A Feast

Thanksgiving graced us with it's lovely presence. D and I had another victory of teamwork in the kitchen. Our plan was to keep it simple with a few new culinary treats. Splitting duties about 50/50, everything came out as well as or better than expected. It started Wednesday evening, as I prepared the cranberry sauce:

It was a pomegranate cranberry sauce, and so it added a different flavor layer with the pomegranate juice. And while I could make the base of it Wednesday, it wasn't until Thursday that I was able to finish it by adding the pomegranate arils - which provided a nice pop of surprise. 

My other duty for dinner was a two-tone mashed potato dish. Blending Yukon gold potatoes with sweet potatoes and mashing them with leeks. Than they were topped with a buttermilk and sour cream sauce and a few chives (I kept the sauce and the chives on the side so that people could add to their taste preference. The sauce was definitely the perfect finishing touch, and I was glad to see the majority of guests tried it on their potatoes. 

D had responsibility for the bird. We decided since we were only serving nine that a simple turkey breast would be more than enough bird. D decided to just prepare it simply with olive oil, salt and pepper. It turned out very well, and we had enough for many to have seconds and for us to still be able to parse out some leftovers and keep some for ourselves, too. 

D also took on the roasted vegetables. Something he's been practicing for the last few weeks, which has been a sweet treat ... as I am a huge fan of roasted vegetables. And even though he's found a few other spice combinations, he stuck to the simple olive oil, salt, pepper combination for a delicious, caramelized bounty. 

To round out the meal, D's mom brought stuffing and wild rice. The stuffing smelled absolutely amazing (alas, this gluten-free lady didn't have any, but I did get to enjoy the aroma.) 

As you can see, it was a nice spread. Not too much food, but plenty to get an additional meal or two for everyone. To end the meal we had two desserts. We purchased a banana cream pie (I think because D was frightened the dessert I had planned on creating would be a failure.) However, my dessert turned out fabulous. It was a pumpkin chocolate torte with pumpkin whipped cream from Eating Well magazine and it was a piece of chocolate perfection (and let's be honest, the whipped cream was pumpkin delight!)

Definitely what I would consider a success, and what K would call a great feast.