Fifth Annual Blackwood Street Thanksgiving

I've always had really good memories associated with Thanksgiving: long walks and bonfires in Tarpley, Texas (population: us), with my father's side of the family; formal dinner and frisbee marathons in Houston, Texas, with my mother's side of the family. Food galore and the comfort of friends and family -- nothing is better.

But now that we live so far away and it's not practical to travel for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, Melissa and I have developed our own tradition here in Boston. For the past five years, we have gathered together an evolving group of Americans who can't be with family, and non-Americans who may have never celebrated the holiday before, for a full day of food, wine and good company. It's an all-day extravaganza of eating and drinking that some of our dedicated guests look forward to each year almost as much as we do.

Like a kid on Christmas morning, Melissa woke up at 5:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep, because this is her favorite day of the year. I went to 7-11 to get some ice to chill the bubbly, then cleaned up the place while Melissa made the stuffing and prepped the turkey before any guests arrived. We always start with a champagne breakfast around 10 am, and some of our friends come by for the early meal before going to dinner with family.

This year we had 14 for breakfast, and Melissa's stuffed croissants were snapped up as soon as each batch came out of the kitchen. The filling of black forest ham, peccorino cheese, avocado, tomatoes and ground pepper was met with unanimous approval. The shortcut: croissants from a can. They smell absolutely heavenly in the oven, which is always a great way to greet early guests, and make for a quick and easy preparation at the beginning of a long day of cooking. The few who arrived after the croissants were all gone had to settle for the lemon crepes Melissa whipped up as a backup plan. We had orange juice and pomegranate to make mimosas with Lindauer Brut (non-vintage, New Zealand), a half-case of which was consumed well before dinner was served...

We were expecting a largely non-overlapping second wave of about ten guests for the big feast, and those who stayed through or arrived (as recommended) with plenty of time for relaxing and wine drinking before dinner were met with a reward of Wellfleet oysters I bought live the day before. The comfortable lull between breakfast and dinner was thus filled with oyster shucking and satisfied slurping -- all accompanied by New Zealand (Lindauer) and Italian (Prosecco) sparkling wines.

As soon as the breakfast preparations were finished, the turkey went into the oven. Melissa roasted the 13-pound organic turkey with a saffron-butter glaze and her pistachio and olive stuffing. After some experimentation in recent years, she has settled on this recipe, and the consensus is that it's a truly fantastic concoction. The saffron butter is the first aroma that makes it to the nose, well before the smell of roasting turkey wafts out of the kitchen, and the pistachios and green olives in the stuffing provide a great texture and flavor.

The trimmings for the turkey and stuffing included gravy that really held onto that saffron-butter flavor, a homemade cranberry sauce, blanched snap-peas and chipotle mashed sweet potatoes. The spicy potatoes are something we experienced a few years ago at East Coast Grill in Somerville, MA, and we thought it was such a great idea that we had to incorporate it into our Thanksgiving dinner as a variation on the traditional candied yams or sweet potatoes. Five large sweet potatoes were roasted whole in the oven until very soft, then peeled and mashed with one stick of butter, a splash of cream, a sprinkling of sea salt and three finely chopped smoked chipotle peppers, which come in a small can drowned in adobo sauce. The smokey flavor is divine, and there is just enough spice to sneak up on you after a few bites -- puts a nice kick into the plate.

We had a hodgepodge of wines open for the big feast: a couple of chardonnays, of which the Louis Latour 2006 Grand Ardeche was the star, a couple of pinot noirs, among which I really liked the Blason de Bourgogne 2007 Burgundy, and another bottle of the 2006 Paul Jaboulet Parallele 45 Cotes du Rhone we had with our midnight breakfast last Saturday. After that it was a free-for-all, and we had Aussie shiraz, Spanish tempranillo, German riesling and New Zealand sauvignon blanc, among others, as the night progressed.

For dessert Melissa made a trifle -- actually, twelve of them. The concoctions of mixed berries, angel food cake, dutch custard, whipped cream, Amontillado sherry and slivered almonds were assembled early that morning and placed in boxes outside in the cold to settle in and soak up the sherry. We know it's good when Amanda goes back for a second dessert...

When the feasting was all done (around 6 pm) it was already dark outside, but the night was young. With our bellies (and our glasses) full, we settled in for a rousing game of "Who Am I?" (See Etienne and Angelique trying to divine the names on their foreheads, below), followed by a few rounds of the more sinister game "Mafia". Turns out I'm not a very convincing Mafioso. Melissa, on the other hand...

Thanks to everyone who helped make the day a really great time, and we wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

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Recipes

Actually, for this post there are very few recipes for me to write. The "croissants" where Pilsbury cresent rolls, baked according to the instructions and filled with shaved cheese, ham, tomato and avocado when still piping hot.

The turkey was made from a recipe I saw in a cuisine magazine. It can be found here. The only alterations I'd make to the recipe is to continue topping up the liquid in the pan with water as the cooking proceeds and I preferred chicken broth here rather than wine. The liquids made a beautiful gravy at the end by just adding a tablespoon of cornstarch (corn flour) mixed in a little water and heating it through to thicken.

The cranberry sauce was simply 1 bag of fresh cranberries boiled with a small amount of water (just enough to cover the bottom of a pot) and 1/2 cup of sugar with a pinch of cloves and nutmeg. It takes about 5 minutes for the cranberries to pop and turn to mush.

For the trifle I simply layered the ingredients listed above in glasses. This is the first time I've made a trifle, but next time I think I'll cut the sherry with simple syrup, or maybe even melted peach jam to soak into the sponge (angelfood) cake and berries.