Thanksgiving Pre-Game

Although my mom is technically hosting, I'm doing a ton of cooking for the holiday this week. In case you're interested, here is the menu we're having:

• Baked brie and water crackers
  
• Herb brined turkey with Riesling gravy
• Corn bread stuffing (with sausage and apples)
• Mashed potatoes
• Vegetables (to be determined, based on whatever looks good at the market)
• Cranberries in Pinot Noir
  
• Sweet potatoes with caramelized apples
• Fresh rolls
• Lemon ginger cheesecake
• Birthday cake (for Kenny! Happy Almost-1st Birthday!)
• Chocolate pecan squares

To get a jump on things over the weekend, I made the cheesecake and cranberry sauce, assembled the sweet potatoes and prepped the bread (baked cornbread, diced and dried it) for stuffing. I also prepped some layers of the cranberry chocolate torte I'm bringing to dinner on Wednesday night with Chris' family and made the chocolate pecan bars. Whew - that's already a lot of cooking!

If you're still looking for an excellent recipe for cranberry sauce or sweet potatoes, take a look below!

Cranberries in Pinot Noir

Lots of thanks to Kristy for turning me on to this recipe! I believe she found it through Simply Recipes, but I used the Epicurious version. I was a little intimidated by the amount of curry, so I reduced it to 1/4 tsp. Chris and I both thought it was perfect! A little different than ordinary cranberry sauce, but not so different that you'll ruffle the feathers of Thanksgiving traditionalists.




Cranberries in Pinot Noir

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups cranberries (about 8 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 2 cups Pinot Noir or other dry red wine
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• Large pinch of Chinese five-spice powder

Directions:

• Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add cranberries and fresh ginger; stir until cranberries begin to burst, about 3 minutes.
• Add wine and sugar; boil until mixture is reduced to 2 1/2 cups, about 15 minutes.
• Add crystallized ginger, curry powder and five-spice powder.
  
• Serve sauce cold or, if desired, rewarm over low heat, stirring often. Can be made 3 days ahead and stored in fridge.

Sweet Potatoes with Caramelized Apples

I've made variations of this recipe for years and have realized that it can easily be pared down, as well as lightened up, without sacrificing flavor. However, if you have a little extra room for cream, butter and sugar, as well as time for extraneous steps, feel free to use the original version : ) I think that the key here is using really good sweet potatoes and apples. I'm on an organic kick, so I used an organic ruby variety of sweet potato and think Fuji apples are particularly sweet and hold up well during cooking. This is also a great dish to make ahead of time and pop in the oven right before dinner.

Before they even go in the oven. Caramel goodness. . .mmm.

Sweet Potatoes with Caramelized Apples
Serves 6.

Adapted from MarthaStewart.com.

Ingredients:

• 3 large sweet potatoes
• 2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices
• 1 tbs. lemon juice
  
• 2 tbs butter, divided
• 2 tbs brown sugar, divided
• 2 tbs heavy cream
• 2 tbs Calvados, brandy, cognac, rum or spiced rum (pretty much whatever you enjoy the flavor of and have on hand)
• 2 tbs orange juice

Directions:

• Bake sweet potatoes in 425 degree oven, until soft. 45-1 hr. When cool enough to handle, peel skin and mash. Set aside.
  
• Toss apples with lemon juice. Heat 1 tbs butter in skillet over medium high heat. Once the butter has melted, add 1 tbs brown sugar and stir to dissolve. Add apples to the pan. Cook the apples until brown and soft, stirring occasionally.
  
• Spoon mashed sweet potatoes into a casserole dish and smooth top. Pour browned apples over and smooth.
  
• Heat remaining butter in skillet over high heat. Add remaining sugar, the cream, liquor and orange juice. Simmer and stir until reduced and syrupy. Drizzle over top of apples.
  
• Heat entire dish in oven until warmed though, about 30 minutes. The temperature isn't too important here (so long as you don't burn it!) and it can be thrown in with your turkey or anything else in the oven.