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Keith wanted to try an all-day turkey smoking on his Egg, so we did a “dry run” of Thanksgiving tonight.
The turkey – brined for 24 hours – was anything but dry. Keith boiled Kosher salt, sugar, allspice, cloves, peppercorns and onions in water, plus added herbs from his garden- rosemary, sage, thyme and oregano – to complete the brine. That’s butter dotting the skin to give it that lovely golden glow.
This fragrant still-life is entitled, “View of Turkey Through an Egg Vent Hole.” I keep telling the girls – Marry a man who can cook!
A-well-a Everybody’s Heard About the Bird…but those onions are m-i-n-e. Forget flowers or chocolates. Keith romances me with extra onions any time he grills or Eggs meat. The way to my heart is strewn with 1016′s.
Our favorite Julia Child quote: “The food was just lovely. You could tell someone’s hands had been all over it.”
Turkey gravy, made with those luscious drippings, which Hannah described as, “All my hopes and dreams in a pan.”
If you ever suspect I’m dead, wave a serving spoon of Spinach Madeline under my nose. No response? Dig a hole. Judy’s slightly-spicy creamed spinach recipe is an absolute family favorite. Well, except for Julia – who suffers through the one bite she must ingest. Here’s the recipe – I’ve never served it or given the recipe to anyone who didn’t rave about it. Rachel, Lois and Hannah stand at the counter with crackers when we prepare it, eager to scoop any time I’m not looking. I leave plenty clinging to the sides of the huge mixing bowl for my “laborers” to enjoy.
Some of my best recipes are from my sister Judy – and the very, very best ones are given over the phone beginning “Well, I don’t really have a written recipe for that. I just sort of start with….”
Dinner time! Monday night is almost always tacos, hamburger stroganoff, red beans and rice, or spaghetti – so turkey, mashed potatoes and Spinach Madeline was really uptown. Keith built our kitchen table, BTW, about 15 years ago from the red oak floorboards of a friend’s sagging tear-down house. For Thanksgiving, we break out the china, plate chargers, cloth napkins, etc. but antique Fiestaware (which I bought at garage sales when it was cheap, believe it or not) and Costco paper napkins are in use every day.
In a couple of weeks, I’ll call Lackland Air Force Base and reserve our two airmen trainees for Thanksgiving day, as will our good friends John & Linda, with whom we’ve shared Thanksgiving for several years. Keith and I will start compiling the menu, and dropping grocery lists into Excel by day/store. I’ll look around with dismay – figure out how much of the house we have to shovel out – and sigh deeply every evening.
But you know – we do have a house to shovel – and friends – and nearby grocery stores – and jobs so we can shop in them – and a family that is my heart clustered at Keith’s hand-crafted kitchen table. So I will rinse the plates tonight, and repeat next month.
Because I’m already thankful.
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Why wasn’t I invited? That looks amazing and it is true that we should all marry husbands who can cook. Those men are the best – glad I got mine! I was reflecting recently that with Laura’s birthday our “holiday season” begins. We slide down an increasingly speedy slope from 10/21 to James’ birthday 2/6. It can all become such blur it is wonderful to start off by realizing all we have to be thankful for and using that to keep our heads and hearts in the right place. Now send some of that turkey to Pearland
“Thankful” — as well you should be. The best thing in life is family — and yours is terrific. And it’s terrific because you and Keith work at it — not “work” because you have to, but because you are loving parents, son, daughter, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, etc. Your children are blessed and they show signs of having absorbed all the good family lessons you have taught them by example.
Also, many people (around the world, actually) are thankful to know you all.
I can smell that turkey … and I’m going to write down that spinach recipe as soon as I post this comment!
This was very loosely based on the recipe by “Mad Max Beyond Eggdome” over at the NakedWiz. Yes it is a cooking site for Eggheads. The other thing is I stated out with a small aluminum pan and switched to my good roasting pan when I saw how much juice the onions and the bird were giving up. The entire cook was done indirect with a pizza stone between the fire and the bird.
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/nwindex.htm
The first time I tasted Spinach Madeline was in a small town in South Louisiana. I was pregnant with your brilliant niece, Sarah. I had been on a salt free diet for months. I had actually, if you remember, totally stayed on the diet — to the point that when Sarah was born — I weighed 13 pounds less than when I became pregnant. A diet of nothing but grilled meat, unseasoned vegtables, and fresh fruit will do that for you! Thirty-some-odd years ago there was NOTHING in prepared or canned foods without salt. But, I digress…..
I was giving a seminar at a community college close to Baton Rouge. At lunchtime, the local ladies brought in food galore. Lordy, could they cook! I knew I couldn’t eat what was on the tables — so I’d made sure that I had some grapes and other fruit. As I was happily chatting away and eating my fruit (while trying to ignore the heavenly smells throughout the room), one of the ladies said, “Oh, well, here … at least have some spinach.” Without thinking, I took a fork and dug in. It was the beginning of the end. I ate the entire dish full and probably would have attacked someone to get at the mother-lode casserole dish if one of my hostesses (the mother of 5) hadn’t restrained my hands. When I asked WHAT this divine combination of ingredients was called, she said, “Well, honey, y’all DO have “River Road” (the cookbook), don’t you?” When I answered in the affirmative, she said, “It’s Spinach Madeline.”
And, that’s how love affairs begin.
My mouth is watering! That turkey and Spinach Madeline look so delicious! I can’t wait to try that recipe. I’m with you on marrying a man who can cook. Gerald and Keith are very similar in their interests. They both cook, do woodworking and have talents in building waterfalls and ponds. Life is good and we are blessed!
LOVE is dripping from your webpages and dripping from your lips. Perfect combination!
This spinach will be on my Thanksgiving table..as always, I appreciate your sharing all the things you do.
Talk about planning ahead . . . . .you guys win the prize! !
What kind of cheese do you use? ? I have a “standard green bean recipe” that I serve on Thanksgiving or Christmas (and sometimes both), so I will throw everyone off balance when I serve this one.
Thank you! Thank you!
M mouth is watering!!!
We love spinach at our house. If I can figure put how to copy and paste this recipe, I’ll make it for my Baylor Bear when he comes home for Thanksgiving and we share our traditional Thanksgiving dinner with Air Force friends we’ve had since 1976……..Thanks for sharing the recipe and reminding all of us what is truly important in this life.