Thanksgiving: Make Ahead Turkey Gravy

 

 I'm really anal about making turkey gravy from scratch. Use butter and flour to make a roux, then add turkey drippings and turkey stock. The problem here is that the drippings come at the end....after you've removed the turkey for carving.

But alas, Mark Bittman (former food writer for the New York Times) solved my problem by creating this make-ahead gravy recipe. It can be made up to five days in advance, then re-heated just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. And the gravy still gets the flavor boost from the pan drippings...you just add them in at the last second to your already "at serving temperature" gravy. This recipe yields about 5 cups of gravy.

A small note here about the stock. Most grocery stores have an abundance of turkey stock on their shelves at this time of year. But if you couldn't find any or simply forgot to pick some up, chicken stock is a really good second choice.


INGREDIENTS

For the Gravy
1 stick of butter (4 ounces)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup flour
Salt and pepper
4 cups warm turkey stock
Turkey drippings

Thickening/Thinning Agents

Potato flakes

1 cup turkey stock

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then add onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour on the onions, stirring constantly, and cook until flour is golden to brown. Adjust heat so mixture does not burn.
2. Gradually whisk in 4 cups of warm stock until mixture thickens and is smooth. If it is too thick, add more stock. Cool, cover and chill. Gravy can be held up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
3. When ready to serve, reheat mixture over low heat, stirring. Scrape bottom of turkey pan and add drippings  to gravy. Whisk to mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust seasonings. 
4. OPTIONAL: If you want your gravy thicker, add 1 tablespoon of potato flakes at a time (whisking thoroughly) until you get the consistency you want.  If you want your gravy thinner, add 1 tablespoon of turkey stock at a time (whisking thoroughly) until you get the consistency you want.
5. Serve.

Thanksgiving: Make Ahead Garlic Mashed Potatoes

 

 

The frenetic pace and challenge of getting turkey and side dishes to be served together at precisely 6:00pm on Thanksgiving day is exhausting. So over the years, I've been working on "make-ahead" recipes that makes serving the meal a whole lot easier. Make-ahead gravy. Make-ahead stuffing.

Back in 2018, I added make-ahead, garlic mashed potatoes. And I'm here to tell you they were the best mashed potatoes ever. First off, I avoided all of the chemistry-class theatrics required of boiling potatoes from scratch with cold water. And that method requires great precision in order to serve piping hot potatoes with piping hot turkey at the same time.

This method is foolproof. You cannot screw it up. Anyone who can read can make perfect mashed potatoes. It will transform you instantly...drop the "Home Cook" moniker and embrace the new you: "Gourmet Chef."

While the recipe calls for peeled potatoes, I really like the skins, so I don't peel mine. As a bonus, the skin is the tastiest, most nutricious and fiber rich part of the potato. This recipe makes 20 servings. My experience is that the majority of folks come back for seconds....and a few for thirds.

Ingredients
5 pounds of russet potatoes, peeled or not, cut into 2-inch cubes
8 cloves garlic, peeled
1-1/2 cups whole milk

8 tablespoons butter
2 cups of half & half
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Chopped chives, for garnish


Directions

1. Peel (or not) and cube potatoes and place in slow cooker with garlic and 1-1/2 cups of milk. Set slow cooker to high and cover. Cook for 5 hours.
2. After 5 hours, turn slow cooker to warm. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes right in the slow cooker.
3. Melt butter in a medium saucepan. When melted, add half & half to the pan and heat to warm (do not boil). When warm, add mixture to slow cooker. Using masher, blend potatoes with butter/half & half mixture.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste....a half of a teaspoon at a time for the uninitiated.
5. Cover potatoes in slow cooker (still set to warm) and serve whenever you want.

Thanksgiving: Hot Italian Sausage Stuffing

 

If you are smoking your turkey on a pellet grill, you'll want to bake your stuffing in the oven. If you are deep frying your turkey, you'll want to bake your stuffing in the oven. If you are roasting a whole turkey for Thanksgiving, you'll want to bake your stuffing separately in the oven. You don't ever want to bake  stuffing in the turkey's body cavity. Let me explain why.

If your turkey is cooked to perfection, the stuffing in the cavity is going to be undercooked. That sort of error leads to salmonella, in which case your guests will suffer horrific gastrointestinal pain followed by death. If your stuffing in the cavity is cooked to 165º perfection, the meat on your turkey will be overcooked and your guests will chew on it as if it were part of the sidewall of a worn Pirelli Formula One tire.

So do the right thing. Bake your stuffing by itself in the oven. It will taste fantastic with no chance of flatlining your guests. This recipe is incredibly easy. It uses simple, store-bought ingredients and comes together very quickly. 

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds hot Italian sausage

2 yellow onions, chopped

6 stalks celery, chopped

16 ounces mushrooms, chopped

10 tablespoons butter

4 cups chicken broth

2, 12-ounce bags Pepperidge Farm Sage & Onion Cubed Stuffing

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium high heat, heat olive oil until it is shimmering. Then add sausage, onions, celery and mushrooms. Cook until there is no pink in the sausage and all of the vegetables have softened (about 8 minutes).
2. In a large saucepan, heat butter and chicken broth over medium heat until all of the butter has melted into the broth.
3. Preheat oven to 350º.
4. In a large casserole, add the two bags of cubed stuffing. Add sausage, onions, celery and mushrooms then stir thoroughly to mix. Then add broth/butter mixture and stir again to thoroughly mix.
5. Cover casserole and bake for 60 minutes. Remove cover for last 15 minutes if you like your stuffing browned. Serve.

Little Bites

NINJA CRISPI AIR FRYER: I absolutely love air fryers. They are such a great accessory to make healthy meals (okay....they are also great at French fries and tater tots!!!!). We use ours all the time for entrees and sides.

I bought my first one, a 5.5 quart Cosori, back in 2019. It was recalled for an electrical defect and fully replaced by the manufacturer in 2023. I loved using it, but it came up short in two areas. First, while it does not use a Teflon coating (now illegal in MN), it does have a PFTE coating on the cooking surface. This coating is completely safe when intact, but scratches or flaking mean it's time to get a new one. While ours was in perfect shape,  the second area was the bigger draw.

This second benefit was huge to me. The cooking vessel in the Ninja Crispi is borosilicate glass. No coatings to worry about.....easiest surface to clean...but the big deal was being able to see the food as it cooked. A lot of air fryer recipes are hit or miss because of the vast differences in machines. Having to stop the air fryer and pull out the basket to check cooking status was a hassle and a half. Now just a quick glance at the Crispi tells me how I'm doing.

Given that it is just Becky and I at home, we really had no need for the giant 5.5 quart capacity. So we bought the small Crispi, perfect for the two of us. For $159, you get a 4-quart and 6-cup cooking vessel along with covers to keep the leftovers in the fridge. The cooking vessels are dishwasher safe (huge bonus). If you need more capacity, Ninja just rolled out the Crispi Pro for $279, which comes with a 6-quart and 2.5-quart cooking vessel. The Ninja Crispi (pictured above), is a small, portable air fryer, while the Ninja Crispi Pro is a substantial countertop model. Either way, you can't go wrong.

GINO BAMBINO SOURDOUGH PIZZA STARTER KIT: A tip of the hat to Costco on this one. They are selling a 3-pack of pizza crusts and sauce for just $9.99. The 11-inch sourdough crusts are each hand stretched and stone baked....and the sauce is pure Italian plum tomatoes. It is, without a doubt, the best store-bought pizza crust I have ever had (Gino has been making them for 60 years).

 

This is a relatively new item to Costco....I saw it for the first time in September. Make sure you get great toppings. I've been making them for a crowd and two of the recipes are really popular. First is a bacon and onion with fresh mozzarella....and lots of red pepper flakes for heat. The second is a charcuterie pizza with salami, mortadella, prosciutto, canicola, sun-dried tomatoes and Calabrian peppers. While I am an absolute failure at making my own pizza crusts from scratch, I'm a Super Hero when I pull out these pizza crusts.