Give thanks for make-ahead recipes
Gravy usually arrives last on the Thanksgiving table.
Once the bird emerges from the oven, all glistening and golden, and lands on the carving board, the process of scraping the browned bits from the roasting pan and adding stock or wine and whatever other goodness to the pan begins.
Kelly Donlea already made her Thanksgiving gravy. It's in the freezer with the cornbread for the stuffing and some pie. She also made and canned the cranberry chutney.
Donlea, the Barrington author of “Organizing Dinner” (she teaches classes under the same name) admits she's a bit ahead of the curve when it comes to preparing for Thanksgiving. (OK, maybe just more than ‘a bit;' she roasted a turkey last month so she could make the gravy for her expected crowd of 40-plus.)
“Being organized it's a concept that's so important to me,” Donlea says. “You need to feel like you've won at the end of the day.”
Whether you can assemble an entire side dish the day before or just have the onion and celery chopped for the dressing, working ahead is a gift to yourself, Donlea says.
“People are so overwhelmed by Thanksgiving,” agrees Laurie Buckle, editor at Fine Cooking magazine. “The more you can do even Wednesday or the weekend before, the better. You'll wake up Thanksgiving morning and feel ‘I can do this.'”
Buckle pulled together recipes from past issues of the magazine for the “Make-Ahead Holidays” collection. The super-sized magazine contains recipes, tips and menus to get you through New Years.
Let's stay focused on Thanksgiving for now.
Most experts suggest having your menu planned out two weeks in advance. That means by tomorrow you should write out your menu, gather recipes and start writing your shopping list. Note on your list those items you can dole out to guests who want to contribute to the meal.
This is also the time to check your equipment: make sure your roasting pan can accommodate the big bird, the meat thermometer is in good working order and your knives are sharp and up for the tasks.
By this time next week, you should start clearing your fridge to accommodate casserole dishes and bowls of prepped ingredients. (If you forget to do this, find out which of your neighbors goes out of town for the holiday and ask to rent some fridge space.)
Plan your trip to the store to buy the turkey and nonperishable items. Hold off on buying fresh vegetables and bread for a few more days.
On the Sunday or Monday of Thanksgiving week you can begin chopping and cooking. Pull out serving dishes and utensils.
“I was amazed at what you can do ahead of time; I can't think of anything you can't do ahead,” Buckle says.
Some side dishes can be assembled two days before and baked, or reheated, on the day of the feast; green beans and other veggies can be parboiled or roasted the day before; potatoes can be mashed a few hours before the feast and kept warm.
Try to do a little each day, maybe after work or while the kids are doing homework. While you're slicing onions for the night's dinner, slice what you need for T-day recipes.
By the time guests starts arriving, Buckle says she's ready to go: “I have on real shoes and lipstick and I'm ready to enjoy it too.”