After resting for an hour once the four casseroles were finished, I had to get back to work. First up was the appetizer, the wild rice salad.
Wild Rice Salad
3 T sugar (3 msk socker)
1 T orange peel (1 msk apelsinskal)
2 T orange juice (2 msk apelsinjuice)
2 T apple cider vinegar (2 msk äppelcider vinäger)
1/2 t salt (1/2 tsk salt)
1/4 cup olive oil (0,6 dl olivolja)
1 t poppy seeds (1 tsk valmöfrön)
2 apples, peeled and diced (2 äpplen, skalade och tärnade)
Juice from 1 lemon (saft från en citron)
4 cups cooked wild rice, drained and cooled (1 l tillagad vildris, avrunnet och avkylt)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (1,2 dl torkade tranbär)
1/2 slivered almonds (1,2 dl mandelspån)
1 cup sliced mushrooms (2,4 dl skivade champinjoner)
1/2 cup green onions (1,2 dl salladslök)
Dressing: Mix sugar, orange peel, orange juice, vinegar and salt in a blender. While blending, slowly add oil until mixture is smooth and thick. Stir in poppy seeds.
Salad: Pour lemon juice on the apples and toss directly after chopping them up so that they won't turn brown. Then mix all ingredients together. Cover and let stand in the fridge for 2-4 hours so flavors blend.
The salad was done at about 3:30, so it was time to prepare the turkey. I wanted the turkey done at 6:30, and Butterball claimed it would take 2 to 2 1/2 hours at 325 F in a convection oven, so I wanted it in by 4:15. No problem!
Herb-rubbed Roast Turkey
1 T dried parsley (1 msk torkad persilja)
1 T dried sage (1 msk torkad salvia)
2 t dried rosemary (2 tsk torkad rosmarin)
1 t dried thyme (1 tsk torkad timjan)
1 t garlic powder (1 tsk vitlökspulver)
1 t salt (1 tsk salt)
1/4 t pepper (1 krm svartpeppar)
1/4 cup melted butter (60g smält smör)
1 10-12 lb turkey, fully thawed (1 avtinnad kalkon, 4-5kg)
If you've never made a turkey before, there are a few things you need to know. First, there's often a plastic bag inside the turkey that contains the giblets. This means the turkey's neck, heart, lungs, liver, and all kinds of lovely stuff. Needless to say, you'll want to remove this. (The giblets are often used to make gravy or stuffing; for gravy, you'll want to at this point throw them into a pot of water for boiling, but more about that later.) You'll also want to nip and tuck the bird properly so that it cooks evenly, but more about that after we slather it up.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C). Mix all the herbs and spices together in a small bowl. If you want you can crush them up in with a mortar and pestle so that they get really fine and well blended -- this is why I prefer dry to fresh herbs. Brush the turkey all over with the melted butter, and then sprinkle the herb blend all over, turning the turkey to get all sides.
When roasting, the turkey should be breat-side up. Tuck the tips of the wings under the turkey so that the tips touch; this prevents them from burning to a crisp. If the neck of the turkey is "open," pull the flap of skin up torward the breast and fasten it with a skewer. The drumsticks should be tied together at the "ankles" so that they keep tight to the body. If you can't picture what I'm talking about, go ahead and have a look at this great Youtube video: How to prepare a turkey.
Typical instructions tell you to baste the bird about once every 30 minutes. This is done with an (aptly-named) turkey baster, a sort of big syringe with a rubber ball at the end that is ripe for sexual innuendo. But I'm telling you, basting is evil. It can actually contribute to a drier turkey (even though the goal of basting is to keep the turkey moist) because you're letting the heat escape from the over every 30 minutes and increasing the cooking time. Since I was using a convection oven, the turkey was done after only 2 hours. In fact, the thermometer claimed it was done after 1 hour, but I wasn't buying it; the juice was still all pink and the thighs didn't come easily away from the body. After two hours the juices were clear, the drumsticks loose, and the skin nice and brown. After eating this turkey, I'm going to declare that convection ovens are teh win (and that basting is not); it was the juiciest and tastiest turkey I've ever eaten.
If using a regular oven, you're going to need more like 3 to 3 1/2 hours, and you'll want to cover the turkey with a foil tent until the last half hour or so so that the skin doesn't get too crispy.
After taking the turkey out of the oven, let it sit for 20 minutes or so so that it will be easy to carve. How to carve a turkey probably isn't totally obvious if you haven't done it before, but here's another Youtube video for ya: How to carve a turkey.
So, my turkey was in the oven, and I had an hour left before folks started coming. I had put the turkey neck in boiling water so I could get a little bit of flavor for the gravy I would make later; I threw away the rest of the giblets because, I'm sorry, I don't have the stomach to cook and eat hearts and lungs. Eeeeeew! So now everything was cooking, there wasn't much more I could do, and it was time for a shower. It felt like it was time for a nap, too, but no rest for the wicked.
When there was a about a half hour left before people started coming, we rearranged the furniture as necessary, set the table, and set out the appetizer and wine. When everyone had arrived -- 10 adults male guests and, including me, 2 adult females -- we explained that we were going to stick religiously to tradition. This meant the men would sit in the living room watching football and drinking beer (the former provided on DVD by Harald, who had recorded Navy-Notre Dame for us; the latter provided by the men themselves, because you can't beat the BYOB out of a Swede's system) and the women would be in the kitchen cooking until the food was done. No one had much of a problem with this, least of all me, because the idea was to give me time to finish the food (since my friends are never on time, I purposely planned for the main course to be done an hour after their intended arrival) with the guys out of my hair and Emma and I sitting and chatting in the kitchen. It also made it work to serve an appetizer while I was actually still cooking.
At 6:30 I took the turkey out of the oven and commenced running around like a maniac. The turkey was put on the table, and the 4 side-dishes -- the stuffing and mashed potatoes with tin foil still on and the green beans and sweet potatoes with foil removed -- were popped into the oven, where I also raised the temp from 325 to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
During the 30 minutes while the turkey was resting and the side dishes were heating, I:
- Cooked the gravy (see below)
- Arranged all the cold bits on the food table (in the kitchen), including the cranberry and apple sauces and the bread
- Mixed the Boston Iced Tea (see below) and brought it out to the dining room
- Cut up big marshmallows to put on the sweet potatoes
- Called Fredrik in to carve the turkey (as said, slavish adherence to gender-based tradition!) while I poured the gravy into its bowl
- Removed the foil from the stuffing and mashed potatoes, arranged the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes, and let it all cook for 10 more minutes
So, aside from pretty dense un-risen buns and red wine that was far too cold because I forgot to take it out of the fridge before the food was done, it was all awesome! Super tasty, well received, and I'm proud to say there weren't that many leftovers.
Giblet Gravy
Turkey giblets
4 cups water (1 l water)
2 T butter (2 msk smör)
2 T flour (2 msk mjöl)
1 chicken bullion cube (1/2 tärning hönsbuljong)
1 cup milk (2,4 dl mjölk)
Chopped fresh parsley
When you put the turkey in the oven, put the giblets (minus the liver if there is one; the flavor is too strong) in a pot with the water and simmer gently while the turkey is cooking.
Once the turkey is done, melt the butter in another pot and whisk in the flour until well blended. Add 1 cup (2,4 dl) of liquid from the boiled giblets and the bullion. Bring to a boil; simmer for a couple minutes. Add the milk and heat just until warm; garnish with a bit of chopped fresh parsley for color.
Some people might complain that I haven't chopped up the giblets into the gravy or used pan drippings from the turkey, but I just didn't see how that was going to fit into my perfectly planned last 30 minutes there. Plus, this gravy turned out super tasty.
Boston Iced Tea
This drink is not something that is "traditional Thanksgiving" fare. In fact, it's a drink on the menu at Red Lobster, a chain of seafood restaurants in the states. In case they're mad at me for stealing and spreading their super complicated recipe, I'll put in a plug here for how truly awesome Red Lobster is and how their crab alfredo is to die for.
This recipe will make 1 1/2 quarts/liters, but for the dinner I made 6 liters. It was a nice alternative to the wine for Emma and I, and the boys found it mixed well with vodka...
2 cups water (1/2 l vatten)
4 bags of plain black tea, like Lipton Yellow Label (4 tepåsar, vanlig svartte)
2 cups cranberry juice (1/2 l tranbärsjuice)
2 cups ice (1/2 l is)
1 orange, sliced (2 apelsiner, skivade)
Bring water to a boil in a large pot; remove from heat. Let tea bags steep in the water for 10 minutes, then remove them and discard them. Let the tea cool off gradually and then pop it in the fridge to chill.
Mix the tea, cranberry juice, and ice and add orange slices.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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