Look below for Chef David Pantone's best thanksgiving recipes.
Perfect Roasted Turkey
(Cider Brine – Roast – Rest - Carve)
Perfect Mashed Potatoes
(Hot and Dry!)
Whole Roasted Pumpkin Stuffed with
Wild Mushroom and Herb Bread Dressing
(Centuries old technique. Just really cool!)
Carrots Glazed with Orange Juice and Dill
(How to glaze a fruit or vegetable)
Brussels Sprouts with Red Peppers and Bacon
(The right way to cook green vegetables – Blanch and Chill)
Green Beans with Brown Butter and Cashews
(The right way to cook green vegetables – Blanch and Chill – plus how to make butter even better)
Fresh Cranberry Sauce
(Great served hot or cold)
Spiced Apple Tart with Ice Cream and Maple Syrup
(Simply, Convenient, and Delicious!!!)
The Perfect Roasted Turkey
I like to brine my turkey to add flavor and moisture. (This is totally optional, but it is well worth the effort.)
For the brine:
Mix together 1 gallon apple cider, 1 cups kosher salt, 1 cup brown sugar, some rosemary sprigs, a couple cloves of garlic, some thyme, and some black peppercorns. Warm up just until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Cool to room temperature. Wash and dry the turkey and place into the brine. Refrigerate from 4 to 12 hours. Before roasting, remove turkey from brine, rinse and dry it.
For the bird:
1 - Turkey, cavity empty, rinsed and dried
This gets stuffed inside of the turkey: Not so good to eat!
Salt and Pepper as needed
1 – onion, chopped
1 – apple, cut into quarters
1 – lemon, cut into quarters
A couple of sprigs of rosemary
A couple of sprigs of sage
Microwave the onion, apple, and orange just until they soften up and release their aroma. Stuff them and the remaining ingredients in to the bird.
This gets brushed on the outside of the turkey before roasting:
Coat with a liberal amount of canola oil. This will promote a crispy skin.
Place in 500* oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes cover breast with foil to retard browning and turn oven temperature to 350*.
Roast turkey 12 to 15 minutes per pound until the deepest part of the breast reaches 161*. Do the math. Use a digital thermometer with a probe.
Remove turkey from oven. Carefully move the turkey to a serving platter. Rest, covered loosely with foil, at least 15 minutes before carving; 30 minutes is better.
Perfect Mashed Potatoes
HOT and DRY!!!
3 pounds baking potatoes, washed, peeled, cut into 1” cubes
½ cup half & half, hot (may need a bit more or less depending how thick you like them)
4 table spoons Butter, room temperature
Salt and pepper to taste – (white pepper if you have it.)
Place potatoes into a pot and cover with cold water. Add 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are fork tender. Drain out the water and keep the potatoes in the pot. Place pot over low heat and gently turn the potatoes in the pot so that some of the excess water evaporates. When the potatoes are hot and dry, mash to the desired degree of lumpiness. Add the butter and continue to mash. Add the hot half & half and continue to mash. Stir in the butter. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl. Enjoy!
HOT and Dry!!!
Whole Roasted Pumpkin Stuffed with
Wild Mushroom and Herb Bread Dressing
For the Roasted Pumpkin:
Cut off the top of the pumpkin and hollow it out as if you were making a Jack-O-Lantern. Rub inside and outside with olive oil. Season inside with salt and pepper. Place in a roasting pan and add about one inch of hot water. Bake at 350* for one hour. Remove from oven and fill with stuffing. Bake for about 60 minutes.
For the Dressing/Stuffing:
1 loaf Artisan style Rosemary Bread, or other herb bread (Cut into 1 inch cubes). Place in a large mixing bowl.
¼ cup Olive Oil
1 Large, Sweet Onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 cup celery, diced
2 to 3 cups thick slices of wild mushrooms
2 to 3 cups chicken stock (heated) (depends how moist/dry you like it)
Salt and Pepper
Preheat oven to 370*.
In a large skillet, over medium heat, sauté onions, garlic and celery in the olive oil. Add some salt and pepper. Cook until soft and they just start to turn golden. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon so that the olive oil remains in the pan. Place cooked vegetables on top of the bread. Turn heat up to medium high and add the mushrooms and a little salt and pepper. Stir and cook until they just start to turn golden. Remove from heat and add to bread. While slowly adding the first 2 cups of stock, gently mix the ingredients until they are incorporated. If you mix too aggressively, it will turn to mush. Don’t do thatJ. Add more stock to make it nice and moist.
Place stuffing into cooked pumpkin. Bake for 60 minutes. Enjoy!
Carrots with Orange Juice and Dill
1 pound Carrots, washed, peeled, sliced into ¼” disks.
Enough water to cook the carrots
Orange Juice as needed, (about ½ cups)
2 tablespoons Butter
1 tablespoon Fresh Dill, chopped
Pinch of Salt
Pinch
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