Marcella Cooking Stuff • November 8th - November 14th
November 8th - November 14th
Well, we have made it to Los Angeles. A 27-hour drive from Kansas City that truly wasn't that bad. We only stopped for gas and a quick power nap in Arizona. This wasn't a fun sightseeing drive, it was a let's get our asses to LA as fast and safe as possible drive.
I grew up doing road trips with my dad. Many many long road trips. Three weeks across the country to Michigan, up into Canada, and back home was our longest. He, my stepmom, my sister (who was one year old at the time), and I in an RV for three weeks. I don't remember it being that torturous but my stepmom might tell you otherwise. It was a time before iPhones. I had a clunky flip phone with basic texting, my iPod with whatever few albums I loaded on before we left, and some...paper? A lot of naps were taken but I spent the majority of my time staring out the window.
Fast forward to current years, Marco and I take a two-week road trip every year. Yes, sitting in the car for hours on end still sucks at times but in an odd way, I enjoy it. He does all the driving (god bless him) and I get to look out the window. We have taken the same routes and stopped at the same stops that I did with my dad. All these years later I find it oddly comforting. At some point in every trip, we get so far out there that we need to whip out the CDs for entertainment: Moby, Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Outkast, Puddle of Mud, and a handful of Now That's What I Call Music from the early 2000s. We listen to the same songs over and over and it reminds me of a time where we didn't have everything at our fingertips 24/7. Also oddly comforting?
Now of course we have iPhones. Besides staring out the window I am the navigator and a truly horrible one. I look up all the weird things we see along the way and read Wikipedia pages out loud to Marco. I am a fabulous DJ that highlights all genres. And I catch up on all the phone things. Emails, social media, writing, etc. This drive I built my Thanksgiving timeline, the most important part of Thanksgiving prep.
I'm old school and like to write things with pen and paper. I feel like my brain retains information better but I can't be the only one right? I start by writing all the things I am going to do BEFORE Thanksgiving. This year that is making broth, gravy, cranberries, dry brine my turkey parts, and bake both pies. Instantly the to-do this for Thursday is lighter.
Then I scribble every important step that can't be missed during the day on Thursday, such as take the turkey out of the oven and stuffing goes into the oven. A bunch of scribbles and arrows later when I have everything in the right order for the day I write a second draft. A clean list of all the steps for the day. This list gets assigned times. Starting from when I plan to serve everything I work backward blocking off oven time, prep time, and rest time for each item.
The last draft is where I make things work. This year I'm going to pop my stuffing in with the turkey for the last 30 minutes of the turkeys cooking time. I have to bring the oven temp up 50 degrees for the stuffing but it will be fine. I'll keep an eye on the turkey temp and pull it out when I need to. We are being flexible and we are making things work!
Most of the time I'll end up writing a fourth draft, this year I typed it up for you guys. It seems annoying but after writing four drafts I have it memorized and that's the point. I know exactly what I need to do during the day. The timeline is there to reference as needed.
Give yourself wiggle room in your timeline for when things need an extra 10 minutes or you get distracted talking with your mom. Cross things off when they are completed. If you are ever running more than 30 minutes behind just tell people that was the original plan. No one will know the difference. Wake up early and prep as much as you can in advance. My salad will be fully assembled and ready to go in the fridge. My ingredients for each dish will be portioned, prepared, and ready to be cooked. This allows things to run smoothly when it is go time. Instead of chopping, measuring, sauteeing, and mixing you'll be able to dance through each dish calmly and effortlessly. You know, like cooks in professional kitchens do.
To check out my timeline as an example to help you build yours, click here.
Here are the three other things I always do to prepare:
Have extra basics on hand. Butter, flour, eggs, herbs, etc. It allows some wiggle room for mistakes and any last minute things.
Completly set your table the night before. Get everything on there perfectly and you won't have to think about it again. Assign the task of candle lighting to someone else (aka put your husband to work).
The week before, pull out all your serving dishes, figure out which dish is going in what, and label it with a post-it. This gives you time to borrow or buy something you may need and eliminated the last minute "where the heck am I putting these hot mashed potatoes?!" panic moment.
Sunday
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
Cheesy Pumpkin Pasta
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon is one of my Thanksgiving recipes that we eat all the time. Even Brussels sprout haters will like it!
This Cheesy Pumpkin Pasta is made with the same sauce I used for the pumpkin manicotti I made recently. It’s super simple but what makes it is the homemade pumpkin purée. Canned pumpkin is pretty flavorless. I take all my heirloom pumpkins that were fall decor, roast them, and purée the flesh. They have much more flavor and freeze well for use at a later time. One favorite is the autumn buckskin.
Here is what I have done so far for the pasta:
Sautee 2 thinly sliced shallots in 4T butter until they start to brown.
Add 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh sage and cook for 30 seconds.
Add 16oz pumpkin purée. Bring to a simmer and cover. Cook for 5 minutes.
Add 1/4-1/2 cup grated pecorino or Parmesan, cooked pasta, and 1/2 cup pasta water. Stir until a creamy sauce forms and season with salt and pepper.
Monday
Grilled Shiitake Mushrooms
Spiced + Grilled Pork with Celery and Apple Salad
I’m having a lot of fun growing mushrooms at home. After the blue oysters, we started a block of shiitakes. I tossed them in a bowl with olive oil with salt and sliced red jalapeño. I grilled them on my Big Green Egg until the edges were crispy and squeezed some lime over them. They were fantastic! We ate them like chips. When we get back in town I’m going to try and soak the block again to get another batch.
I’m still working out the kinks on a perfectly grilled pork shoulder but this one was pretty close to perfect. It was covered in a heavy spice rub and cooked low and slow. I made a simple crunchy salad to serve with it. Celery, apple, cilantro, chili, scallion, and lime. That’s what I had at home!
Wednesday
S'mores Cookies
Peanut Broccoli
Curry Cauliflower
I had a bunch of leftover marshmallows from a few weeks ago and thought, why not put them in a cookie? Well, I learned that isn’t the easiest thing to do. My ideal cookie would have many small marshmallow bites throughout it. The problem is...marshmallows melt. I did a few rounds of testing with this batch and then turned to you guys on Instagram for help. This is what I’m thinking:
My marshmallow pieces were too small.
A big marshmallow center may be the only achievable option.
I have a feeling store-bought marshmallows might have some chemical stabilizers in them making them hold up better when baked. My homemade marshmallows were very delicate.
After Thanksgiving, I’m going to do a second round of S’mores cookies. I’ll test store bought vs. homemade, big center vs. small pieces, and Italian meringue instead of marshmallow.
Easy clean out the fridge veggies for dinner. Peanut Broccoli, a recipe I developed a little while back. Marco and I both love the sticky dates with peanut sauce!
Curry Cauliflower, a no-recipe recipe. I tossed cauliflower florets with 2-3T coconut oil, 1T curry powder, salt, and pepper. Roast until soft and starting to brown and serve with lime and cilantro!
Random thing of the week:
Marco and I ate sushi weekly when we lived in LA. We quickly learned that there is no good sushi in Kansas City...none. Naturally, we feasted on sushi as soon as we arrived.
Pet photo of the week:
If I fits, I sits.
Thing everybody needs:
A solid pie dish. Actually two pie dishes. I have a ceramic one that I use for everything and I wish I had a second for when I need two pies. It will get use this Thanksgiving and I will also use it for chicken pot pies next week!
Have fun tapping into your inner Virgo OCD and get planning. You can never plan too much!
See you next week,
Marcella