We had a semi-typical TG meal last week when C was here: stuffed Cornish game hens, homemade cranberry sauce, wilted cucumbers and roasted butternut squash.
Tonight, we celebrate a different kind of moment. “The Irishman” is on. The fire warm. And dinner, based on a meal enjoyed at Vesta in Denver, is delicious!
Braised lamb shanks and root vegetables served on Parmesan / rosemary grits with garlic baby bok choy and more of that homemade cranberry sauce.
Chocolate biscotti for dessert.
Grateful.
Happy thanksgiving to all!
Ooo…yum. Sounds good all round.
Food was good. The Irishman was waaaaay tooo long (3.25 hours).
Dee, happy thanks and giving to you and yours. Now see I would have loved lamb shanks for our feasting yesterday…looked absolutely mouth watering. I grew up eating a lot of lamb, beef not so much but always, my Mom made a turkey for Thanksgiving, trying to be traditional although her stuffing was decidedly Spanish with lots of minced meats, pimenton, garlic, chopped dried figs, and a splash of my Dad’s homemade wine to hold it all together…!
My husband is the traditionalist so of course we had turkey, basic bread stuffing (I cook it in the bird as is our way now for almost 50 yrs) but sometimes I tweak it. Yesterday it was tweaked to include, besides the usual herbs (home grown sage), onions and celery, chopped apple, chopped New Mexican pecans and a bit of spicy pork sausage (per my Mother’s whisper in my ear from beyond !). The turkey was 14 lbs, we also had mounds of buttery mashed potatoes, pearl onions and peas in a nutmeg white sauce and cranberry sauce. Used to make my own cranberry sauce with brandy and oranges but my husband prefers that jellied yuck from the can…store bought pumpkin pie because well, you can only do so much. I do have a tradition of my own but I didn’t follow it this year. I always make the late great author and food writer Laurie Colwin’s Nantucket Cranberry Pie Cake but our grand kids are coming for Christmas so that’s on the menu then. Now with all of this food you would think we had guests, well, no just the two of us but the saving grace is that I’m not cooking for the rest of the week and probably into the next as well.
What a mouth watering menu! Sausage, apples and pecans sound amazing for the stuffing. When I cook for company I go full on traditional — the only difference from my mother’s table perhaps being homemade cranberry sauce. I always have the canned stuff, too, because lots of people, not just your husband, prefer it! Enjoy your leftovers! That of course is the downside to last nights menu. No leftovers.
that last picture … amazing!