Thanksgiving Meals 2014

This is the time of the year you get to break out all sorts of gadgets and try out recipes that you've never tried before to impress your guests. At least, that's how I see Thanksgiving gatherings. Feeding my guests and making sure they don't leave empty stomached is definitely my priority when having people over. My problem is that my house is not big enough to have all my lovely friends over for a sit down, classy, enjoyable Thanksgiving meal. This year, I got aggressive and decided to have three different meals. Now I'm all tapped out in cooking till next year.

With that said, I can't wait to show post these Thanksgiving dinner pictures.

I decided to make my own duck confit with a sous vide machine that I received for my birthday this year. It made it a lot less daunting then it really sounds. I cured the duck legs for 24 hours, vacuumed sealed the bags with some duck fat, and sous vided for 8 hours. Seared it off on the pan when I was ready to eat it. The product was pretty similar to what I've had from the European canned product! I would totally make it again!

Duck Confit on Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Kale Salad

The first meal was Thanksgiving day. It was dinner for four with the following menu

Creamy Leek and Potato Soup
Duck Confit over Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Kale Salad, Marcona Almonds
Seared Duck Breast over Parsnip Puree with Port Wine Reduction
Creamy Snow Crab Oyster Mushrooms Campanelle
Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel

Second meal was the big Friends-giving dinner with a menu based mostly by the French Inspired Thanksgiving menu on Epicurious.com. This was a dinner for 8.

Crudites Vegetables with Remoulade Sauce
Charcuterie Board
Duck Confit over Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Kale Salad, Marcona Almonds
Chestnut Soup with Creme Fraiche
Black Truffle Butter Turkey with Cognac Gravy
Chestnut Cornbread Stuffing
Pumpkin Souffle with Cognac Maple Sauce

Finally, the girls night dinner... which I attempted making fresh pasta for the first time. It was a ton of fun and am so glad I decided to buy the pasta attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I've made raviolis, Pappardelle, and Chinese noodles so far!

Menu for 6

Honey Roasted Acorn Squash Salad with Burrata and Balsamic Glaze
Lamb, Roasted Eggplant and Hummus Dip (by Diane)
Baked Smokey Salmon with Horseradish Chive Creme Fraiche
Homemade Pumpkin Ravioli with Walnut and Sage Brown Butter
Lemon Souffle with Blueberry/Cranberry Compote

This was definitely a fun 2 week process. Glad to have all the people that came over and definitely can't wait to host my next dinner party in 2015.

Lastly.. these are mini pumpkin doughnuts that I whooped up for one of those days off for breakfast!

Homemad Wild Mushroom Gnocchi

It has been a long while since I posted anything.. again. It's not that I've stopped cooking or traveling or have anything fun to share, but facebook/instagram are just so quick and convenient. With the amazing photo editing tools on cell phones,  I've deserted my DSLR for quite some time now. Lately, I do feel the spark in re-starting all of this. Mostly because I was going through some old photos from past trips and realized that the quality of the shots are still unbeatable. I want to take better pictures and I want to spend more time doing the things I love.

My boyfriend and I have been together for quite some time now. He's a busy man and works a lot of hours. Most of the time when he's home, he's glued to the computer. As an effort to spend some more quality time together, I decided we should cook together more often. It's been about a month since we got back from Italy and I was missing those pillowy gnocchi that we had in Florence. I decided to attempt homemade gnocchi. This is not my first time, but I definitely do not remember how they turned out last time I made it since that was back in college days.

I used Andrew Carmellini's recipe. The result was not terrible, but definitely some room for improvement. I was so concerned of over working the dough that I don't think I worked in quite enough flour, therefore the dough was softer than I wanted it. I would have to do a little bit more research on the potato and flour ratio. Definitely a reason to re-make. Plus, with the luscious wild mushroom cream sauce which I added dry vermouth, dried porcini and it's broth to, it can't be that bad!! Buon appetito!