Dateline: December 25, 2020 Christmas Dinner: Turkey and the whole megillah

 We had Thanksgiving at Dianne and Phil's, so  there were no turkey leftovers, the best part of the whole shebang.  I wanted turkey stock, turkey pot pie, left over stuffing, mashed potatoes and assorted winter root veggies.

For the turkey, I dry brined it overnight with a generous amount of salt and left it uncovered in the fridge overnight.  The next morning, I rubbed butter over and under the skin, stuffed the cavity with 2 garlic cloves, 4 onion ends from chopping onions for other dishes, 1 one orange, halved, sage sprigs rosemary sprigs, salt and pepper and a schmear of butter.  I mixed salt and pepper together along with 1/4 t baking powder to help crisp up the skin.  Before putting it in the oven, I injected the breast with homemade chicken stock in about 4 or 5 places on each side of the breast.

I put the bird on a rack in a roasting pan in which I had scattered chopped onions and celery along with a good glug or 2 of white wine and about 2 cups of homemade chicken stock.

I set the oven at 350° because it was an 11 lb turkey and set a timer for 1 hour, before rotating the turkey so that the other thigh pointed to the back of the oven, and set the timer for 1 hr.

After about 40 minutes, I checked and the turkey was very close to being done, I lowered the temp to 325°F and let it continue cooking for the remaining 20 minutes.

Naturally, I DID NOT photo the finished, beautifully bronzed bird, and I hadn't started drinking either!  You can get an idea of the color from the wing joint in the photo.  I made some cranberry sauce the day before, I usually make a chutney style sauce, but one of the people I promised Xmas dinner to can not deal with spice, so I went very straightforward with the cranberries this year.  Just sugar, water, pinch of salt until thick and syrupy.

Neither Bill nor I can have turkey without the Miles Standish Stuffing,  I do cut back on the butter, but pretty much follow the recipe, tweaking over the years.  This year, I used the called for breakfast sausage, and decided it was NOT going to used again, I prefer Italian sausage, either sweet or hot.  I used perlini mozzarella balls to save the cutting mozzarella up.  Next time I will use both containers I bought instead of just one, not gooey enough!

Behind the stuffing is a green bean, mushrooms, and pancetta amalgam that I thought would be tasty!  I sauteed 4 oz pancetta and then added the sliced king and oyster mushrooms and cooked through.  I steamed the green beans in the microwave for 4 minutes and then added them to the pan.  Seasoned, added some stock, and a little rice flour to thicken and tadah!

I love rutabagas.  I am alone in that devotion, but since I cook, well, we get them!  I steamed them first in the instant pot, then mashed into the pan that I had sauteed 4 oz of pancetta and 1/2 a chopped onion until rendered and crispy.  Perfect.

For the mashed potatoes, I steamed them in the instant pot and then riced them into another inner pot for the instant pot.  I added half and half, sour cream, salt, pepper, and butter and mixed well, tasting for salt, and checking consistency.  Adding half and half, butter and salt as needed.

The whole spread below.  I had the panettone that I made earlier for dessert, as well as a chai masala cake that Servet made.  We were very sated and ready for a rousing couple of games of Rummicube!