How to cook a Feast at home (Part 1 - the menu)

This next series is going to be a serious how-to... I make a major feast every Thanksgiving and Christmas. It could easily feed 10-12 people. Although I've served as few as six and used leftovers for soups, pot-pies, and the like.

The major posts will be:

1) Menu and recipes
2) Shopping lists - what to buy and when
3) Advance preparation (up to the day before)
4) Final preparation

First the menu:

Mixed Greens and oranges with brandied shallot dressing (Shirley Corriher's Cookwise)
Good Eats Roast Turkey
Turkey Gravy
Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Sourdough Bread Stuffing
Pear-Fennel Bread (Better Homes and Gardens recipe from several years ago)
Honey-Glazed Roasted Carrots and Parsnips
Tangy Garlic String Beans
Cranberry Relish (my own concoction)
Apple Pie (Crust from Shirley Corriher's cookwise and was posted previously on this website, Apple filling is my own...)
Pumpkin pie
Wine
Water
Sparkling cider
coffee

Where the recipe came from a posted source, I've linked into that source. I love Alton Brown and FoodTV, so you'll note several recipes came from there. I DO put my own twist on them... More on that in a minute. Here's the recipes that I could not find online anywhere:

Mixed Greens and oranges with brandied shallot dressing
1 small head romaine lettuce
1 head Bibb Lettuce, or Boston
1/3 cup almonds, slivers or slices
1 tablespoon butter
1 Ounce Ginger Root, Slices, walnut sized piece OR equivalent slices of candied ginger.
2 tablespoons sugar
4 ice cubes
22 ounces mandarin orange sections, drained and rinsed with water
1 cup hot tap water
Brandied Shallot Dressing (recipe follows)

Prep the greens: Rinse the lettuce in cold water, then let it stand in a large bowl or in the sink in cold water with ice cubes for 30 minutes. Spin dry and pat dry. Store in zip-top plastic bags with two damp paper towels. Squeeze the air from the bags and seal. Keep refrigerated until ready to prepare the salad.

Toast the almonds: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and roast in the oven until lightly browned, 5 to 8 minutes. While the almonds are hot, stir in the butter and salt.

Set up the oranges: Stir the hot water, ginger slices, and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl, then place the bowl in the freezer for 5 minutes to cool. Stir in the ice cubes for further cooling, then add the orange sections. Soak for at least 5 minutes.

Put it together: When ready to serve, tear the lettuce into pieces. In a large mixing bowl, toss the lettuce well with enough brandied dressing to coat all the leaves. Lift the orange sections from the ginger water with a slotted spoon, leaving the ginger behind, and place them on a paper towel for a minute to drain. Add the orange sections to the salad. Toss very gently to combine and add a little more dressing if needed. Taste and add salt if needed. Remove the salad to a serving patter, sprinkle with roasted almonds, and serve immediately.

To simplify: Buy a bag of high quality mixed greens and a bag of baby spinach. This simplifies the prep slightly.

Brandied Shallot Dressing
2 medium shallots
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Teaspoon Brandy, or cognac
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1/2 cup Olive Oil, mild

With the steel knife in the workbowl and the food processor running, drop the shallots down the feedtube onto the spinning blade to mince. Add the salt, pepper, brown sugar, mustard, brandy, and vinegar. Process to blend. With the food processor running, drizzle in the oil, very slowly at first, until emulsified.

Pear Fennel Bread Recipe
3 cups water
1 cup apple jack (or water if you don't have something better to add)
7 Ounces Dried Pear, about 2 cups
1 package active dry yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)
28 ounces bread flour (5 to 5 1/2 cups), divided
1 egg
2 2/3 Ounces butter, softened (1/3 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
1 1/2 cups raisins
1/2 Ounce melted butter

1. In a large saucepan combine the water apple jack and dried pears. Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until pears are very tender. Drain pears, reserving the cooking liquid. Chop pears; cover and refrigerate. Reduce remaining liquid down to about 1 cup. Cool liquid to lukewarm (105º to 115°F).
2. Properly scale/measure ingredients. If possible WEIGH everything, it is the most accurate measurement.
3. Mix instant yeast with one half of the flour. This assumes instant yeast. If active dry yeast is used, proof yeast in ¼ cup water. Set aside.
4. Add reserved pear liquid, egg, butter, and brown sugar to work bowl, followed by the flour/yeast mixture.
   Mix into a dough, cover, allow to rise until doubled in size. At this point, the longer the sponge is allowed to work, the more flavorful the bread. Placing it in the refrigerator over night, or keeping in a cool place for several hours is highly recommended.
5. Slowly add the remaining flour, salt, baking soda, fennel seeds, raisins, and chopped pears.
6. Knead, adding flour a little at a time, as needed.
7. Put into a greased bowl and allow to rise until doubled in size. Punch down and divide in half.
8. Rest dough for 5 minutes to relax gluten, then form into final shape or allow dough to rise again.
9. Shape into two 8x4x2 inch loaf pans. Cover and let rise again.
10. Bake at 375º for 40 minutes or until well browned and done. Brush with melted butter while hot.

Cranberry Relish
12 ounces of cranberries (1 bag)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup red wine (don't go very dry with this - zinfandel, miraz, cabernet sauvignon are all good)
grated fresh ginger

Dump cranberries into a bowl full of water. pick out any bruised or soft ones, as well as any that sink. Dump the rest into a colander to drain.

Bring sugar and wine to a boil on high heat. Lower heat to medium and add cranberries. Using a microplane grater, grate 1 tablespoon or so of fresh ginger. Cook no more than 15 minutes or until the cranberries have all popped.

Pour into a clear glass bowl. These are gorgeous and you'll want to show them off. put into refrigerator to fully set before serving.

One Crust Apple pie
(exact quantities depend on the size of your pie pan, mine is a big deep dish extravanga from Williams Sonoma)
1/2 recipe of crust (see my page on turkey pot pies for making a double crust recipe)
6-7 large apples ( a mix of honey crisps, fuji, and granny smith, for a nice blend of tart and sweet)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon clove
1/8 cup apple jelly
Struesel topping (recipe below)

Make up crust and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Peel core and slice apples (1/4" thick or less). Put apples in a big bowl and toss with sugar, cinnamon and clove.

Pre heat oven to 350F.

Roll out crust and put into pan. Layer in apples. Dot with apple jelly. Coat with a heavy layer of struesel.

Place in oven and bake for about one hour until apples are bubbly.

Pumpkin pie
1 1/2 cups pumpkin, canned or pureed fresh
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
1 teaspoon ginger, ground
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
1/2 teaspoon cloves, ground
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 cups milk
6 ounces evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Combine pumpkin, sugar, salt, and spices. Blend in eggs, milk, and evaporated milk.

Pour into pastry shell (have edges crimped high because amount of filling is generous).

Bake for 50 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool.

Next post: the shopping list(s)