Thanksgiving Planning

Posts Tagged ‘cranberry pecan stuffing’

Since I´m in school, there wasn´t time to make a big meal Thursday, so I´m doing it this weekend as a surprise for my German husband.

I made turkey with cranberry pecan stuffing, sweet potato cassarole, green bean cassarole and gravy, and caramel apple cheesecake. The cheesecake recipe is on foodnetwork.com from emeril .

for the turkey, I deboned it the day before and roasted the carcass, boiling it off afterward to make stock for the gravy. this is the best way to cook a turkey, you’re guaranteed moist breastmeat this way. you sear the pieces skin side down until skin is browned to your liking, turn them and sear for 2-3 more minutes. I placed the breast meat ,skin side up , on a mound of the stuffing for the ” in the bird” stuffing flavor, and placed the rest of the pieces around it in the turkey roaster. This takes about 1-1/2 hours to roast at 375, or until breast meat is 160 degrees.

stuffing
1 loaf white bread cubed
1/2 cup celery chopped finely
1/2 cup onion chopped finely
4 tblsp butter or margarine
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white wine
1-2 cups chicken stock
1 cup chopped apples
bells seasoning ( or poultry seasoning) to taste
onion powder
garlic powder
salt
pepper

In a large stock pot:
saute onion and celery in the butter with a pinch of salt about 3-4 minutes on medium heat. add apples until just tender, about 2 minutes. add cranberries for another 2 minutes then
deglaze the pan with the wine and simmer for another 2 minutes. add about 1-2 tsp bells, onion powder, pepper and garlic powder to your taste. season lightly, you can always add more later.

remove from the heat and add bread then chicken stock, about 1/2 cup at a time until stuffing is desired consistancy. Beat the egg and fold into your stuffing. Dont stir it too much once you’ve added the bread, you dont want it mushy
bake either in or under your bird, or in a pan at 375 for about half an hour, until stuffing is slightly crisp on the outside.

if you bake your stuffing in the bird, you cook the bird at 375 until temp is 165.very important, if your bird is done, your stuffing has to be 165 as well, and it may not be at this point. you may have to remove the stuffing and continue cooking until 165.

sweet potato cassarole

5-6 sweet potatoes
4 large apples sliced thin
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 stick margarine or butter, melted
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

peel and slice sweet potatoes about 1/2 inch thick
boil potatoes until just tender crisp, about 10 minutes
place a layer of the sweet potatoes in the bottom of a buttered cassarole dish. place apples in a layer over the potatoes.

mix together brown sugar and spices. layer half of this mixture over the apples, the layer the rest of the sweet potatoes. layer the other half of the brown sugar mixture over the top. top with nuts then drizzle the melted butter, cover with foil and bake at 375 for about half an hour or until potatoes are nice and tender.
if the potatoes look dry on top, you can remove from the oven and baste the top with the juices from the bottom of the pan using the spoon. bake the last 5 minutes uncovered to crisp if desired.

green bean cassarole is the frenches recipe on the durkee french fried onion container. not sure if germans would appreciate, lol.