Thanksgiving Menu 2010

Thanksgiving is traditional enough as it is - I make all the same traditional things but I do them all a little different year after year. I pull out all the stops I purge the kitchen cabinets, the bathroom cabinets and I even go through the glove box of my car to make sure there isnt some secret little thing I was saving to include in the Thanksgiving meal. Take the Mezze maniche for example - pasta as big as your thumb - they are going into a lobster mac and cheese like you've never had before - forget regular lobster mac and cheese - this is gonna' blow that out of the water!

Here is the menu:

14 pound Roast turkey brined for 24 hours in powdered dried mandarin orange peel and juniper berries with rosemary (I prefer smaller birds - I think they are juicier)

Mezzemaniche con l'aragosta ed il formaggio (lobster mac and cheese)

prepped

Roasted butternut squash and lobster bisque

prepped

Bacon wrapped plantains courtesy of my friend Cynthia at tastes like home

prepped

Cornbread and italian sausage with giblets stuffing (dressing)

prepped

Giblet gravy

stock made, waiting on the fond

Truffled mashed potatoes

Individual baked sweet potatoes with marshmallows

Collard greens

Pumpkin pie

done

Coconut panna cotta or a coconut cheesecake (to be determined)

Edit: Made them both and they are chilling

....and anything else I think of at the last minute....

Last year I made a molten chocolate pumpkin pie - absolutely delicious! HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone - what especially different thing are you doing this year?