Dark Days: Thanksgiving

Paul and I had a quiet Thanksgiving at home, just the two of us. Despite that, we cooked enough dinner to feed a small army. I realized, as I surveyed this spread on our kitchen counter, that we really have no idea how to cook Thanksgiving dinner for two. Fortunately, we both like leftovers, as do our chickens and, to a lesser degree, our cats.

It seems that each year I find a local source for one important ingredient in my traditional (Texan) Thanksgiving dinner. Last year it was cranberries; a local grower who sells to the big guys decided to give farmers markets a try as well. This year, my local find was sweet potatoes. If pressed to choose my favorite traditional Thanksgiving food, I’d have to say sweet potatoes. Before this year, I’d only seen them once at a Seattle farmers market; this year, I found two farms selling three different varieties. (You should’ve seen me doing a happy dance in our kitchen when I bit into a freshly roasted local sweet potato. Pure delight.) I’m still looking for cornmeal grown in Washington state; I’ve heard it exists, but have yet to find it. However, as it doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving dinner to me without cornbread dressing, it was on this year’s menu. Maybe local cornmeal will be next year’s big find.

SO, here’s the mostly local dinner on which we feasted:

• Roast Turkey – rubbed with herbed butter, stuffed with onions and apples, roasted.
• Giblet Gravy – mmm… giblets.
• Cornbread Dressing – homemade cornbread, onions, celery, a hot red pepper and herbs sauteed in butter, moistened with cream, egg and giblet stock, baked until brown and crusty on top.
• Mashed Potatoes – purple Vikings, a gorgeous purple-skinned, white-fleshed, particularly creamy potato, mashed skins-on with butter and buttermilk.
• Sweet potatoes – perhaps the sweetest Beauregard sweet potatoes I’ve ever tasted, they needed no additional sweetener at all. Roasted, then mashed with butter, cream, smoked paprika, cayenne and nutmeg.
• Brussels sprouts – sliced sprouts browned in a bit of butter and lard, simmered with turkey stock, tossed with balsamic vinegar and hazelnuts.
• Cranberry pear quince chutney – cranberries, bosc pears and quince simmered in apple cider, honey, cider vinegar and a bit of red onion.
• Apple pie – Lard and butter pie crust, filled with black twig, black Arkansas, stayman winesap, and gold russet apples tossed with cinnamon/nutmeg/vanilla/lemon zest/sugar.
• After Eight mints – served after Thanksgiving dinner by Paul’s grandparents; it wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving dinner for him without them.

What a feast! We are thankful that we have food on our table, and thankful for the farmers, ranchers and dairypeople who produced all of the ingredients that went into our Thanksgiving dinner.

Do you want to know where we got the food for our dinner?

From home:

• Our back yard, Seattle, WA (~10 steps): sage, rosemary, and (new this year) EGGS from our own chickens!

From local farmers markets:

• Willie Green’s Organic Farm, Monroe, WA (22 miles): celery
• Rockridge Orchards, Enumclaw, WA (34 miles): apple cider, honey, cider vinegar, bay leaf
• Nash’s Organic Produce, Sequim, WA (49 miles): brussels sprouts
• Rainier Mountain Cranberries, Eatonville, WA (53 miles): cranberries
• Golden Glen Creamery, Bow, WA (64 miles): cream (for homemade butter and buttermilk)
• Skagit River Ranch, Sedro-Wooley, WA (75 miles): turkey, lard
• Alm Hill Gardens, Everson, WA (91 miles): yellow onions, cherry bomb hot pepper
• Holmquist Hazelnut Orchards, Lynden, WA (95 miles): hazelnuts
• Jerzy Boys, Chelan, WA (110 miles): apples
• Bluebird Grain Farms, Winthrop, WA (116 miles): white whole wheat pastry flour
• Olsen Farms, Colville, WA (215 miles): purple Viking potatoes, red onions

Brought back from a trip to Vancouver Island:

• Venturi-Schulze Vineyards, Cobble Hill, BC (95 miles): balsamic vinegar

From locally-owned stores within 1/2 mile of our house:

• Stone Buhr: Northwest-Grown AP Flour from Shepherds’ Grain wheat
• Bob’s Red Mill, Milwaukie, OR: cornmeal (don’t know where it was grown)
• After Eight Mints, Castleford, West Yorkshire, UK (4630 miles!)

Delivered to our front porch:

• Smith Brothers Farms, Royal City, WA (138 miles): milk

Already in our kitchen (from somewhere far away): organic lemon (for zest), baking powder, baking soda, smoked paprika, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, organic sugar, salt and black pepper.

This was our fourth year attempting to eat locally at Thanksgiving; my posts from 2008, 2007 and 2006 show the progress we’re making. It’s getting easier each year.