Tag Archives: #thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Recipes on www.TheFORKINGTruth

Here’s a sampling in no partial order of recipes that would be FORKING GREAT for Thanksgiving. Up above is Milk Street’s version of Vivian Howard’s Sweet Fresh Corn Pudding. This is really incredible……….I really mean it!

Parmesan and Potato Mousse with Parmesan Crisps
Potato Cannoli
Potatoes Anna Style
Duchess Potatoes (The Special Occasion Potato)
Sous Vide Turkey Breast

(By the way – I insist that you must brine your turkey…..or do what I do for Thanksgiving…CHEAT and buy an already brined turkey from Trader Joes either wet brined or kosher dry brined…It’s really worth it!) (Who has room to brine at Thanksgiving time?) I FORKING KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT….after all I did get paid to cook Thanksgiving for 500 people back in the day…..I did the turkeys, potatoes, sauce, and vegetables all by myself too…..This sous vide turkey is perfection……..nuff said.

Forking EZ Oven Fried Turkey Wings

So tasty it could be favorite part of the turkey.

Crispy Turkey Skin
Turkey Stock

Turkey legs with thighs – I normally just stew them…….till they fall apart. Then I pull the meat.

This is a masterpiece….The turkey is glistening full of turkey juice…..I don’t mean to brag but this is masterfully incredible.

It really is this juicy cold.

Balsamic Cipollini Onion and Cranberry Gravy (this is cold in the picture)
Acorn Squash with Cranberry Mango Habanero Sauce and Blue Cheese
Spiced Custard Filled Acorn Squash with Maple Bourbon Walnuts
Cranberry Mango Habanero Sauce
Cranberry Sauce with Hibiscus
Moist Fresh Herb Turkey Stuffing
Zippy but Delicious Corn Bread Stuffing
Mushroom Chestnut and Fig Bread Stuffing
Chanterelle Bread Stuffing
Gochujang Roast Chicken with Kimchi Rice Stuffing and Crispy Skin (The same can be done with turkey)
Brussels Sprouts Baba Ganoush
Momofuku STYLE Brussels Sprouts with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette and Shivhimi Togatashi Pop Corn
Five-Spice Butternut Squash in Cheesy Custard
Butternut Squash and Fondue Pie with Pickled Peppers
Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Green Onions, Calabrian Chili, Figs with Reduced Balsamic
Sweet Potato Ravioli with Beet Puree
Kabocha Squash Cake with Chocolate Drizzle and Chestnuts
Onion Rolls
Four Ingredient Rolls
Butternut Squash Cinnamon Rolls
Purple Sweet Potato Blackberry Pie with Coconut/Almond Crust

Enjoy your Thanksgiving and gobble!

The Forking Truth

FORKING DELICIOUS Sliced Spiced Sweet Potatoes with Pickled Peppers and Shallots Recipe

I wanted to do something with sweet potatoes that wasn’t all mashed up or sweet. I got a recipe sent to me from Milk Street Magazine that sounded good but when I clicked the recipe they wanted a $1.00 from me. I buy all their magazines so I don’t want to spend the dollar. Anyways- I could see the first three ingredients so I got started that way and winged the rest. Somehow I came up with something FORKING DELICIOUS! If you want to find the Milk Street Recipe it is called Spiced Sweet Potato Tian (fancy French word for casserole). I am guesstamating the size of the sweet potato I used. I was one extra large potato that looked like a small baby. I’m guessing that it was over two pounds. This recipe makes around 4 smaller servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

2 1/2 lbs sweet potato – peeled – sliced thin on mandolin ( If you got a really fat potato you might need to half or quarter it. You want small lemon or big lime sized slices)

4 Tablespoons sweet butter

2 Tablespoons canola oil

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 cup sherry vinegar

1 orange – just the fresh squeezed juice (before you squeeze you can save the zest and use it at the end for finishing))

1 + 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper ( or 1/2 or less the amount any red pepper flakes)

3 small shallots sliced thin

1/4 cup fresh rosemary

2 Tablespoons fresh thyme

1/4 cup pickled baby bells Рthin slices (I marinate them in my home made jalape̱o brine but for this recipe it would be easier to just marinate them in around 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar.)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

crushed sea salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

Non stick spray

Directions

In a small bowl or dish marinate the pepper rings. Leave them on the counter at least one hour or make them the day before and refrigerate.

An hour later or the next day.

Set the oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a pan or in a dish in the microwave. Add the oil, cider vinegar (1 Tablespoon), coriander, cumin, Aleppo pepper, shallots, rosemary, thyme, sherry vinegar, orange juice, and pickled peppers. Mix well. Add potato slices and mix carefully. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spray a shallow dish with non stick spray and cover dish with foil.

Leave in oven 60 minutes.

Turn oven up to 425 degrees F.

Remove foil and let brown (around 25-30 minutes)

Forking Delicious Sliced Spiced Sweet Potatoes with Pickled Peppers and Shallots

ENJOY!

The Forking Truth

Balsamic Cipollini Onions and Cranberry Gravy Sauce Recipe

The gravy or sauce is cold in my photo and does look better warm. Just before Thanksgiving I got this beautiful bag of cipolini onions. In case you don’t know cipolini onions are small flat onions that you have to boil to peel. They are very special and are usually served with balsamic vinegar…..So I got the idea in my head that they would be great with cranberries and they are. My husband usually hates cranberry sauce but when he tasted this he said it was very good. This might be my usual cranberry sauce now. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. Leftovers can be frozen.

Ingredients for around 12 servings

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons water

4 Tablespoons turkey or chicken fat (or butter)

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 lbs cipollini onions (boiled 2 minutes, cool, peel. Small ones I leave whole and bigger ones I chop)

1 orange (just the grated zest)

18 oz cranberries

4 bay leaves

3 cups turkey stock – preferably home made (or vegetable stock)

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

sea salt – to taste

ground black peppers – to taste

balsamic vinegar – to taste

Directions

The sugar and water go in a pot on medium heat. Do not stir. You take its off the heat in about 5 minutes when it starts to turn brown. Then stir in the fat till melted and then the vinegar.

Add onions, cranberries, bay leaves and stock and bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer.

Reduce to desired consistency and add thyme. (I reduced to around half…this took a long time)

Add salt, pepper, balsamic to taste.

Balsamic Cipollini Onion and Cranberry Gravy Sauce

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Forking Great Stewed Turkey Legs Recipe

Turkey legs always come out crazy great when you stew them. This is a two for one because you also get a great stew too. You need to make my home made stock for this stew. My home made stock is also used for many of my stuffing recipes and my gravy recipe. Two large leg quarters made me 25 ounces of meat and two large bowls of stew.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

2 turkey leg quarters

1 lb parsnips – peeled, diced

1/2 large sweet onion – peeled diced

2 carrots – peeled diced

2 celery ribs – diced

13 cloves garlic – fine chopped

1 cup turkey stock

1 heaping teaspoon bomba (Italian hot pepper paste) ( I used Coluccio Brand Stuzzichino Hot Pepper Paste this has really great flavors to it)

2 bay leaves

3 good branches of parsley (hard ends cut off)

12 small sprigs thyme

6 sprigs rosemary

3 branches of sage

kosher salt – sprinkle legs well

granulated garlic – sprinkle legs well

ground black pepper – sprinkle legs well

paprika – sprinkle legs well

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and have a rack in the middle of the oven for the pan.

Fill the pan with the stock, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, bay leaves, parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme.

Add the leg quarters and season the tops well with kosher salt, granulated garlic, black pepper and paprika. (I used to season all over and found that the stew got too salty…but it comes out just right if I only do the top)

This gets wrapped tight with foil and goes on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree F oven. Ovens do differ…..so timing will differ some……In my oven this was perfect in 2 1/2 hours.

Turkey Leg Stew

You need to remove the legs and let them cool an hour. Remove the skin and clean the meat off the bones. The stock cools on the counter till room temperature and then can go in the refrigerator to chill over night. The next day you came scrap off the fat that floats to the top. Use this flavorful fat to make your gravy.

ENJOY!

The Forking Truth

Thanksgiving 2020

Thanksgiving 2020 was a feast for two (plus two dogs) all week long. It started on Sunday. My sous chef (my husband) broke down the already brined turkeys (you always need at least two for all the stock you need) and cleaned remaining feathers for me.

He then made the turkey stock with two rib cages and the basics. (had two pots going)

The stock was the liquid gold for many of the dishes.

The first thing I used some stock in was the stewed turkey legs.

Turkey Leg Stew

We got two big delicious bowls of stew and LOTS of flavorful tender falling off the bone dark meat.

The stew got chilled over night and the next day I scrapped off the fat to use in my home made gravy.

I used more stock in my mushroom, chestnut and fig stuffing.

Mushroom Chestnut and Fig Bread Stuffing

One night I used the meat pulled from the rib cage to make Thai basil turkey (not photoed)

Made some Brussels sprouts with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon zest.

For one meal I made oven fried crispy turkey wings.

Forking EZ Oven Fried Turkey Wings

For one meal I made Turkey tostadas with orange guajillo sauce (didn’t photo or publish this one yet.

Made a few maple bourbon sweet potatoes with pickled sweet peppers. (it’s just sweet potatoes with butter and maple bourbon salt)

Made balsamic cippolini onions with cranberries that was made with some of the stock. (not photoed or published yet)

Crisped up some turkey skin.

Will make my potatoes soon.

Parmesan and Potato Mousse with Parmesan Crisps

Use my SousVide water oven to make turkey breast to perfection.

I also made Milk Street’s adaptation of Vivian Howard’s Sweet Fresh Corn Pudding (soufflé’s)

OMG YUM!

It was Forking Amazing!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Forking Truth

Mushroom Chestnut and Fig Bread Stuffing

I thought I’d make a different stuffing this year. This one is mushroom chestnut and fig bread stuffing. It’s laced with home made turkey stock. I didn’t have the turkey fat yet so I used chicken fat from the last chicken I roasted instead of using oil or butter like most people do. You take your Thanksgiving food up to the next level when you use bird fat instead of oil or butter. This stuffing comes out with a great depth of flavor. It’s also comes out moist, fluffy and a little crisp on the ends. It makes half a buffet pan of food. For me this is about 20 servings….but I try to make my stuffing portions very small. So I will guesstimate 10 – 20 servings. Mine came out like this.

Ingredients for around 15 portions

6 oz mushrooms – chopped or sliced thin

1 red onion – small diced

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves + plus extra to sprinkle on at serving

5 oz saved fat (This is the type of fat that you skim off a from a stew – I used chicken but would have preferred turkey.) (You can use butter but I didn’t)

1 Tablespoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

Optional – 4 Tablespoons mushroom powder (100% mushrooms) (I used from www.sunvalleyharvest.com from the local person known as the mushroom lady) (it depends on your mushrooms if you want to use mushroom powder)

5 oz dried figs – chopped

11 oz roasted chestnuts – chopped

4 cups home made turkey stock (I have a recipe here for turkey stock)

1 loaf dried sourdough bread (you buy the bread a week before you need it and place it in slices or all chopped up in a single layer on sheet pans to dry out in your oven. This takes a week. My loaf of sour dough weighed one pound three ounces when all dried out. – cubed

3 eggs – beaten

1/2 cup scallions – sliced thin

non stick spray

Directions

Set your oven to 350 degrees F and spray either a large baking dish or a half buffet pan with non stick cooking spray and set the pan to the side.

In a large fry pan melt one ounce of the fat. Add the mushrooms and onions and stir a little let it go about 5 minutes till it’s soft and add the thyme, salt, peppers, figs and chestnuts. Let that cook together about 5 more minutes and then add the stock. Let it go till it boils. Take off heat and let the remaining fat melt into it. Keep to the side.

In a big bowl add the stale bread that was cut into cubes. Add the scallions.

In a medium bowl beat your eggs. Add the mushroom powder to the eggs. Add a cup of the pan contents to mix into the eggs. Add this and the remaining pan contents to the big bowl of stuffing and mix it all up. Let this sit out for about 30 minutes so the bread can absorb the liquid and flavors. You will need to mix again.

After around 30 minutes when everything looks nice and absorbed put the mixture into the non stick sprayed pan. Cover the pan tightly with foil. Place in the pre-heated 350 degree F oven for 75 minutes. Uncover and put it back in the oven for no longer than 15 minutes to crisp it up a little.

Mushroom Chestnut and Fig Bread Stuffing

Sprinkle with some more fresh thyme. Serve with Turkey gravy.

ENJOY!

The Forking Truth

Some Recipes that you can find here on The Forking Truth for Thanksgiving

Here are a bunch of recipes from The Forking Truth that you might want to try for Thanksgiving. Up above is for a Southwest Style Thanksgiving. It’s Guacamole Style Beets. (this recipe will go up Wednesday) Here are around 50 Forking recipes to inspire you.

Duchess Parnips
Blue Cheese Sriracha Butter Hasselback Mini Potatoes with Radish
Timbale
Tomato, Hibiscus, Onion and Roasted Lime Salad
Bread Leek Pudding
Festive Holiday Cranberry Sauce
Cabbage Salad with Balsamic Roasted Strawberries, Apples and Almond Dukkah
Thomas Keller’s Chocolate Bouchon made by me
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Chestnuts with Crisp Sage
Moroccan Inspired Carrots
Duchess Inspired Kabocha Squash
Braised Leeks with Onions Appleand Carrots in Apple Cider Veloute
Gordon Ramsey’s Clafoutis
Cranberry Sauce with Hibiscus
Sweet Potatoes with Cherry peppers, Figs, Green Onions and Balsamic Drizzle
Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Pecans, Dates and some Brown Sugar
Traditional Stuffing and Rosemary Herb Stuffing
Fennel Fava Radish and Walnut Salad in Lemon Dijon Dressing
Italian Style Beans

Baby Eggplants stuffed with spicy Indian spiced onions, tomatoes, sprouts and cashews

Oven fried crispy turkey wings

Classic Boule
Citrus Salad with Honey Poppy Seed Dressing and Spiced Almonds
Forking Great Blue-Cheese, Sriracha, Honey Radish Appetizer
Melon Salad with Preserved Lemon, Lavender and Whipped Cream Cheese
Butternut Squash Cinnamon Bun
Spaghetti Squash with Harissa Vinaigrette inspired from FnB Restaurant of Scottsdale AZ
Twice Cooked Gilfeather Rutabaga inspired from FNB Restaurant
Crispy Turkey Skin
Pear Almond Cake
Acorn Squash with Cranberry Mango Habanero Sauce and Blue Cheese
Chanterelle Bread Stuffing
Duchess Style Stuffed Potatoes
Kabocha Squash Coconut Crust Pie
Hatch Chili and Roasted Red Pepper Challah Bread
Onion Rolls
Kobocha Squash Ice-Cream
Purple Sweet Potato Blackberry Pie with Coconut/Almond Crust
Brussels Sprouts Baba Ganoush
Sweet Potato Surprise Pie …..surprise it’s purple!
Duchess Potatoes (The Special Occasion Potato)
Cranberry Roselle Lime Sauce
Bouchon Bakery Mini Coffee Cake
Twisted Date Bread
Yellow Mango Frozen Confection
Kabocha Squash Cake with Drizzle and Chestnuts
Tunisian Inspired Carrots
Summer Vegetable Stuffed Peppers
Braised Beets, Pickled Golden Raisins, Spiced Walnuts and Mint
Forking BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies ever!
South West Style Hatch Chile Corn Fritters
Sriracha Apricot Glazed Acorn Squash with Nectarines, Cherries and Almonds
Fancy Schmancy Deviled Eggs
One Ingredient Frozen Banana Confection with added cinnamon and crushed chocolate chips
Italian Style Slightly Spicy Cauliflower
Plum Pomegranate and Pine Nut Cake
Zippy but Delicious Corn Bread Stuffing
Moist Fresh Herb Turkey Stuffing
Turkey Stock
Thanksgiving Turkey Meatballs
SousVide 140 degrees F with herbs salt and pepper and garlic confit

Happy Thanksgiving!

Be a Good Guest and Not a Forking Turkey at Thanksgiving

 

www.ClipArtix.com

Be a good guest and not a Forking Turkey at Thanksgiving.

It seems like some people have been raised by wolves and don’t know how to act like normal people at Thanksgiving. Here are are few things that some people might need to know.

Be a normal responsible person. If you Forking get sick or come down with a bug PLEASE be considerate and STAY THE FORK HOME. You might not give a dam if you make other people sick but nobody wants your germs……IT’S A FACT that you will make people sick….your germs aren’t special no matter what you think! Only a Forking Turkey would come to someone else’s home sick and make other people sick that are feeding you a feast.

Only a Turkey would let their children walk into someone else’e home like a zombie and not make any eye contact. Children should acknowledge the host just by slight eye contact and a smile. That is all that’s necessary.

Don’t be a Forking Turkey and start tampering with the washer and dryer that belong to your host and setting the alarms. Only an idiot would do this because when the host uses the washer in a dryer next they will know you did it.

When you see the offerings if there is something you don’t want to try keep it to yourself. Don’t be a Turkey and scream something like, “I HATE PROFITEROLES!” Did you know……only a Forking Turkey does that?

Did you know that you are a Forking Turkey when you bring some sort of food or drink to someone’s home that you already tasted that is trash to you. Why the heck would your host want your food or drink trash? Only someone with a screw loose would do such a thing.

If you make a mess or break something in someone else’s home you should tell the host. If you don’t you FORKING ARE A TURKEY. That is very rude.

Only a FORKING TURKEY would say something like that was a really great Thanksgiving dinner….Maybe the best I ever had…and I don’t know how to rate things but…., “I rate the Thanksgiving dinner at two stars.” Only a really BIG FORKING TURKEY does such a thing.

Don’t act like you are trying to be helpful and offer to clear the serving ware by throwing them in the trash………Only a Nut-Job Turkey would do such a thing.

Be a Good Guest and Not a Forking Turkey on Thanksgiving!

We hope the only Turkey at your Thanksgiving table is the one you eat.

Have a Forking Happy and Delicious Thanksgiving!

The Forking Truth

 

Zippy but Delicious Corn Bread Stuffing Recipe (really is dressing)

 

Zippy but Delicious Corn Bread Stuffing

This corn bread stuffing (I know it’s really a dressing but we all call it stuffing) came out zippy or what I’ll call slightly spicy. You can cut out the 1/2 poblano pepper (and other peppers a tiny bit) in the recipe to cut out most of the zippy if you want. This corn bread comes out delicious and moist. I made 1/2 the corn bread used in this recipe for the stuffing (recipe included leftover from Thanksgiving turkey meatballs recipe) Also used home made turkey broth.  That made this Corn Bread Stuffing come out Forking Delicious!

Ingredients for about 15 servings

25 oz stale bread cut into cubes (75% corn bread 25% white bread) (recipe for cornbread 400 degrees F 1 1/4 c. flour, 1/4 c. sugar, 2 t. baking powder, 1/2 t. course sea salt, 1 c. water, 1/4 c. chicken fat, 1 egg non stick spray – about 20 minutes

3 ribs celery – fine chopped

6 oz onion – fine chopped

1/2 orange bell pepper – fine chopped

1/2 poblano pepper –  fine chopped

5 oz chicken fat

1 Tablespoon course sea salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 garlic cloves – either microplane or ground to paste

1 cup grilled corn kernels

4 eggs

3 1/2 broth (or slightly more if bread cubes seem dry but 3 1/2 is close to what you need)

1 Tablespoon fresh thyme – chopped fine

1 teaspoon fresh sage – chopped fine

5 sprigs fresh parsley leaves – chopped fine

non stick spray

Instructions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a half pan with non stick spray and also spray a piece of aluminum foil on one side because it’s the side that faces the stuffing so it won’t stick.

Put a sauce pot on medium high heat and add the chicken fat, celery, onion, bell pepper, poblano pepper, sea salt, black pepper and cook till everything is soft.

Turn off heat and add garlic right away while still hot and stir.

Add the grilled corn and blend till chunky.

If mixture is just warm you can add the eggs to corn vegetable mixture in pot and mix well.

Add the broth, thyme, sage, parsley and mix well.

The Stale bread cubes should be in a large mixing bowl. To the bowl add the sauce pot mixture and mix well. Let bowl sit about ten minutes to absorb liquid.

When things look absorbed but not dry you can pour mixture in pan…..The mixture should be slightly more wet than dry.

This gets covered with aluminum foil and goes in a 350 degree oven for one hour covered.

After an hour remove the foil and put the pan in for another 15 minutes to crisp slightly.

Zippy but Delicious Corn Bread Stuffing

This comes out delicious and moist!

You might want to fry up Brussel Sprouts with garlic, fried parsley, hazelnuts and pomegranate to go with your dinner.

Brussel Sprouts, garlic, hazelnuts and parsley pomegranate

Zippy but Delicious Corn Bread Stuffing

Cornbread Stuffing that’s Zippy and Delicious!

The Forking Truth

 

Cranberry Pickled Beet Sauce Recipe

 

Cranberry Pickled Beet Sauce

Thought I’d do a different cranberry sauce that I think is original. I thought sweet beets that are pickled with be kinda good with cranberries.  you know how pickled things seem to lighten up meats…?….Well that was my thinking……The sauce came out not too sweet and sort of pickled…..This is the least sweet of the cranberry sauces I made but I do think it’s sweet enough.   The feedback I got on this one was that it taste good but the texture was unusual……my first thought was to spiral cut the beets…….maybe I should have went with my first thought? This recipe makes a little over three cups of sauce so that’s about 13 servings.

Ingredients for about 13 servings

12 oz cranberries – rinsed well

1 1/2 cup beet brine (I doubled the beets so I had more brine if you are short just add water to make up the difference)

1/2 cup sugar

12 oz pickled beets – cut in cubes the size of cranberries (easy recipe about a pound of peeled red beets cut in half, 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup water, pinch sea salt roast in covered pan at 350 degree f till fork tender (about one hour)

1 tiny orange ( like a cutie) – just the fresh squeezed juice

pinch white pepper

pinch course sea salt

Directions

Everything goes in pot. Cook at medium high heat when it starts boiling turn the heat down to medium. Cook until desired consistency.

Serve either warm or chilled.

Cranberry Pickled Beet Sauce

The Forking Truth