Thanksgiving food notes Andy

Because I'll forget by next year, I wanted to capture a few of the things I did to the turkey that worked really well.

The Turkey:

I thawed it a day early so that I could marinate overnight. My marinade injection was:

• Olive oil
• Worcestershire sauce
• Finely chopped basil
• Finely chopped cilantro
• Salt
• Pepper

The Gravy:

I pureed some of the veggies I roasted with the turkey (carrots, celery, garlic, onion) in a food processor (I don't like chunky gravy). I stirred this in with the drippings before adding the flour slurry (how's that for culinary-babble?). I might have added too many carrots, cause the gravy was kinda orange, but REALLY good, and it didn't need a whole lot of help to thicken.

The Leftovers:

It was kinda cold after T-day this year, so I was feeling like soup. I had a couple cups of turkey drippings left, and a bunch of chicken stock. A quick trip to the pantry, and here's what happened:

• Great Northern Beans
• Triple Succotash (tomato, corn, butter beans)
• Sliced carrots
• Chopped turkey leftovers
• turkey drippings (skim off the fat... unless you want it to stick on the way down)
• chicken broth
• cheese tortellini
  

You should probably make sure everything is done before adding the tortellini so that they don't fall apart while everything else cooks.

All in all, it was a really good meal, It was a kind of pot-luck event, and everything was yummy! Thanks to all who came and shared your Thanksgiving with us. We are really thankful for our friends and family!