Alisa May is one hell of a baker/cook. The entire time she was here we were eating deliciousness that she had created. And she shared her chocolate addiction with us. Maybe not such a great thing. She has been gone almost a week and I just finished the last of the chocolate that she left behind. I am trying not to replace the stash.
For Thanksgiving we were invited to a friend's house for a potluck. A truly American feast. Jack wanted to try his hand at smoking a turkey and Ali was going to bake something delicious.
So. They did. I held Baby and helped pick oranges, 'cause it was fun.
Ali combined two recipes. One from Natural Living Mag and one from Better Homes and Gardens to come up with a totally decadent cake that the Italians raved about. (They raved about our offerings. No one else's. The other food was kind of an embarrassment to traditional Thanksgiving fare. Embarrassing for the holiday and American cuisine, in fact. I think that ever dessert except for the Italian pastries and Ali's cake had Cool Whip on top, and the sides were more than mediocre. I mean, how hard is it to make not tasty mashed potatoes? Choose your fat (cream cheese, sour cream, milk, butter, all three?) and add potatoes. My friend's mom introduced me to adding parsnips to the potatoes, and I am a convert. It makes them so much lighter...mmmm. Drooling. I think we might need to have another Thanksgiving meal...cooked by ME. Yes, I am a foodie.
The cake Ali made was a marble loaf cake with honey glazed oranges. Oh my G-d! And for my Food Pornies out there... a dense, moist crumb with a the richness of the chocolate balanced by the vanilla, and then this surprise of orange and honey adding the right amount of sweetness at the end. The caramelized peel was chewy and lingered in your mouth, changing the whole texture experience from the moist, soft beginning of the bite.
And by the by, the oranges were from our garden. We picked them right before. See?
It felt earthy and romantic. And Naples got a point. You can't pick oranges off the trees in your garden in New York.
Jack's turkey was incredible too. The meat was so juicy it just fell off the bone. He made a rub for it out of herbs and slathered it on the night before. He put a little cayenne in the mix so it has just the slightest bit of heat. Oh, and true to family tradition (mine, not his) he left the bag of giblets in. Not intentionally, but we each took our turn at violating that poor bird, to no avail. I finally found the bag after the cooking was done, shoved deep up the pupick.
We carved it at home so we could keep the carcass for soup.
That is where I come in. I made the BEST matzoh ball soup that I have ever made with that stock. The smoke flavor just rounded out the whole thing. I also got a ton of extra stock that is in the freezer. I didn't use my Auntie Jan's tip for making stock because I don't trust our oven...but it is an amazing trick. If you pop the entire roasting pan, carcass, drippings and all into a low oven overnight BEFORE you make stock, it makes the most flavorful soup you will make.
It was really hard not being home. Especially for Baby's first Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday. I am glad that Ali May was there with us. It was more of a celebration.
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