This year we are celebrating Thanksgiving with our entire team. It is a celebration where friends and family come together and show their gratitude. For everyone who wants to enjoy the holiday with its delicious food, here is the recipe for a delicious and simple Thanksgiving dinner:
Our recipe requires good time management, as most of the ingredients are prepared in the oven.
The most important part of the meal is probably the turkey, but side dishes such as mashed sweet potatoes with mini marshmallows, stuffing or dressing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie are a must.
Starting with the pumpkin pie, as this can be prepared well in advance and is best served chilled. We have already shared the recipe for this in a previous blog post presented.
Then you can prepare the sweet potato puree. For this you need 2 kg of peeled and chopped sweet potatoes. Put them in a pot and cover 2/3 with water and add a little salt. Boil the potatoes until they are soft and then puree them with or without the water, depending on your preference. Add 300 g butter, 150 g Light Brown Sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Put everything in a buttered casserole dish and let cool. Before serving, warm the puree in the oven at 160° and then add the small marshmallows Place on top and grill until golden brown.
The cranberry sauce can be prepared parallel to the other side dishes, as it does not require any space in the oven. We have also already prepared a Recipe published.
Next we'll go with a typical Thanksgiving side dish, which hasn't really caught on in Germany yet. It's called stuffing. The name comes from the fact that this dish is traditionally baked in the turkey itself. Since we like the stuffing to be crispy, we bake it separately in the oven. You'll need: a whole piece of toast cut into small cubes, a cup of chopped shallots, a cup of chopped celery, fresh herbs, butter, vegetable stock and chicken stock. First, sauté the onions and celery in butter, using more butter than usual as this will be used later as a sauce for the bread cubes. Parsley, sage and thyme are suitable herbs; chop these finely and set aside. Now mix everything together and add equal parts vegetable stock and chicken stock until the herbs stick to the bread cubes and they are slightly moist. Just do as you like. Finally, bake in the oven until the mixture is hot and the top bread cubes are crispy brown.
Now for the most important part of a Thanksgiving dinner, the turkey. A few steps have to be done in advance. The turkey has to be salted generously 24 hours before serving. This means that the meat stays juicy when cooked and the fibers are broken down and thus become softer. Watch out, here comes a professional trick: Since the turkey, like most poultry, consists of a breast, the "white or light meat", and the legs and wings, the "dark meat", these two parts theoretically need different amounts of time in the oven. This is where the trick comes into play. To get evenly cooked meat, you have to cool the breast with a bag of ice cubes three to four hours before baking. Before baking, season the meat with dried herbs, as these do not burn so quickly. Suitable herbs for this are: marjoram, sage, thyme, garlic powder and onion powder. Preheat the oven to 220° and before putting the meat in, turn the temperature down to 160° and cook until the breast has reached a core temperature of 68°.
Enjoy cooking and Happy Thanksgiving!
