not to say that there isn't good Indian food here, it's just more rare and of a slightly different variety than it is in England.

Oh and note that as the English food is translated from Indian, with all its languages and dialects, there is a wide range of spellings for different dishes. For example I am familiar with dhaal and poppadoms, Dana with dahl and papadums. Both are translations, so both are correct.

I hate korma. Bleugh.
But then I'm not fond of coconut or almonds.
I like dopiaza, rogan josh, chicken ceylon (or papaya), and balti.
So basically I like sauce, tomatoes, onions and a sting in the tail.

Ask your waiter. Describe what you like to eat elsewhere.
If curries are not eaten widely in America, they will be used to the question and will appreciate it.

Better yet, grab a menu and put it on here.
Then get 12 conflicting views about what you should order :)

Perry, maybe your Indian immigrants came from a different part of India.
I mean it is a sub-continent in its own right.
Standard curry house here used to be Northern Indian, and supermarket curries and bought sauces still follow this pattern, but local places are branching out now.
I had my eyes opened living in Leicester, where there were Southern Indian restaraunts, purely vegetarian places and Afro-Carribean curry specialists.

I love a naan, but I miss being able to get a dosa, roti or paratha too.

Zip, I almost forget.
Mum melted at the sight of your ham.
She thought it looked gorgeous.

I was thinking about checking out the offerings at Trader Joe's before moving on to an actual restaurant. I'm kind of worried about going to an Indian restaurant and not knowing what to order and looking like an idiot.

I would hope I'm not entirely ethnic-food phobic. I do love Chinese. ;)
. . . well, the fake Chinese food they pass off on us silly Americans, anyway.

And mexican. Yum, guacamole. And Italian, what's not to love about that?

Seriously though, living here there's no excuse not to have at least a passing familiarity with authentic ethnic foods. Granted we're pretty white-bread, but we do have Jungle Jim's, where you can get anything from anywhere.

Back to the Indian thing . . . apologizing for the total thread drift . . . I'll be into it next quarter because I'm taking another post-colonial literature class with our Indian professor. :)

That is an excellent looking ham zip, Dennis would be all over it. Sweet potatoes look especially good too.

Thanks , the ham and the Turkey ( We Brined it over nite ) Were WAY Yummmmmy !!
And the Sweet taters were Fabulous !!!!
Great taste and texture

well, we rarely have peas as meal veggies any more because the kids eat them frozen all day as snacks..... but yes, oops, forgot peas. You caught us. I didn't hate Britain, I just don't miss it passionately any more.

Brianna, no wonder you didn't like the beans, you have absolutely no idea when they're appropriate -you merkins will eat anything with anything! :eek: :p :lol:

This is true.

Curry is in every major, and many not so major, population centers throughout the United States. There may be at least one curry/Indian restaurant in the Dakotas by now. Can't say authoritatively, haven't been through in a while.

A few years ago, we dropped in for Thanksgiving at an Indian restaurant next town up the road. Tandoori turkey, for Thanksgiving. Tasty and intriguing, good tandoori, but not quite on-target for Thanksgiving dinner, I thought. I quite missed cranberry sauce... Definitely we go snarfing our way through Indian curry buffets of every description, and can tell korma from madras. And a nice lassi, salt or sweet. Chai mix is simply everywhere now, for the people who aren't going out today.

Chai mix should be good in a custard pie. Or sweet potato pie.

Just usual turkey,cranberry,etc........


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