Thanksgiving in Paris
It took some serious research by going to multiple grocery stores and checking to see if we could cook everything we wanted to for Thanksgiving, but we did it. Whole turkeys are nowhere to be found, although I only checked the groceries and butchers within a reasonable distance from our place. Still, the common find are sliced turkey breast and turkey legs. It was a dinner for 4 so we went with 2 turkey legs and it was more than enough. Because I hadn’t seen it at all since moving here I was worried I couldn’t find any cranberries for the sauce. It’s one of my favorite parts to Thanksgiving dinner. However, I remembered that I was able to find sage from some off-to-the-side independent produce stall and smiled like crazy when I saw cranberries on display. Victory! I bought two bags and made a double batch. The other half is still in the freezer waiting for the right time to be consumed. Like most sweet recipes I come across, I reduced the sugar and then added a splash of Grand Marnier. Besides hunting for hard to find ingredients, I did a practice run with making a half batch of pumpkin pie to see if using buttermilk in the filling would work and added cardamom to the ginger and nutmeg. Russ was baking loaf after loaf to get just the right crumb on his sourdough for our first Thanksgiving abroad. Turns out that you can find recipes using buttermilk instead of evaporated milk for pumpkin pie. It’s a little bit more rich with a tangy flavor. We liked it, but it might not be for everyone.
The menu: homemade sourdough bread, cheese platter (the entrée before dinner), turkey legs, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey gravy, mushroom gravy, and pumpkin pie. There was supposed to be a salad, but I completely forgot to make it and with all the food that was made the salad wasn’t missed at all. Russ made the bread- one for stuffing and one for dinner. My twist was using just a shallot instead of onion and used veggie stock instead of chicken. Our friends made the sweet potatoes and green beans. I made the mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, gravies, and pie. Because of some scheduling issues and space for cooking the day of, we made a few things ahead of schedule- one of the breads for stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pie.
My usual role for so many Thanksgivings with Russ’ family was gravy duty after the turkey was done and I’d sometimes bring oven roasted asparagus. Russ would bring stir fried green beans and maybe another treat, like bread. We wanted this first Thanksgiving to be special. Thanks to our friends, we were able to celebrate and share like we’re used to back home. We had quite a bit of leftovers which led to one of our usual concoctions, leftover Thanksgiving pizza, the day after.
As I said before, Russ was in a bread baking frenzy for the past month. Partly to produce a beautiful sourdough for the holiday, but also to improve the overall look and shape since he was having issues with getting more height and a decent crumb. The crumb is very important because it really affects the texture and the eater’s experience when biting into it. If the holes are too small, the bread is too dense. Too big, then it might dry out too soon and doesn’t work well when making sandwiches. Even though the starter had been going for a few months, Russ was still having trouble with the final result. He began slashing the loaves to look like a superhero icon. He tried slashing down the middle to see if the loaf would pop more in the oven. Finally, after having it for a couple of years and only using it for making quickbreads (banana bread, zucchini bread, etc), he decided to use the Le Creuset bread pan for his sourdough and to his surprise, he got the height he had been searching for.
The bread pan had been pretty much ignored for his sourdough bread because he thought that it was too small and the final result wouldn’t be substantial enough. I think it’s because we only thought of how quickbreads rise in these pans and forgot that a real bread loaf wouldn’t act the same way. We noticed that the bread pan can leave a decent mark on the big cutting board, but we solved the issue by simply putting the scorching, freshly removed bread pan on a smaller board that we didn’t mind marking up. He also began trying out a diagonal slash which led to a cool swirly look and in one case, due to how the dough landed in the bread pan, got a loaf that looked like a fish complete with dorsal fin. Russ was ready for Thanksgiving and for future holidays to come.
One of the biggest differences with us living in France is that Russ doesn’t really bring lunch to work anymore, at least not for now. Commuting makes carrying extra bags more difficult because the trains can get so packed that it’s impossible to adjust your position once the doors are closed. Even though there are plenty of meal options in restaurants, it can still be hard to find something with just a little bit of meat or a veggie option that you might be in the mood for. We are Californians after all so we sometimes miss those Californian twists, flavors, and salad options when looking for a place to eat. Luckily, we’re able to recreate quite a bit in the kitchen. Guacamole didn’t have to be a fading memory. It can be found in some places here, but isn’t made quite right except maybe at Chipotle. Because open air markets can be found everywhere, it’s been fun seeing their presentations change with the seasons. For instance, you can tell when its porcini mushroom season.
Due to the level of meat protein that you can get in a meal at a restaurant, I’ve been cooking more beans and lentils for dinner. Veggie minestrone with homemade sourdough crackers is just the perfect pairing for a light dinner after a heavy lunch. I’ve also been cooking with couscous to break up the bread, pasta, and rice. Chicken with couscous, lentils, and veggies makes for an easy one pan dinner. Then take the bones and make chicken stock for use on the next soup or stew.
As I said in a previous post, I’ve been trying to incorporate sourdough starter anytime I bake sweets. Sometimes it works out perfectly and sometimes you get unexpected results. I also do my best to find recipes, and usually adapt them to my own taste, that use up any stray ingredients in our fridge that need to be used. I had a pear and a couple bananas that were getting fairly ripe so I found this banana pear muffin recipe and added chocolate chips and nuts. By the way, we’ve heard that everything’s a little smaller in Europe like furniture and meal portions (which I kind of disagree with), but the chocolate chips were a pleasant and cute surprise. They’re so damn small! Using a Nordic Ware square brownie tin, I filled up each section right to the top. I had a feeling it would come together a bit, but decided that it wouldn’t overflow to the point of spilling into the oven so I pushed on. The resulting uni-muffin top was pretty hilarious and still quite separable once you flipped it over. The muffin tin was designed so that you can actually use the bottom side to fill with jam or frosting so in a way having everything glued together makes for an easier transport and simply tear off a piece once your ready to serve.
Other things I’ve been trying out is making mayonnaise since we finally got an immersion blender. Most recipes call for just the egg yolk and I didn’t want to waste the white so I’ve been trying out whole egg recipes. So far the flavor isn’t what I’m use to so I guess it’s time to try out just the yolk and use the white for something else right away. However, with the first couple of batches, I’ve been using the mayo to make ranch dressing. Ranch is not a thing here so I’ve been searching for something as close to Hidden Valley as possible. I’ve tried one recipe with no real success, but have found a possible win for the copycat Hidden Valley flavor and still need to try it. The secret is apparently using dried mushrooms, but MSG works too for those who aren’t afraid to use it. I’ve only made a couple batches of dressing, but it wasn’t hard to use up. With my previous experience in Round Table Pizza, I made a copycat garlic parmesan twist. Light on the cheese, but it really does taste better with a bit more including shredded mozzarella.
This year has been enlightening with everything we’ve been creating in the kitchen. Because I’ve been taking a break from work this year, the time spent thinking of what to make and how to cook has dramatically increased with great success, and some failures of course. My goal for next year is to actually include more references and recipes for how I’ve adapted dishes to suit our palette. Until then, its all about reminiscing and thinking of how we will evolve for the next year. If there’s one thing that France has taught us so far, it’s how to sit and savor the flavor.
