Because 2 days is never enough.

I spent most of Wednesday preparing some items in advance (baked pumpkin, pie crust, soup). I had plans to make the cranberry sauce, too, but I ran out of time. The challenge for me in my tiny NYC kitchen was centered around the oven. I knew the turkey would be in the miniature oven most of Thursday, which didn’t leave much time to bake anything else in there (pie and roasted brussel sprouts). Timing is difficult when space is so constrained.

Thursday was a cooking frenzy. Eating the meal took a tiny fraction of the time it took to prepare it - so anti-climatic, but worth every minute. Everything turned out swimmingly. The turkey was juicy and the the wine was flowing.

This is the final menu:

• Butternut squash & spigold apple soup (with optional dollops of home made yogurt cheese)
  I originally made this soup as pumpkin and fuji apple, but the apple was much too sweet and completely overwhelmed the pumpkin. I asked the woman at my farmer’s market for a more tart apple that would be good in a soup and she recommended the Spigold, which was great to cook with, but it does bruise easily.
• Bell & Evans natural turkey
• Cider gravy
  I ended up using corn starch dissolved in water instead of flour to thicken
  it - the flour just clumped up.
• Sage stuffing with Granny Smith apples & crumbled Niman Ranch bacon
  This is one of my Mom’s recipes. She uses a bit of chicken or veggie stock, along with some of the bacon fat (if you’re into that) to moisten the bread.
• Ginger orange cranberry sauce
  From Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone cookbook. I cooked the cranberries in apple cider instead of water to make it a bit more festive. Erik said this was his favorite dish and I might have to agree. I think will remain on the Thanksgiving menu in future years.
• Roasted brussel sprouts with fresh thyme, oregano, & pine nuts
• Dirty roasted garlic mashed potatoes
  Erik claims you call them dirty when the skins are left on.
• Pumpkin pie with amaretto whipped cream
  This was the first time I made pumpkin pie 100% from scratch. The key was to puree the baked pumpkin in a food processor. I still used the tried and true Libby’s filling recipe, which is so classic. However, I use only 1/2 of the can of evaporated milk, and I substituted 2 cups of fresh pumpkin puree instead of the canned stuff. My mom prefers her pie crusts the old-fashioned way with lard - for that truly flaky crust and unique taste. Although I appreciate the authenticity, I prefer the Martha Stewart recipe with butter.
• Hot apple cider with amaretto & a cinnamon stick
  Erik and I started calling these “slippery chimneys” after we discovered them during an apres ski session in Tahoe one winter.

I also made curry pumpkin seeds with the pumpkin for the pie. I liked them much better than the sweet/spicy recipe that is first on the list. I’m sure it’s personal preference, but I like my seeds salty and spicy - no need for sugar.

Somehow I proved that it IS possible to make Thanksgiving dinner for four people in a tiny apartment with only 3 chairs!