Turkey Day Menu

We went simple this year:

Photos to follow! My plate -- yes, that's a leftover strip of bacon -- waste not, want not.Tam's plate -- she wanted plenty of gravy! (And she'd already had her spare strip of bacon.)
Boneless, skinless ('cos that's what they had) turkey breast in crushed roasted pecans (and a few wasabi almonds). A couple strips of bacon cut up and tucked in the turkey to help keep it moist. Baked a long time at low heat.
Fresh mashed potatoes, made with Irish butter and black-truffle salt (thanks, Brigid!)
Bacon/mushroom (chanterelle and portabella)/onion gravy, thickened with cornstarch.
Good green beans. (see above.)

Coffee and/or soda with, champagne-and-St-Germain cocktails for after.


Tricks? None, really; smash the pecans (etc.) in a bag with a mallet, add spices, shake, lay a bed down in the pan, set the turkey on it and apply the rest of them to it. Roast in the normal way. It smells wonderful!

At that point, you've got a couple hours to waste; me, I wiped down outside of the oven and sorted socks (not on the oven).

The spuds, leave the skin on, cut in chunks, cook in water, drain, put back on the heat and dry (important!), then cut up nice and fine with a sharp knife (really a matter of stirring with it), add a little butter and milk, mash up with a fork, add more butter and milk and salt to taste, mash more, and repeat until you've got the consistency you like. Bacon-mushroom-onion gravy is plain ol' pan gravy using bacon fat; I reserve about 3/4 of it and fry up the mushrooms and onions (cut up small) in the remainder; crumble the bacon back in, add a couple cups water or broth plus reserved fat, cook and deglaze, then add the cornstarch dissolved in cold, cold water, bring to a low boil stirring constantly and keep it simmering for at least a minute while stirring.

Hey, I liked it. Tam liked it.