So, Abbott gave me a turkey and I decided I should be a "grown-up" this holiday season and cook it. Here is step one of the cooking process: brining to ensure the meat is juicy and flavorful.
Tearing up the day old french bread loaf in preparation for making the stuffing.
In to the oven goes the turkey. Just a light coating of butter on the skin and a few chopped vegetables lining the inside of the pan and stuffed into the body cavity.
Our glorious turkey about half way through cooking during the second baste. Starting to look nice and browned with help from the delicious butter coating and generous basting.
And the final product! Nice and crispy skin, juicy meat. Very, very good by my standards and I think a pretty good job for a first go.
Mum's mac nut stuffing recipe to the rescue! Simply celery, onions, bread, mac nuts, dried cranberries and vegetable stock. A huge hit with the guests.
Doing a final brush with the juices just before carving up the turkey. A happy chef.
Crazy table full of hungry guests as the food starts to come out of the kitchen. You can see some holiday favorites in this pic including mashed sweet potatoes, gravy, turkey, cranberry sauce (from the can), salad and stuffing.
Charles, Sang (not pictured is baby Keri who was sound asleep in my room), Amelia, Mari and Alyssa. Nick, Priyanshu and myself were otherwise busy getting all the final details ready.
My dinner plate (Temuka pottery!) with all the delicious food! Yum.
And I even saved a bit of room for dessert: dutch apple pie, homemade pumpkin pie, vanilla ice cream and a homemade pear & brie tart.
We did well, but there's still plenty o'meat on that turkey. Guess what I've been eating all week...
Thank you most of all to Nick, my sous chef, for helping immensely with the prep/cooking. Priyanshu came early and leant a hand too. Finally, thanks to all the guests for coming by to help me eat all the food (or at least most of it). Happy holidays all! I've got more pictures coming at some point but I think I'll be a bit busy this coming week. Take care everyone and see ya next time!
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