Even though I lit the the ham on fire (long story) the dinner was a huge success. We ended up only having one dinner, but because I had bought both dinners worth of food we had an obscene amount of food. It was a literal feast... and we are still eating it today in the form of a turkey Shepard's pie and turkey soup, and of course, plates of leftovers went home with everyone last night. The menu ended up being cut just slightly to this:
Cranberry Chutney with cream cheese and crackers
Turkey
Ham with orange brown sugar glaze
Mashed potatoes with sour cream and cracked pepper
Mashed sweet potatoes with caramelized shallots and heavy cream
Baked Delicata squash and cooking apples with hazelnuts and pecans
Pear and pork sausage cornbread stuffing
Green salad with reduced apple cider vinaigrette dressing and walnuts
Sweet potato rolls
(with butter from Cyan's cooking lesson on Wednesday)
Pumpkin pie
Pumpkin cheesecake
(from Cyan's cooking lesson on Wednesday)
English tea cookies
Dark chocolate
And for the recipes:
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Baked Delicata Squash with Hazelnuts and pecans
3 Delicata squash
2 Granny smith or cooking apples
1/2 cup hazelnuts
1/2 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs olive oil
salt to taste
Peal squash and dice both it and the apples with out cores (I didn't peal the apples). Put in a large baking dish and add nuts. Mix remaining ingredients except salt. Toss with nuts and squash mix. Salt and toss again (I used about a teaspoon and it could have taken a little bit more salt)
Bake in a 350* oven for 45 minutes or until the squash is super tender and nuts are soft.
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Mashed Sweet Potatoes with heavy cream and caramelized Shallots
4 lg sweet potatoes (not the yams... actual sweet potatoes)
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 bulbs of shallots, diced
5 Tbs butter
Fresh ground cracked pepper to taste
Peal potatoes. Cut up into large chunks. Cover with water in a large pot and bring to a boil.
While these are boiling, take 1 Tbs of the butter, and melt it in a small frying pan. Turn the heat down to med low... and add diced shallots.
When the sweet potatoes are soft and breaking apart, drain, and put in a large bowl. Use old fashioned potato masher to mash them, and add the remaining butter, heavy cream, pepper to taste, and the shallots. Mix well. Serve hot. SO GOOD!
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Pork Sausage and Pear Stuffing
Two pears (diced)
1 lb pork sausage (not links)
1 large bag cornbread stuffing squares
2 stalks celery (diced)
1 lg onion (diced)
2 sticks + 1 Tbs butter
1 tea Thyme leaves (dried)
2 tea fresh Sage leaves (minced)
1/2 cup yellow raisins
2 cups of water
2 cups of chicken stock or giblet stock from turkey
Melt 1 Tbs of the butter in a large saute pan. Add sausage and break up until browned and crumbly. Take out of pan and set aside on paper towels to drain.
Melt the 2 sticks of butter in a large stock pot. Add the 2 cups of water. Toss the butter liquid with the cornbread stuffing until liquid and butter are gone.
To the sausage pan (without washing) add the celery, onion, thyme, and sage. When onion turns mostly clear add in the diced pear, and saute' for another 5 or 6 minutes. If it starts to stick to the bottom at all, add a 1/4 of water or stock to loosen it all up. You want the stuff on the bottom of the pan in the stuffing... it adds a lot of flavor. When that is done, add the sausage back onto the pan and mix. Add raisins and turn over a couple times to coat them with flavor.
In a very large baking dish (I used a 10X15 Pyrex) put the stuffing bread, and the veggie sausage mix and toss. Add 2 cups of the stock, pouring over the top to moisten. Cover and bake for 1 hour at 350*. Take the cover off and cook for another 15 minutes to brown the top. If a dry, add the last cup of stock.
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Apple Cider Vinaigrette
2 cups apple cider
Cinnamon stick
2 Tbs honey
1/3 cup really good Apple Cider Vinegar
Put apple cider into a sauce pan and reduce by boiling to 1 cup of liquid with cinnamon stick. Remove cinnamon stick and stir in honey and vinegar. Bring back to a boil for 3 minutes. Turn off and cool completely. Use over spinach salad with Feta cheese, sliced apple, and walnuts.
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Recipes that were not written by me:
(With links... of course. :) )
Cranberry Chutney
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Sweet Potato Rolls