5 Star Foodie Culinary Adventures: Our Southern-Style Thanksgiving Feast

Our Thanksgiving celebration was very special this year. Much of our family from New England joined together with our local area extended family in an unusually large gathering. There were a lot of hugs and laughter, and of course there was a lot of food. Since we hosted this holiday party, our theme this year was a Southern, Virginia-style Thanksgiving. Virginia has always claimed rights to the first Thanksgiving celebration by English settlers in America, predating even the famed Pilgrim feast in Massachusetts. We wanted to share a window into that world with a variety of dishes influenced by the region and local cuisine, though in the end the cuisine was unique in unforeseen ways, as you shall read below.

My turkey went through some adventures before it was roasted. As intended, I brined it in a mixture of apple cider, water, salt, brown sugar, and spices. The 22-pound turkey stayed in a brine for about 12 hours. Then, unfortunately the brining bag broke (despite double-bagging). As it broke around midnight, I couldn't get another set of bags in the store. So I rinsed the turkey and salted it in a mixture of salt and dry herbs overnight. In the morning, I rinsed the turkey, patted it dry, and rubbed a sage butter with a touch of truffle salt. Inside I placed onions, apples, and fresh herbs. Amazingly, the roast turkey turned out beautifully! It was perfectly cooked, succulent, and very flavorful.

To accompany the turkey, I made the Judie Byrd's Cornbread Stuffing, and a Giblet Gravy. I used the recipes for make-ahead gravy at Noble Pig and Beach Eats as my guidelines and made the gravy with the turkey neck and the giblets, as well as two turkey legs.

I also prepared the Cranberry-Orange Relish, my recent creation with Grand Marnier.

Relishes were a popular dish in Virgina during Colonial era. Inspired by the relishes we've tasted at At King’s Arms Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg, I created my own recipe for Corn, Ham, and Red Pepper Relish. The recipe can be found in my post from last Thanksgiving. The one addition this year was the pickled relish and of course I tripled number of ingredients to make a larger portion.

I used several recipes from The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook: collard greens, red cabbage, and carrots. The Collard Greens were wonderfully tender, with excellent smoky flavors, resulting from my addition of chili powder.

The Port-Braised Red Cabbage, prepared by my mom, was really good, with just the right balance of acidity and sweetness.

The Carrots Glazed with Two Gingers, prepared with ground and crystallized ginger, were tasty, however, somewhat lacking in flavor; perhaps more seasoning was necessary in this dish.

I always love making Orzo "Crazins" Salad made with dried cranberries as one of the side dishes for Thanksgiving. It is such a colorful, festive salad and is easy to make a day ahead. You will find the recipe in my 5starfoodie.com collection.

My mother-in-law prepared a rich and delicious corn muffin pudding.

She also made fluffy buttery biscuits.

My husband's aunt brought a delightful Orange-Glazed Sweet Potatoes with gorgeous giant marshmallows melted on top.

Also among the side dishes were mashed potatoes made by my mom and a green salad with oranges and raspberries made by one of our cousins. The desserts, prepared by my husband's aunts and one of his cousins, included a traditional Pecan Pie as well as a cheesecake version, an Apple Pie, and a Sweet Potato Cheesecake.

The favorite dish of the night was the Savory Apples Au Gratin, a brand new recipe I created for this special dinner. The combination of apples with melted Gruyere and Emmentaler cheeses was incredible! Here's a recipe for a large portion and I am also planning to make a another version of this dish with individual mini servings that I will post about very soon.

Ingredients:

1 bag of Gala apples (about 6 pounds, or 15 cups of slices apples)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
12 ounces of Gruyere and Emmentaler cheese, shredded
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350º. Peel and core the apples. Quarter the apples and cut each quarter into three slices. In a large bowl, toss the apples with nutmeg, salt, and black pepper. Mix in 2/3 of cheese mixture and 2/3 of panko bread crumbs.

Arrange in a large buttered casserole. Pour melted butter all over the apples. Sprinkle with the rest of cheese and panko bread crumbs.

Bake for approximately 1 hour or until golden. If already browning after 30 minutes, cover with foil for the rest of the baking time. Serve right away.