Thanksgiving turkey & stuffing

Although my kids were raised here in France, Thanksgiving is a tradition in our family (celebrated the following Sunday, as obviously it is not a holiday here). Here the turkey has to be ordered ahead of time from the butcher or producer, which means it's really fresh and PC. Usually we celebrate with another expat family, which means I share the cooking, but this year it's just us (8-10, not counting the dogs).

So the following is my traditional menu:
-Turkey
-Chestnut stuffing
-Cranberry sauce with orange
-Oven baked yams
-Pumpkin pie

Side dishes depend on whatever fresh produce is available.

Turkey
The day before I rub garlic-herb butter under the skin of the turkey, then put it covered in the fridge. Just chop up fresh herbs (sage, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, etc) and blend into room temperature salted butter, along with about 4 crushed cloves of garlic.
Take the turkey out of the fridge about an hour before cooking. Add stuffing.
Preheat oven to high. Calculate cooking time to 20 minutes/lb + 20 min
Massage salt & pepper into the skin of the turkey. Splash some olive oil or melted butter with white wine on it & place in oven.
Baste the turkey with its juices about every 20 minutes. Add more wine as necessary.
After about 30-40 minutes (depending on the size of the turkey), turn the heat down to medium.
Continue basting! If the turkey seems to dry, cover with foil until the last 30-40 minutes.
For browning, turn the oven back on high for the last 10-20 minutes. Then turn off heat & let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.

Chestnut stuffing
For the stuffing I toast dried bread as if making croutons. Just cut it in chunks and grill. I chop the chestnuts into large chunks as well. Modify according to taste!
Tip: the stuffing can be made ahead of time. In which case, add the egg just before inserting into the turkey.

1 lb cooked chestnuts or chestnut purée
1 large onion
1/2 loaf of dried bread or 2 cups bread crumbs
2 celery stalks, chopped
parsely
1 egg for binding
(livers & other meats may be added to the recipe)

In a large saucepan sautée onion and celery. Add chestnuts & splash of wine. Add parsely & season according to taste. Add bread. Turn off heat and let cool.
Add beaten egg, then proceed to stuff the turkey.

Rosh hashanah 5770

It was the Jewish New Year recently, a family holiday requiring two different menus on two nights. This year I went for a mix of traditional & eclectic (for me), that is a combination of old favorites & recipes from one of my Jewish cookbooks: La cuisine juive maroccaine, by Rivka Levy-Mellul. The whole family was present for these meals, plus some friends, so the amounts are for 8-10 people.

Menu first night:

Lamb tajine with couscous
Traditionally a tajine is cooked in a clayware dish, but a non-stick pot with a tight fitting lid does well enough.

2 kilos of sliced lamb (preferably shoulder or leg if not worried about kosherness)
200 g pitted prunes
100 g raisins
100 g almonds
2 onions
2 carrots (optional)
1 turnip (optional)
cinnamon, ginger, curcuma, nutmeg to spice
sugar

Layer into slightly oiled pot sliced onions, lamb, prunes & raisins.
Sprinkle with the spices. Cover with a little water.
Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 2 hours or until tender. Add water if necessary.
During the last 15 minutes add the sliced almonds coated with cinnamon & sugar. Set some aside to sprinkle on the couscous before serving.

Menu second night:

Roast chicken stuffed with dates
1 large chicken
500 g pitted dates
100 g almonds
3 onions
juice 1 lemon
honey or sugar
cinnamon, nutmeg, saffron

Soak dates 1 hour in lemon juice.
Mix spices with honey or sugar.
Sauté onions in olive oil.
Stuff dates individually with an almond. Mix in onions & spices.
Stuff the chicken with the mixture. Rub saffron into the chicken, salt & pepper to taste.
Add remaining onions to the roasting dish. Cook on medium heat an hour or so.
Serve with the carmalised onions on top.

Roast chicken with bread stuffing & potatoes
1 large chicken
1 branch of celery
50 g roast pine nuts
3-4 slices of day old bread
1 large onion
sage & tarragon
1 kg potatoes
white wine

Roast pine nuts, set aside. Sauté diced onion, add thinly sliced celery, set aside. Heat the bread chunks in the sauté pan. Mix these ingredients together, add dash of white wine, salt & pepper.
Slice potatoes thickly, layer bottom of roasting pan. Stuff chicken then place on the potatoes.
Cover all with some olive oil & white wine, add the sage & tarragon to chicken & potatoes. Put in oven for about an hour.

Both the chickens were accompanied by a salad of fresh greens & herbs.