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I bought my Tofurkey "Feast in a Box" last night!

Frozen Tofurkey takes over 3 hours to cook...who knew?

How does it taste?

my siblings and I will celebrate together. I'm trying to balance out the starch-o-rama menu by making a couple of vegetable dishes as my contribution.

I've been invited to a friends house. His partner is a gourmet cook! And I'm a gourmet at cleaning up afterwards. AND? They have two gorgeous Golden Retrievers.

Good food, great friends and awesome dogs. And I get to clean up afterwards. Now that's something to be thankful for!

i am planning to make a celeriac-potato puree for the t-giving i'm attending, but it must be a non-dairy version (yikes - no butter, no milk!). does anyone have any experience or thoughts on good substitutions? i'm not interested in pseudo subs, such as margerine or soy milk, but am thinking more along the lines of chicken broth or olive oil. btw, i have made this dish in the past and it is very delicious. thanks in advance.

since it's just two of us for Thanksgiving, I'm only making two dishes:
cipollini & bleu de gex tart (Lucques cookbook)
ginger/nutmeg & cranberry tart (Nov 07 Martha Stewart)

...yes, this is basically one giant excuse to play with pastry toys to make tart crusts.

civita, I've used olive oil before to add creaminess to potatoes. You can also infuse the oil (or the potatoes for that matter) with fresh herbs like rosemary - will give it a wonderful smell.

Nadarine: Yayy, someone else who will be cooking from Sunday Suppers at Lucques! It's just two of us here, as well, and I'll make that tart and probably her pumpkin streusel cake.

Civita: I usually make dairy-free mashed potatoes. I add a bit of roasted garlic, a splash of olive oil, enough vegetable broth to make it moist, and whatever herbs I feel like. It's really good that way.

It's just the two of us here, too. So we're doing a smaller-sized feast - turkey legs, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, salad,
and maybe some green beans. And for dessert: pumpkin pie, of course, and coffee with a dollop of fresh whipped cream (that's my favorite family Thanksgiving tradition). I can't wait!

i am not a big fan of turkey, so i'm casting about for some good pork tenderloin recipes. anyone want to share? i'd like to keep the flavors seasonal to appease the traditionalists. maybe something sagey or appley or mustardy?

Thanksgiving rings in the holiday season with my most favorite pie, mincemeat! We are spending our Thanksgiving with friends who were kind enough to invite us to their family gathering. I am bringing the pies, traditional pumpkin and mincemeat. Our friends haven't heard of it, so this will be a new one for them. I will slowly bring the mince pie back!

civita- I know you said no pseudo subs but what about a nut milk? the almond or hazelnut would give anice flavor with the root vegetable. Just a suggestion.


Also, being a recently diagnosed Gluten-sensitive individual last year I was forced to make the entire meal in order to ensure safety. Now, I am a foodie so .... it WAS a 5 course with sides gourmet extravaganza. I have no dairy issues so dairy and butter and fat and meat were all included BUT no gluten. If anyone needs the recipes/menu.... let me know. I started cooking the night before and served dinner for 7 at 4 pm.... nothing was premade and the turkey was brined overnight. Very easy but elegant meal. Let me know!

Thinkingwoman: I love a Donna Hay recipe from New Food Fast with most of those elements. However, I have my own slight modifications:

Take the tenderloin, sprinkle with dried sage or place a few fresh leaves on top, wrap in bacon or pancetta. Slice some apples about 1/3 inch thick (not too thin, not too thick), and lay them, overlapping, in a row about as long as your tenderloins. Lay the tenderloins on top and roast at 350 to your desired doneness (I go for medium/medium-rare, about 25 minutes, or until 155F).

You could serve with a mustard sauce on the side, or lightly rub some mustard over the tenderloin before wrapping in bacon.

Stuff and roll up pork roast loin with the stuffing of your choice.

thanks Sassy in SF, as3087 and missluckster for all your suggestions, they all sound good. i suspect i'll improvise as i'm mashing, but will probably use some olive oil and broth. happy t-giving (and good luck, missluckster, with your gluten-free feast!).

Can anyone point me to a store where I can buy Certo Liquid Pectin, in NYC? Manhatan or Brooklyn?? i would be SO greatful!

thinkingwoman: This is my new favorite pork recipe from Epicurious. The cranberry gives it a sort of Thanksgiving feel. If I don't feel like heating up the oven, I cut the tenderloin into medallions, pan sear them, then finish cooking them immersed in the sauce with the lid on the pan. I also tend to add a little more cranberry and rosemary to the sauce than the recipe calls for. I've also done this with cherry preserves instead of cranberry. It's a little sweeter, but still quite good.

PORK TENDERLOIN WITH BALSAMIC-CRANBERRY SAUCE
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 8- to 10-ounce pork tenderloin
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
1/3 cup canned whole berry cranberry sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Preheat oven to 450°F. Melt 1/2 tablespoon butter in heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Sear pork on all sides, about 2 minutes. Place skillet with pork in oven. Roast pork until thermometer inserted into center registers 155°F, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and rosemary; sauté until onion softens, about 3 minutes. Add broth, cranberry sauce and vinegar and whisk until cranberry sauce melts, about 2 minutes.
Transfer pork to work surface. Scrape any juices from large skillet into cranberry mixture. Boil until sauce has reduced enough to coat spoon thickly, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Slice pork and serve with sauce.

thinkingwoman,

why not make a pork tenderloin with exactly those flavors that you are looking for? Everything would work great together.

You could start by marinating your tenderloins overnight by seasoning them with salt and pepper. Lay some fresh sage sprigs and a couple smashed cloves of garlic on the tenderloin, rub with a little extra virgin olive oil, wrap individually in plastic and let sit in the fridge overnight.

The next day, remove the pork from the plastic wrap and save the garlic and sage.

When you are ready to prepare the tenderloins, heat up a skillet or a roasting pan if you have a lot of meat, on the stove, re-season the pork with salt and pepper and sear them in olive oil until they are nice and golden brown.

Remove the pork from the roasting pan, let it rest, then brush the pork with a mixture of dijon and grainy mustard. Finally, roll the pork in japanese bread crumbs seasoned with a little dry sage. Drizzle with some olive oil and roast at 350 F. to your desired doneness.

Meanwhile, in the pan that you used to sear the pork, add a couple tbs. of olive oil if the pan looks too dry. Then add the sage and garlic that you used to marinate the pork, some minced shallot and some peeled and diced tart apples and saute til the apples are tender and the pan is dry. You'll want to scrape everything off the bottom of the pan as well. Add a splash of riesling and some reduced chicken, pork or veal stock to create a sauce. Remove the sage sprigs and garlic cloves and you have a nice apple sauce that you can finish with a little grainy mustard and a chiffonade of fresh sage.

The pork tenderloins can be sliced at the last moment and the apple sauce can be served along side.