Carole and I decided this weekend that we really missed having a Thanksgiving dinner last weekend. I was supposed to cook, and have family over, but one by one everybody cancelled as stuff came up - so we just ended up eating leftover Chinese for dinner that night. Besides, at the time it didn't really seem like we had a lot to be thanksful for.
But over the last week we've come to reallize (or at least I have... Carole always has a positive outlook) that we really do have a lot to be thankful for, and it would be a terrible shame to skip this once a year tradition because we were bummed out - all the more reason to do it!
So we went shopping Saturday, and I cooked Sunday. I cheaped out on the turkey - instead of a 8 pound butterball for $34, I opted for a 7.5 pound roasting chicken for $5.45. And by the way, as lame as that sounds - when stuffed link a turkey and served with gravy and cranberry sauce, you can NOT tell the difference - besides the extra $30 in your wallet, I mean. I made stuffing from scratch, gravy from scratch, corm, garlic and chive mashed potatoes, breaded brussel sprouts, and to top it all off, we corked, decanted, breathed, then completely polished off a $400 bottle of 1995 Chateau Malescot St. Exupery Margeaux - a gift from Carole's gransfather, with explicit instructions on when and how to drink it. He said "don't share this with anyone - this bottle is for you two to enjoy alone. pick a special occasion and split it. Remember, once it's open, you MUST finish it. I think we did him proud.
Yesterday was an extremely pleasant day. Good food, good wine, good compnay (just the two of us) !!!
how exactly do you bread brussels sprouts? that sounds really cool... i kinda agree with you on the turkey/chicken thing except the chicken is usually more moist and succulent than the turkey... i never did really like turkey... i enjoyed the stuffing and cranberries and the last time i ate a bird on thanksgiving, i cooked a chicken, coz it was a meal for 2 and i preferred the chicken.. the girlfriend didn't notice the difference...
Posted by: sage at October 20, 2003 03:34 PMmix a 1/2 cup of butter with salt, pepper and a cup of breakcrumbs then shake the moist sprouts in it. Dump the whole bag into a caserole dish and bake (covered) beside the turkey for 40 minutes.
Yes chicken is way more juicy - and much more flavourful, if you ask me... plus, my parents came over for leftovers last night, and we have now fed six people and still have at least two more meals worth of leftovers out of a $5.45 bird.