So it’s the big day… and while you may think Thanksgiving is all about the cooking, it’s also really about the timing.  If you’ve been following HIB’s checklists, you should have your appetizer, dessert, and cranberry sauce already complete. Here’s a list of what to do throughout the day so that all your dishes are ready to be served at the same time.  And while this may seem like a pretty jam-packed day, there’s plenty of free time throughout for enjoying some libations. 

10:00 AM - Eat Breakfast.  You’ll need sustenance for the day of cooking you have ahead of you! 

11:00 AM - Take your turkey out of the fridge: the goal is to take the chill off for roasting. You can certainly get it all prepped and ready for the oven, and then let it hang out on your counter until you’re ready to roast it. This is also a great time to take your Cranberry sauce out of the fridge - it’s best served room temperature.

11:30 - Prep your brussels sprouts and carrots & parsnips (chopping, tossing with oil, seasoning, etc) and put them in their respective baking dishes. 

12:00 - Preheat your oven to 425 Degrees F

12:30 - Roast the turkey. You’re looking at a cook time of around 3 hours, depending on how large the bird is - and remember, it has to rest before carving (and can rest up to 45 minutes/hour - it will retain its heat) so don’t rush it. Let it hang out! 

1:30 - Chop your potatoes and add them to water for boiling 

2:15 - Your potatoes are done, make the mashed potatoes! 

2:30 - Make your stuffing on the stove top and then transfer it to an oven-safe dish for baking once there’s room in the oven. 

3:00 - Add your Carrots & Parsnips to the oven on the bottom rack and heat up your soup on the stove top.  

3:30 - Pull your turkey out of the oven and allow it to rest.  Pop those Brussels Sprouts and Stuffing in the oven now that you have the room. Take this time to make gravy with the pan drippings. 

4:00  - Serve your soup! Your guests have been smelling amazing things in that kitchen and have gotten hungry!

4:15 - Your brussels sprouts, stuffing, and carrot & parsnip dishes are all done! Remove them from the oven, carve the turkey and…..

4:30/5:00 - Dinner is served!  Have a drink, enjoy, and give thanks to your friends and family who will certainly clean up after this fine meal considering all the work you’ve done to make this a feast to remember! 

Happy Thanksgiving from Hungry in Brooklyn!

Hopefully by now you have most of your Tuesday Checklist all completed!  If not, get going! There’s actually not quite as much to do to today to prepare for your feast, so you have lots of catch-up time! 

Today we’re going to focus on the dishes you can make-ahead.  So far you should have your cranberry sauce already made, your garlic roasted, and your chicken stock all set to go.  So now let’s prep for the stuffing, and make the soup and dessert!

WEDNESDAY CHECKLIST

Plan out what you’re Drinking:  This detail is almost as important as the meal itself! It’s a good idea to get a variety of wines.  Make sure to have some decent pinot grigio on hand for cooking - it makes a wonderful gravy.  But you’re not going to use all of it - so make sure it’s something you’ll drink, too!  A lighter wine like a Pinot Noir will match nicely with every course.  And don’t forget some bubbly for dessert.  If you want something seasonal and warming that can serve a crowd, try making Mulled Apple Cider!  It’s easy and can be kept warm all night in your slow cooker. 

Make the Whoopie Pies:  This year, incorporate those pumpkin-pie flavors into an interesting and delicious dessert that can be made ahead of time!  If you’re not into making dessert, order a pie from a local pie shop, but make sure to give it your own signature twist with Homemade Whipped Cream 

Make the Apple and Butternut Squash Soup:  It’s no secret that soup is better the second day, so take a load of your day-of cooking on Thanksgiving and make this delicious and easy recipe the day before! 

Prep your Bread for Stuffing: Cut your loaf of bread into cubes and arrange in a single layer to dry out overnight, or for speedier results, dry the cubes out in a 300 degree oven for about an hour. 

If you have any questions, send me a tweet and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can! 

Thanksgiving should be a time to spend with family and friends, for relaxation, and for the promise of leftovers. It should not lead to any stress when it comes to cooking the perfect meal. Hosting Thanksgiving dinner may seem like a daunting task whether you’re cooking for 2 or 12.  But in reality, with a little planning ahead and some pre-Thanksgiving organization, you can cook like a pro without breaking a sweat.  Clean-up, on the other hand, is another story.

Over the next three days, I’ll help you plan every aspect of your Thanksgiving preparation.  Here is the fool-proof menu: 

Appetizer: 

• Butternut Squash and Apple Soup 

Main: 

• Oven Roasted Turkey w/ Homemade Gravy
• Brussels Sprouts with Lemon and Parmigiano Reggiano 
• Cranberry Sauce
• Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Mushroom and Walnut Stuffing (courtesy Martha Stewart)
• Roasted Carrots & Parsnips with Thyme (chop carrots and parsnips on the bias, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and 6 sprigs of time.  Roast @ 375 for 35-45 minutes)

Dessert: 

• Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting 

Sounds like too much to handle? If everything is timed properly, you will be just fine. But remember, it never hurts to ask for help.  Tell a friend to bring the brussels sprouts, or your brother to make the stuffing. 

TUESDAY CHECKLIST: 

• Go Grocery Shopping!  Make a list of all the ingredients you will need, and get it done early.  The last thing you’ll want to do is head to Whole Foods on Wednesday night.  Yikes!

• Clean out your refrigerator!  You’ll need to make room for all the ingredients and prep you’ll be doing over the next four days.

• Make Chicken Stock!  Stop at the market after work and grab yourself a rotisserie chicken.  Then you don’t have to cook tonight, AND you can make yourself the best homemade chicken stock which you’ll be sure to use plenty of throughout your Thanksgiving Prep.  It doesn’t hurt to have a couple extra cartons on hand in case of an emergency. 

• Roast Garlic!  This will be your secret ingredient.  Roast about 6 whole heads.  Slice the top (stem side) off, exposing the individual cloves of garlic still intact in the head.  drizzle with olive oil and wrap in foil.  Roast at 325 F for about an hour and a half.  This will come in handy for your turkey, and for the mashed potatoes, and can be stored in the fridge for a whole week. 

• Make Cranberry Sauce!  This will keep in the fridge for almost a week, so why not make it now?  You’re guests will never know you didn’t slave over it on Thursday morning.  And please, whatever you do, don’t buy the canned stuff.  This recipe is too easy for you to skip. 

Make sure to keep checking back for other updates, tips and tricks, and of course the Wednesday and Thursday checklists. And if you have any questions, tweet me and I’ll try get back to you as soon as I can! 

This soup is delicious with just a few simple main ingredients: one butternut squash, one apple, and one onion. It’s really easy yet amazingly delicious, and the flavor gets better the second and third day - so it’s a great make ahead appetizer for your Thanksgiving feast! 

BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND APPLE SOUP - serves 6

1 Butternut Squash (2-3 lbs)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 large apple, peeled, cored and chopped 

2 cloves garlic, minced 

8 sage leaves, chopped

2 cups chicken stock (plus more to adjust texture of soup)

8 ounces sour cream 

Salt & Pepper to taste 

Preheat your oven to 375 Degrees F.  Cut your butternut squash lengthwise down the center, and remove the seeds.  Drizzle with olive oil and generously salt and pepper. Place the squash face down on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil or parchment, and roast for about an hour, or until the squash may be pierced with a knife.  Allow to cool.  

Meanwhile, heat 1 TBSP olive oil over medium heat in a large pot, and sauté the onion, apple, and garlic with some salt and pepper until soft, about 8 minutes. Add the sage and sauté for one minute more. Scoop the squash away from the skin and add it to the pot, stirring to combine the ingredients.  Add enough stock to just cover the ingredients in the pot, and bring to a simmer.  Cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Then, it’s time to blend!  Either transfer to the soup carefully batch by batch to a blender, or use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth and creamy. If you would like it thinner, simply add more stock, 1/2 cup by 1/2 cup until you reach your desired consistency. Stir in the sour cream, and taste for seasoning.  Adjust the salt and pepper accordingly.  Serve with a garnish of your choice, perhaps some sour cream, some chives, or sage.  

Enjoy!  

Mashed potatoes are my favorite part of the Thanksgiving Feast.  Not only are they terribly decadent, they’re also the perfect vehicle for homemade turkey gravy.  My mashed potatoes get a little tang from sour cream and some extra flavor from two heads of roasted garlic - adding a wonderfully mild yet rich hint to these already special spuds. 

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

• 2 lbs Organic Yukon Golds 
• 8 ounces Sour Cream - warmed 
• 1 stick butter - melted
• 2 heads roasted garlic - cloves squeezed from the head
• salt and pepper to taste 

You can peel your potatoes if you like smooth mashed potatoes, but I prefer the more rustic appeal of mashed potatoes with the skin - and it’s less work! Just make sure to use a potato with a thin skin like Yukon Gold.

Chop the potatoes into 1 1/2 inch thick slices.  Place them in a large pot and cover them with cold, salted water.  Bring them to a simmer and allow them to cook for about 20 minutes, or until a fork can puncture the potatoes easily. 

Drain the potatoes and beat them with the rest of the ingredients - you can use an electric mixer or a potato masher.  Whatever you have on hand!  Make sure to season with plenty of salt and pepper, and voila!  You can make these while your turkey is roasting and keep them covered on the stovetop. Just make sure to reheat and give them a good stir before serving! 

How many times have you heard “Happy Turkey Day” in reference to Thanksgiving? Probably way too many, especially considering that most of the turkeys you’ll find on tables across America on November 25th were anything but happy, and their lives were never respected.  But then there are a growing number of amazing farmers like Jan and Mike Rogers at Blue Moon Farm who are raising Heritage Turkeys.  These turkeys live a long, healthy, and happy life on pasture. Seeing these birds and spending a morning with the Rogers was quite an inspirational experience.  Knowing where your food comes from makes you that much more thankful for it, and isn’t that what Thanksgiving is all about? Check out the video below and follow along with the recipe.  You still have time to get a heritage breed turkey from companies like Heritage Foods USA.

Roasted Heritage Turkey

• 1 Turkey, 10-15 pounds 
• 1 stick butter (add herbs and roasted garlic if you so desire)
• 1 bundle of thyme, rosemary and sage
• 1 carrot
• 2 stocks of celery
• 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 apple
• 1 onion chopped
• salt and pepper 
• 4 cups turkey (or chicken) stock

Preheat the oven to 425. Let the turkey come to room temperature.  Liberally salt and pepper the bird inside and out, then carefully separate the skin from the breast.  Massage a couple tablespoons of butter between the skin and breast, and then stuff the cavity with the rest of the ingredients.  Tie the legs together and tuck the wingtips back, and massage the rest of the butter over the entire turkey.  Place it on the wire rack of your roasting pan (or on top of celery and carrots if you don’t have a rack) and pour about 3-4 cups of stock into the bottom of the pan.  Roast for a half hour uncovered.  Reduce the heat to 350, baste and tent the turkey and return to the oven for another 2 hours, or until the thermometer registers 155.  Allow the turkey to stand about 30 minutes before carving. Because it’s nearly impossible to get the white and dark meat to come to the same temperature at the same time, feel free to remove the legs and thighs and continue roasting for another 30 minutes or until the juices run clear.  

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!