I love Thanksgiving. I love that everyone is (usually) home, the house smells delicious, we use the good china and then of course there is the meal itself! And not only do we get to eat this meal on Thanksgiving but we get to enjoy it for days afterward–we love leftovers in this Casa and this is the Mother of all Leftover meals!
I started my Thanksgiving prep this past Sunday when I roasted a whole chicken for dinner and then used the carcass of the bird to make crock pot stock overnight. Crock Pot Stock is the easiest thing in the world to make–take your leftovers from a cooked whole chicken (can be a store bought roaster, no shame)–the leftover meat, bones, skin, gizzards–place in the bottom of a crock pot and add carrots, celery, onion, fresh parsley, salt and pepper, and whatever herbs you like–I used a bit of dill, rosemary and tarragon. The great thing about this stock is that you can put everything in the pot as is, no need to prep the veggies beyond a good rinsing and rough cut.
Cover the chicken and veggies with water, place the lid snug on the crock pot and turn it on Low overnight. When you wake up in the morning your whole house will already smell like Thanksgiving–better than any fancy candle my friends. Turn the crock pot off, let the contents cool and then pour the stock slowly through a fine mesh strainer into a container for storage. Personally, I like the extra large Pyrex measuring cup with the lid for this purpose.
I will freeze the stock for a few days to keep it fresh, then defrost it overnight Monday to begin my cooking prep on Tuesday. I use the stock for the stuffing and mashed potatoes. I use the fresh turkey drippings to make the gravy when the cooked turkey is having its nap after roasting.
Our menu this year is exactly the same as the year before. And the year before that. The first full Thanksgiving dinner that I recall making was in 1998–the first year that Schmoo and I lived together. My parents had recently moved from Ohio to Florida full-time so it was my turn at the Thanksgiving bat. I changed two things on the menu–my mother and grandmothers usually did some riff on green beans or carrots for our vegetable but my then-not-yet husband wanted Brussel sprouts so that was the first year I made roasted sprouts with bacon and brown sugar. My Dad still comments on it every year. Hey Dad–I know you do not love sprouts, feel free to bring another veggie dish.
The other big change to the menu was in the dressing/stuffing department–not sure of the exact difference between dressing and stuffing–in my family we called it dressing. My mother and grandmother always made oyster dressing. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious, but if you could see the look on Schmoo’s face when I told him we were having oyster stuffing…..well….. let’s just say that I was still working on getting him to put a ring on it so I went the safe route and made dressing with cornbread, sausage, apples and toasted pecans.
I am happy to report that after 20+ years of marriage and countless dinners, along with a recent move to the Florida coast, Schmoo has learned to appreciate food from the sea. He now loves most seafood–with cedar planked salmon with soy and ginger and my cheesy mayonnaise tilapia being top favorites. But I am reasonably confident his acceptance does not now nor ever will extend to include oysters in his dressing. Or in his stuffing.
The Casa Kitchen 