Thanksgiving Dinner

My son loves Thanksgiving Dinner at home since it means he can have leftovers forever. My daughter is all for it too since this means her meals are more American than Indian.  So regardless of where we dine on thanksgiving day, we always have a turkey dinner at home the next day. Nearby family like H's cousin and family or my nephew may join us sometimes. This year too was not different. After a great time with friends, we regrouped to have our own little TG dinner on Friday. Dinner table was populated with the usual suspects from my tried and tested thanksgiving recipes with some timely adjustments geared towards making the process less complex.

Since dark meat is unpopular at home, I went for a simple turkey breast this time instead of the whole bird.  This was great on many fronts. There was no heavy lifting required to place the turkey in and out of the brine or for cleaning before and after the brine.  As my body is not getting any younger, it appreciated this change the most.  I also realized that any store bought brine mix will do just fine as the main character is salt anyways. On the carving side, H appreciated not having to wrestle with the bird on the cutting board and he carved away like a pro. All in all a win-win with all white meat for the kiddos, easy carving for H and less weight lifting for yours truly.

I didn't make stuffing this time which made the labor of love that much more enjoyable. Conveniently lifted off some leftovers from the friends place. Thought I'll make a list of TG items that I constantly go to for easy reference. Molu or Kannan, I hope you guys are reading this 😍

1. Brine
Store bought brine mix yielded almost similar results to the one made from scratch.

2. Turkey or Turkey breast
Whole turkey is mostly done per Alton Brown's instructions.

Turkey breast:
Used a boneless breast from WholeFoods weighing about 6lbs. Yielded more than enough with leftovers. Brined the same way as the whole turkey. Washed and rinsed and tucked with some fresh herbs like oregano and rosemary after rubbing with canola oil and the rub that came with the brine mix. First cooked at 500 for 25 min for skin color and then cooked covered with foil on top at 350 till inner temp reached 160F. This step took about an hour and a half of additional time. Added a few tbsp of water to the pan before the start of 500C and 350C steps to keep things moist. Keep covered in foil and let rest for 10-15 min before carving.

3. Gravy
Only caveat of having a turkey breast instead of whole turkey was the lack of drippings for a full fledged gravy. Still came out decent with Alton Brown's sure fire recipe that I follow almost to the letter.

4. Stuffing
I didn't make this stuffing this year but I have yet to find a stuffing that is better than this recipe we found on a Williams & Sonoma flyer many years back.

5. Mashed potato
 This mashed potato adapted from PW's has stayed true and delicious every time.

6. Cranberry Sauce
Made from scratch with organic cranberries. Simple and tasty.

7. Corn bread - Marie Callender's organic cornbread mix came out as good as ever.

8. Beans and Asparagus - Toss a bunch of each with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Air fry in 2 to 3 batches for about 3-4 minutes on each side. Done!

9. Hawaiian bread rolls are the favored dinner roll around here.

10. Pie and ice cream make for an ideal dessert on the thanksgiving table. But I think I am the only one who likes to eat the traditional pumpkin pie we can get from Trader Joe's or Boston Market. Hagendaz ice cream on the other hand had a few more takers.

Enjoy!