Lessons Learned From My First Time Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner:
- No matter how nice the cooking schedule looks on paper, something’s going to happen to fuck it up.
- Because of that, always make most of the sides before the turkey goes in the oven. People can microwave ‘em later.
- Truffle butter makes EVERYTHING better
- My friend Mazzie is an AMAZING sous chef (and a helluva gravy maker)
- Before hosting next year (oh yeah, I’m totally thinking I’ll do this again next year), get a Gel Pro Chef Mat.
- Crowds freak out our cat Scout
- Our apartment fits 8 nicely for a dinner party (much to the aforementioned Scout’s dismay)
- Brian is a kitchen wonder and can calm me down when I’m in a culinary panic.
- The Black Dog can pick some amazing wines
- Cheesecake is a wonderful solution for Thanksgiving dessert – it can be made a day ahead and whipped out to thunderous applause
- James is a napkin folding wonder (and gives fucking brilliant hostess gifts)
- And wine plus 80′s music equals me dancing crazy
In the end, however, the dinner was a rousing success, the turkey was poultry-tastic and we all had way too much fun. Now I have a fridge full of leftovers and am trying creative ways to use them up. First up, throwing this wonderfully flavorful nutty cranberry relish (a dinner hit) into my favorite scone recipe. This could easily work with any type of cranberry side dish you have leftover from the big day (as long as you used real cranberries and not that canned shit).
Recipe: Nutty Cranberry Relish Scones
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose, unbleached flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup sugar, plus a little more for dusting the tops of the scones
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1 cup nutty cranberry relish (recipe linked above)
- 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- For the egg wash: whisk together one egg and a tablespoon of water
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or you can use a scone pan).
- Sift together the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add the butter cubes and work the butter into the dry ingredients until a crumbly texture is created.
- Make sure the relish is drained of any juices and then add them to the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir the relish into the flour mixture. Add the buttermilk slowly as you stir with a fork. Stop pouring the buttermilk once a dense dough is formed (this may mean you won’t use all of the buttermilk).
- Transfer the dough to a floured surface and gently knead it a little until it’s a uniformed dough. If any of the cranberries poke out of the dough while kneading, simply poke it back into the dough. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough until it’s about an inch thick. Then cut out triangular wedges from the dough.
- Place the scones on the baking sheet and brush each of them with the egg wash. Sprinkle each scone with a bit of sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Meal type: breakfast
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Hell yeah… on the Gel Pro Mat! I have that on my Christmas list! I love your list. I actually have some mustard cranberry relish, so I will try the scone recipe. I wonder if they will be too zesty?
You don’t know how sorry I am to have missed this! I wonder if Home Depot sells Gel Pro mats. Must look into this!
@Thrifty DC Cook – Dude, the smallest mat is $100. That’s the only reason I don’t have one already. Maybe the Gel Pro people will send me a sample one since I plugged their product?
@Casey – I’m not sure how the mustard would work in this scone but you can try it! If you do, let me know how it goes!
These look wonderful. Definitely going to make them with my leftover cranberry-orange relish.