My Favorite Thanksgiving Memory

(cross posted to my other blog InkPaperWords and OpenSalon)

This was several years ago, when I was a single mom with 2 kids living outside Albuquerque. I wasn't making much but AOL, my employer at the time, was handing out turkeys to employees. So I picked up mine and straightaway began dreaming of all the leftovers I would make out of this huge sucker -- turkey sandwiches, turkey pot pie, turkey mole enchiladas...

My younger brat was just a toddler then (he's 16 now), and had a bad habit of leaving doors (front entry, back yard, refrigerator, whatever, it didn't matter to him). The big day came and went and the three of us feasted. The carcass was summarily parked in the frig to be attended to later.

Later that afternoon, I came into the kitchen and discovered the refrigerator door open. I knew who the culprit was. As I went to close the door, I noticed the turkey was not in the frig. We had 2 dogs at the time and I can just envision the scene:

Brat leaves door open, dogs discover turkey. Dogs drag carcass to the backyard, where they proceeded to have their own Thanksgiving feast.

All that remained of my hopes and dreams for leftovers was naught but a grease spot on the tile floor in front of the refrigerator.

Turkey Day ... and Beyond

I hadn't planned on doing a turkey since my mom invited us over to her place for ham. I ended up getting one anyway because I love turkey and besides -- they're on sale! I love the leftovers and salivate whilst dreaming about them.

Today I roasted the bird. Wasn't terribly sure what I'd do with it. The last few years I've been intrigued by both the brining and deep frying concepts, but both seem like I'd have to go get specialized equipment and I don't want to bother. As for the deep frying, I don't even deep fry chicken because it A) makes a mess and B) uses too much oil.

Anyhoo, here's what I did. I started with a mash up of Ina Garten's recipe for alleged "Perfect Roast Turkey" and Giada de Laurentiis' citrus-stuffed bird. Except I had grapefruit, not oranges and did not feel like making a special trip to the store. So I quartered half the grapefruit, a lemon and onion and halved a head of garlic to stuff the cavity.

Then I rubbed olive oil over the outside and made a rub of salt, pepper, chilè con limón, oregano and cayenne. It smelled like grocery store barbecue rotisserie chicken while it was roasting. End result: moist, juicy meat, flavorful crispy skin. I can hardly wait for the enchiladas!

Oh, and about Mom's -- Honey whipped up some bread dough out of which I made Parmesan-topped bow knots. Also took a bag o' salad and a batch of my very own Cranberry Crisp Bars (recipe follows).

Cranberry Crisp Bars

Crust:
1 c flour
1\2 c cold butter
1\2 c finely chopped walnuts (I didn't have any walnuts so I used oatmeal instead and it was fine)

Cut butter into flour and nuts until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Press evenly into the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Filling:
1 15 ounce can of whole berry cranberry sauce

Spread the cranberry sauce over the warm baked crust.

Topping:
1 c old fashioned rolled oats
3\4 c flour
3\4 c brown sugar
1\2 softened butter

Combine topping ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over cranberry layer and continue baking 30 more minutes. Cool.

Makes 16 servings.