Happy Thanksgiving!

I woke up on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, at 5:30 AM. I made a pot of coffee and some scrambled eggs for breakfast. I have to be at Jake and Carla's by noon, so I have to get going.

First I have to make the honey glazed carrots. I have a beautiful, fresh bunch of fresh carrots (with the leaves still on). So, I cut off the tops and peeled them. Then I cut them on the bias, about 1/2-inch thick. I cooked them in my homemade chicken stock until tender (about 5-6 minutes). I drained the carrots and put them back into the pot, along with two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of honey. I cooked them until a glaze started to coat the carrots (about five minutes) I seasoned them with salt and pepper and set them aside to cool.

Note: if you were making this all at once (from start to finish), you would now hit the carrots with a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, garnish it with a handful of finely diced, flat leaf parsley and serve it. But, I'll do that after re-heating them at J&C's.

Next it was on to my signature dish for this Thanksgiving: Prosciutto-Wrapped Roasted Garlic Potato Medallions.

So, I cut the top off a head of garlic. I oiled that with extra virgin olive oil and salted it. I put that into a tin foil pouch and threw it in the toaster oven at 400 degrees F. for 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, I peeled just over a pound of peeled russet potatoes, cubed them and, starting with cold water, boiled them until tender. I drained them then, and added them back to the original pot (carry-over heat takes care of the rest of the moisture, BTW). Then, I mashed them up.

I removed the garlic pouch and squeezed out six cloves of garlic into the potatoes. Note: I realized just then I was supposed to collect the six cloves of roasted garlic and mash them first, before adding to the mashed potatoes. So, I mashed it all a lot to make sure I incorporated the garlic. I also tasted one of the leftover roasted garlic cloves (just to see the difference). There is much less of a "garlic" taste; it's sweeter and more subtle.

So, to the potatoes and garlic mixture, I added two tablespoons of butter, one egg yolk, 1/4 cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, salt and fresh ground pepper (to taste) and 1/4 teaspoon of fresh grated whole nutmeg (smells fantastic!) This is the first time I used a whole nutmeg, so I followed Carla's recommendation and put the nutmeg into a baggie and the freezer. Otherwise, the now-bruised whole nutmeg goes rancid. I mashed everything all together and set it aside.

Meanwhile, I cut a big piece of parchment paper and laid it on my biggest cutting board.

Now, I must tell you, I am using Prosciutto which is an aged, air-dried Italian ham. You may know that and I do know that. But, what I didn't know is that there are two kinds of Prosciutto: Prosciutto crudo (which is un-cooked) and Prosciutto cotto (which is cooked). My recipe calls for Prosciutto cotto, but I have NO idea which kind I bought! I just asked for Prosciutto.

But, I must move on... I got it thin-sliced and each slice is maybe three inches high by 6 inches long. So, I put two slices down on the parchment, over-lapped slightly and side-by-side. Then I repeated that, overlapping the next two onto the first two, until it was all gone. I spread the mashed potatoes on top of that, about 1/2-inch thick. Then, using the parchment paper, I rolled it tight into something like a jelly roll, about two inches round and maybe 14-16 inches long. I left the parchment paper around it, then wrapped this log in cling wrap and stuck it in the fridge (it has to be refrigerated at least one hour to stiffen up).

I cleaned up some of the mess and went to take a shave and shower. I got dressed and checked off my list (Lol, you KNOW there had to be a list, right?) of things I needed to bring. So, I loaded the car up with the potato log, the carrots, 1/4 cup of fine-chopped fresh Italian parsley, a lemon, balsamic vinegar, basil-infused olive oil and the glazed carrots.

Since I planned on spending the night, I also packed my night and morning meds, my overnight kit (tooth brush, etc.) and a set of t-shirts and shorts (I don't own PJ's, but I don't want to gross anybody out, lol!) And, of course, my hostess gift...

Then, I checked the cat food, water, birdseed and Newt-water, the front door (locked) and the back door (locked) and hit the road.

I got to J&C's at about 12:15 PM. When I got there, Jake was in the midst of preparing the turkey for the oven. So, he had declared the entire kitchen counter as a "contaminated zone" and nobody could touch anything. (Man, I hate these raw poultry police methods. I grew up for some 50 years before anybody gave a crap about this shit, but I'm willing to play along.) This was a free-range turkey who was happy foraging among the sunflower stalks a week ago on a farm on Five-Mile Road between Levan and Farmington Road in Livonia. It's a beautiful bird, and he was rubbing it with vegetable oil when I got there. He had brined it for over 30 hours in sea salt, sugar and water.

So, he lined a half-sheet pan with tin foil and put the bird on a rack on top of it. He had stuffed the cavity with onion, celery and lemons. He popped it into a 500 degree F. oven for 30 minutes. As often happens in my house, he ultimately started setting off his smoke detectors, so he opened a few windows and turn on the ceiling fans.

At the end of the hour, he turned the heat in the oven down to 350 degrees F. and covered the actual turkey breast with a triangle of tin foil. While that was cooking for the next 2 hours, we played a spirited card game of Skip-Bo (Carla won, BTW). We also watched a taped show of Jeopardy. I think I won (but I always do).

I should mention that Carla's dishes, her Mom's recipe for corn bread dressing and the wild mushroom bundles (oyster, shitake and Cremini mushrooms in a collard green wrapper with a wine and butter sauce), both went into the oven at some point.

Finally the turkey came out and was resting for about 1/2 hour. So, I used that time to finish my Prosciutto-Wrapped Roasted Garlic Potato Medallions. I had brought along my electric knife, because I couldn't figure out how I could cut the medallions and not squish the roll.

So, while Carla was making gravy out of the turkey neck and some celery, onions and carrots, I used the electric knife to cut the roll into 3/4 inch slices. I then dipped them into some flour and put them in a skillet with olive oil and butter. I was using a spatula, but Carla jumped in to save me with some thongs to turn them. You are looking for a golden brown color, BTW.

So, finally it was time to eat. I hit the warmed up glazed carrots with the lemon juice and fresh parsley. Jake carved the turkey and we all assembled our dishes.

Warning: I have often been accused of being over-dramatic in this Blog and elsewhere about food, but I am now about to give you my honest assessment of the dinner.

In spite of him never once opening the oven and basting it, that was the juiciest turkey I think I ever ate. Carla's cornbread stuffing was great as always, but her gravy was just over the top!

My potato medallions were excellent (in spite of the fact that, in keeping with my Mother's holiday spirit, I did not do the finish: I was supposed to drizzle them with balsamic vinegar and basil-infused olive oil - both of which I brought - but totally forgot!)

My personal favorite (I think - it was damn hard to choose) was the wild mushroom bundles. I'm not sure why (this may be personal and somewhat obscene) but they tasted like sex to me - raw and earthy.

We ate and ate until we were stuffed. I would have taken a picture but neither one of these folks are into table-scapes, and I didn't bring my camera, LOL! So, I asked Jake to take one for me (see photos).

Jesus, did I mention Carla's gravy? OMG! Again, I am NOT kidding, you would have to taste it to believe it.

We moved from the table to the family room, the ever-efficient Jake, cleaning up behind us. We watched Jeopardy while Jake made dessert. He took Granny Smith apples (one of my favorites) and saut�ed them with butter and brown sugar. He put them in pastry dough and baked them into an apple tart.

I had a wedge, served with a thin slice of 10-year old aged white cheddar cheese. I would describe the taste, but you would think I was exaggerating!

We watched a murder/mystery movie (the Bone Collector) after every thing was cleared up. Once the movie was over (around 11:00 PM) we went to bed. I was truly thankful...