Thanksgiving with Dad

Oh goodness, so what does one do that has cooked everything for Thanksgiving. I've done the turkey, I've made a fairly large number of turduckens, I've done the Asian themed, Creole themed and every other theme in between. This weekend I thought of what I truly want this next Thanksgiving, simplicity. It will be just my father and I, and as I don't get to see him as often as I have in the past, I want to make the dinner really special.

Now simplicity doesn't mean boring. I just finished ordering a wild turkey from D'Artagnan, a company I love to do some of my specialty ordering through, they may be a bit expensive but the quality is well worth the price. The 5-7 lb. bird costs 78.99 retail. Yes, it is more expensive than your supermarket turkey with the freakishly large breasts, but unlike the supermarket freak, it will have much more flavor.

I'm thinking of slicing some pieces of butter underneath the skin along with some minced rosemary and then drizzling a bit of black truffle oil over the skin. Gonna do some simple roasted fingerling potatoes with rosemary (got tons from the garden still) along with some porcini oil and salt and pepper.

For vegetables I'm gonna go with so haricot vert with obliques of carrots tossed in a veloute sauce with some fresh tarragon, chervil and parsley. I also have to make Brussels sprouts this year. I made an amazing brown sugar smoked bacon recently, which I am going to render and then caramelize the quartered sprouts in, seasoned with (wait for it) rosemary and thyme, and then add a bit of Calvados along with apple cider, cover them in my copper saute pan until they are tender.

Well we need stuffing don't we, I so love a cornbread stuffing, a simple American standard that can't be beat. As for gravy, I have a recipe for sweet potato eggplant gravy from Paul Prudhomme which I will be using this year, pretty tasty with great texture.

So there ya have it, oh wait, dessert you say. Well I am getting it from my students this year. I ordered a pumpkin pie and pecan pie. my dad's favorite pie is pecan, so I'm hoping he will enjoy it. I think I might make a honey and lavender ice cream to go along with it. That's all, nothing else, I think it will go well with the Beaujolais Nouveau for wine.