The day has arrived. Guests coming mid-afternoon, which creates deadlines. Planning started about two weeks ago, menu partly adapted to guests. Fewer this year, but I do not have to drive anyone from their home to mine and back.
Menu set, with a mixture of mostly new. Some from books, some recipes online. I learned to do what I can the day before.
Motzi: Zemel Rolls. I've never made rolls before. My recipe calls for incorporating onions into the flour, as well as topping with grated onion and poppy seeds. On its first rise.
Appetizer: Corn fritters. A lot of grinding but I have a food processor. Will need to allow drain time. It is made on the stovetop, as there is competition for oven time. Thanksgiving usually preceeds Hanukkah by a few weeks. There will be more fritters then, in the form of potato latkes.
Fish Soup: Thanksgiving always precedes Shabbos, which approaches its earliest start time within a week or two of Thanksgiving. This is one of those versatile starters that I can revisit the next day. And it doesn't seem all that hard to make.
Cucumber Salad: I picked an easy one, halved the recipe. Vinagrette just needs some mixing. Vegetables need mostly slicing. Cucumber, red onion, dill. Put in baggie until needed.
Turkey half breast: Very convenient. Just olive oil, season, stick in oven for 90 minutes, cool and slice with an electric knife. Usually enough for guests who live alone to take this part of their shabbos meal home, while leaving enough for me. Only drawback, coordinating that 90 minutes of oven time with other things that need the oven for shorter periods.
Crock pot stuffing: Bit of a snag. I intended to use leftover challah, only to find it moldy when I removed it from its plastic bag. I harvested enough bread and loaf cake scraps to continue. A bit messy to make. Cubing bread. Melting pareve margarine. Seasoning. Incorportating eggs. But once in crockpot, with an initial 45 minutes on high, it goes on autopilot low setting for hours, until ready to serve.
Sweet Potatoes: I usually make a casserole of some type with this. Bit of a misadventure with my cuisinart chopper. Minor injury to the bowl's top but does not affect use. A lot of slicing. Fair number of ingredients. Need to time the oven needs around other things.
Cranberry sauce: Easy to make in advance, which I did. Bag of cranberries with few berries culled out. Water + sugar to make a syrup. Add cranberries until they pop. Season. I squeezed a small orange, added some zest, finished with cloves and allspice. Cool and chill in plastic container. Serve in something more elegant.
Peas: Ultimate in simple. Bought frozen peas. Microwave when needed.
Oatmeal cranberry torte: Also made night before. A bit messy but not hard. Pelling and dicing apples is tedious. Then add can of whole berry cranberry sauce. Crust has fair number of ingredients but assembles easily. Pop in oven. Hard to overbake.
Beverages: Guests don't consume alcohol. I saved a can of good beer for myself. Chilled sparkling cider for them. All in stemmed glasses, even my beer.
This needs a game plan. I'm on it.
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