We had not one, but two Thanksgivings this year. For reasons explained in an earlier post we had our first Thanksgiving on last Thursday, the 20th. For that one we had 12 people and the menu was very traditional. Here are a few pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the menu was: Curried pumpkin soup with curry croutons followed by roast turkey ( I deconstruct my turkey by cutting out the backbone, taking off & deboning the legs then cooking them separately. Last year's Thanks giving post goes into great detail on this technique) with a sage & forcemeat stuffing, lots of vegetables and a gravy made from the turkey stock. Friends brought us fresh cranberries so we had a wonderful, but simple cranberry sauce.

We then had the cheese course you can see pictured above. 

(bursin,brique de vache, cantal-entre-doux, cratin, chaurce and blue de pays). 

 

Desserts were a carrot cake that I made & a delicious cranberry & mincemeat pie by Linda.

 

Between our wine & some superb stuff brought by our guests we had some great wine. 14 bottles of it in fact!

 

A good time was had by all. The French maybe don't quite understand the holiday, but they certainly relate to the occasion and the food.

 

 

Yesterday we celebrated our second Thanksgiving. Just 6 of us. Linda's sister & her husband and a pair of English friends who live locally part time.

 

Pictures:               

 

 

The world's best potato chips. Made in Spain, hand made. Yummy!

 

 

 

           Mushrooms ready for the Beef Wellington    

 

 Fois Gras

 

                                      Beef Tenderloin
 

 

 

 

Ready for oven

             The finished Beef Wellington

 

 

 

The menu was simple, but different this time. We like the curried pumpkin soup so much that we had it again. The main course, however, was Beef Wellington. Friends from the states had brought us a whole filet of beef. So, as you can see above Linda did the whole Wellington bit: fois gras, sautéed mushrooms, Madeira sauce and a puff pastry case. It was absolutely superb! The beef was excellent and perfectly cooked. Nice & rare in the middle bits as I like it, but closer to medium at the ends for others. We had sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts and broad beans as vegetables.

 

Dessert was as below. A simple chocolate mousse. Sinful, but delectable.

           

 

I think I like the idea of two Thanksgivings you get to see more friends & family that way. I hope your Thanksgiving was as joyful as ours!