Thanksgiving 2021

Like last year and thanks once again to COVID, our Thanksgiving this year was subdued, just Annie and me. For weeks, Ann had been asking me to reprise the Thanksgiving lasagna from last year, so I made it once again this year.

The ingredients and method are all outlined in last year's post, so I won't be going into them again here. Once again, it was an awful lot of busy work (spread over three days, although nothing difficult) for a dinner for two people, and still, the reward was worth the effort.

Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes and Ham, Salsa Verde

Mid-morning, we were starting to get hungry and knowing that we would only eat two meals today given the caloric weight of dinner, I decided to make a substantial breakfast to carry us through to dinner. In about five minutes, I whipped up two bowls of scrambled eggs with ham and tomatoes, topped with salsa verde, thanks to the ever-present container of salsa verde in the refrigerator.

Salsa Verde

This salsa is so delicious and so simple that I generally keep a batch in the refrigerator to adorn any dish that needs a little pick-me-up.

1 can of whole tomatillos (14 ounces net wt.), drained
1 bunch of cilantro, stems and all, roughly chopped
1 large clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Add all the ingredients to a blender. Starting on low speed, blend to a smooth sauce. Season to taste with salt.

After breakfast, we started watching Peter Jackson's new Beatles documentary, Get Back, which feels entirely different from the original Let it Be film that I saw decades ago, much happier in tone. As I look 60 years of age straight in the face, I realize that the Beatles really have been a huge part of the soundtrack of my life.

Our watching was interrupted periodically sending and receiving Thanksgiving wishes to and from friends and family. After the movie in the early afternoon, Ann and I got started on our mini celebration with me opening a bottle of Prosecco and Ann setting the table.

Prosecco poured, we got to work on dinner. I had done all the prep on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, leaving only the last-minute items for Thursday. I started by using the drippings from roasting the turkey thighs to make a batch of gravy with double turkey stock. I mixed the gravy with a mixture of pulled neck and thigh meat for one of the layers of the lasagna.

The stock was slightly different this year in that I made a double stock, the first stock made from roasted turkey necks. After picking the meat off the necks and thighs, I roasted the bones and then used them to make a second stock using the first stock instead of water.

Making Roux for Gravy

Turkey layer complete, we then went on to the béchamel layer, making it pretty much like country sausage gravy. I fried up the country sausage that I made on Wednesday (ground pork shoulder, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, sage, thyme, garlic) with chopped porcini mushrooms that I rehydrated the day before as well. Then in went a bit of flour and a quart of milk, and voilà, sausage-mushroom béchamel. Or fancy sausage gravy, depending on where you come from.

Meanwhile, we brought a big stockpot of salted water up to a boil and then par-boiled our lasagna noodles for four minutes, many minutes shy of being done. We layered up the lasagna: turkey, herb and vegetable ricotta, béchamel, turkey, béchamel, cornbread crumbles. While it was baking in a 375F oven, 45 minutes covered, 30 minutes uncovered, we opened a bottle of 2016 WillaKenzie Pinot Noir Triple Black Slopes to have with our dinner.