Stick A Fork In It - Red Eye Gravy

Baby let some big pork chops liberally coated with applewood smoked salt sit over night in the refrigerator while I conspired to make my red eye gravy. The pork chops are made especially juicy by the simple brining process and the gravy gilds the lily! Wipe the salt off of your chops before stowing them under the broiler in the oven for six minutes each side, second to top rack. Then cover in foil and let rest for 10 minutes.

To the gravy! This was really fun and pretty much made up, based on the Southern tradition: we had homemade pork stock (chicken or turkey stock would work as well) on hand so after about five cups had been thawed, we heated it up, added a 1/2 pound of crumbled bacon (spicy ham is perhaps more common) that had been cooked in a separate pan and when no one was looking, we also added some of the bacon grease into the mix. Six tablespoons of flour were whisked in after that as well as two cups of still steaming coffee. Reduce for about 15 minutes and grind some fresh pepper into your brew and serve over your chops.

Creamy mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus with a simple buttermilk dressing courtesy of Jamie Oliver are ideal companions for this--and of course by all means make chocolate pudding topped with whipped cream for dessert.

Thanks to Recipe.com for the photo!

Turkey in Turks!

Baby whisked me away to Turks and Caicos islands for an incredible Thanksgiving vacation this year. We stayed in Provo with friends for a few days and also shacked up at the breathtaking, sprawling Grace Bay Club resort. While our hosts assumed their respective posts working on a holiday that is not necessarily celebrated there, Baby and I hit the supermarket for groceries and set to work ourselves, to create our Thanksgiving candlelit midnight supper! The chalkboard with the menu above is my handiwork, and the price per person listed on the lower right hand corner was merely foolishness.

Here's our table in the glorious sunshine garden, before we set up and descended for the feast.

While our neighbor created Jamie Oliver's Dinner Lady Carrots and Soldier Leeks with Bacon next door, Baby injected our 22 pound turkey with sherry and melted butter and stuffed it full of onions, oranges, lemons, tangerines, rosemary, parsley and thyme. I got a good handful of softened butter and gently rubbed it underneath the skin and yes, I tore a bunch of parsley apart and further placed it under the skin as well to form a heart shape.

We trussed our Tom with kitchen twine...and into the oven it went to ruminate for a few hours!

Having acquainted ourselves with the kitchen and putting out plates, utensils, serving ware and the cooking tools we'd need ahead of time, I made my usual Sweet Potato Tipsy and went out to set the table, while Baby made his mashed potatoes with herbed butter and Alouette creamy cheese and amazing cranberry-cherry-orange compote.

When guests arrived, Baby served a sentimental platter of Pigs & Blankets, the way his mother used to make, with the dogs wrapped up in Pillsbury puff pastry. Yellow and grainy mustards went alongside with a sort of ketchup sauce that I made up from a carton of sensuously red Kumato tomatoes that also veer toward black pearls in color, some balsamic vinegar and crystallized pineapple that was on hand.

Behold the beast with the parsley heart gracing its proud breast!

How quickly it was ravaged! And it was so tender, I daresay it was the best turkey I ever had. For me, the injection of sherry and butter is essential, and the bird also must be monitored with a meat thermometer.


Our table at night! And what a flurry it was!

The tryptophan clearly kicked in somewhere around here.

Our guests delighted in lemon and coconut Pepperidge Farm cakes, the old store-bought dressed up with some fresh blackberries and raspberries.

For leftovers the next day, we pored over turkey sandwiches wedged into local rolls and I pureed the Lady Carrots and Soldier Leeks with gravy and heavy cream for a marvelous soup.

And somehow we managed to keep Coco away from raiding everything until it was time for her to have leftovers of her own, which she devoured!