“Even in the most trying times, you can smile that you have food on your plate and a beat in your heart.” -Hiral Nagda
Talking with friends and family this week about Thanksgiving Day plans, I was amazed at how many ways we all celebrate this holiday. I grew up in a family of seven siblings and for as long as I can remember it was a very wonderful tradition.
There was always a big roasted turkey. Of course there were potatoes, stuffing, gravy, carrots or beans with cream of mushroom soup and dried onion rings. There was at least one Jello dish, sweet and tart cranberries, and one of my favorites … those soft, puffy, nutritionally deficient white bread dinner roll buns that made me crazy. Because we usually ate around noon or so, one of my best memories was the evening meal of leftover turkey in those amazing soft buns with butter, mayo, and salt and pepper. Honestly, I must have eaten four or five of them, and that was on a barely digested noon meal! At 12 years old, if I wasn’t filling another soft bun with turkey, I was racing my brother to see which of us could squish the soft bun into a dice sized cube first.
Families grew, siblings married, some moved away, but the essence of it all stayed the same. As we all began growing our own families it got harder. Two Thanksgiving dinners on the same day because of spousal families added even more challenges. Then with age came the passing first of grandpa and grandma, followed by the passing of parents. Careers, moves out of state and a new generation of kids and grandkids fractured what seemed like a 50-year tradition.
However, that opened new doors for me as a cook. Some of the last “large family” gatherings I took charge of the turkey and learned a lot about brining, roasting, smoking, and carving 20 pound turkeys. But these days its more likely to be an intimate dinner of giving thanks and expressing gratitude, just the two of us. I have done small Thanksgiving dinners of just smoked turkey breast, small roasted Cornish game hens, and even a double smoked ham. A new tradition of turkey day dinner for two has not quite emerged yet.
Which leads me to this Thanksgiving dinner for two. As I write this, the house is filled with the aroma of my wife Lisa’s fresh baked apple pie still in the oven. And in the second oven is my Wild Turkey Bourguignon. And yes, that is a mouthful to say let alone spell! Each spring we have some “city” friends come down to turkey hunt and set up camp on our farm. They graciously share their birds with us, and I had a sizeable wild turkey breast in the freezer.
I have made beef bourguignon a few times in the past. I remember that slow cooking meat in a lot of red wine can be a great habit to develop. I don’t have a recipe but quickly reacquainted myself online as I am prone to do. After looking over a few tasty looking recipes, I rolled up my sleeves and embarked on my own.
I start with three strips of thick cut bacon fried fairly crisp in my enamel cast iron Dutch oven. Setting the bacon aside, I dry brined my turkey breast over night with a generous amount of course kosher salt and pepper. Cutting my turkey breast (approx. 1.25 pounds) into larger cubes, I seared them quickly in the bacon fat and set aside, and crumbled the bacon strips. This is dinner for two, so I’m adding just one medium size parsnip, and 2 full carrots chopped into larger bite size pieces.
Carrots and parsnip sauteed in the same pot, when they are cooked but still firm, add a medium sized onion cut into larger pieces and cook another 3-5 minutes. I sprinkled in approximately 2 tbsp. flour and tossed all on medium heat. Adding nearly a half bottle of a good red wine, scraping up all the good bits from the bottom of the pot, I add in one cup of beef broth, the bacon, and the turkey. Bring this all to a boil to begin thickening and into the oven with the lid on for 3-4 hours to finish cooking and reduce!
With about 45 minutes to go, I’m adding a handful of halved mushrooms to loud protest from my wife. To appease her however, I am hitting a favorite nerve of hers and making a creamy cheesy mashed potatoes to lay underneath the Wild Turkey Bourguignon. She can’t resist me nor mashed potatoes!
I am thankful that you took the time to read my column. Reach out here with comments, or contact me directly anytime – Timb@catton.com
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