A Pinwheel Approach to Thanksgiving Dinner: Turkey with Fixings in About 30 Minutes!!
“I enjoy cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food” - Julia Child
If you need solutions for a simplified Thanksgiving, you’ve come to the right place. With a tiny bit of planning, you can have a complete, delicious, satisfying, and pretty traditional Thanksgiving dinner on your table in about 30 minutes! This may be the only Thanksgiving meal you ever produce that won't occupy your fridge for a week (or wind up in the garbage), and will allow you to spend your time as you’d probably prefer: enjoying the company of family & dear friends!
Note: there are no specific quantities in these “recipes”. Thanksgiving dinners vary so widely in terms of the number of people served, so we wanted to give you more of a “game plan” for this meal, and not a hard and fast recipe. You’re always welcome to comment on the post and ask for more specifics if you need to!
Happy Thanksgiving from Pinwheel Provisions!
GAMEPLAN & TIPS
Take the turkey fillets out of the freezer two days before Thanksgiving and defrost them in your fridge. If you forget and only have a day to do this, that’s fine. As long as you can separate the tenders, you can cook them, even if they’re still slightly frozen.
Use a piece of parchment paper as the “container” for your seasoned dredging flour. When you’re finished with it, just gather up the edges and the whole thing gets thrown away for one less dish to wash!
Use a smaller portion of parchment paper to cook the potato gratins on. You can even do this on the same pan as the green beans, depending on the size of your crowd! The beans can take up ⅔ of a baking tray, and the potatoes can use the remaining space; another pan saved!
Have your oven preheating while you’re searing the turkey. Have your green beans seasoned and the gratins on their parchment on the baking tray. As soon as you start the gravy, put the tray in the oven. The gravy and the veggies will be finished in about the same timeframe!
INGREDIENTS
Pantry staples: Flour, salt, pepper, butter, oil, parchment paper
Poultry seasoning
Chicken or turkey stock
Shallot, Garlic, Celery, Lemon
Various fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary, sage
Dried Fruit of your choice such as cherries, cranberries, apricot
Walnuts, Pecans, or Pine Nuts
Apple Cider
White wine
Bacon (optional)
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
Pan Roasted Turkey Tenders in a Quick Gravy
Defrost Koch’s Turkey Fillets overnight in the fridge.
Dredge the filets in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little poultry seasoning (see the dredging tip above.).
Sauté the fillets in a pan over medium heat. Use a combination of butter and oil to keep the butter from burning. Feel free to have some sprigs of thyme and/or sage in the pan as well! Don’t worry about cleaning the pan between batches too much, as you want the little bits of flavor to help make your gravy. Be mindful of the heat of the pan though so that these bits do not burn. Don’t hesitate to move it off the heat source if you need to take a quick break.
Once the fillets are seared on both sides and cooked through, you can begin to make your gravy.
Gravy
1. Splash some white wine into the warm turkey pan and use that liquid to help remove the flavorful bits (called “fond”) from the bottom of the pan. Once the liquid has evaporated, add some butter to the pan and sauté the chopped shallot until it has softened.
2. Once the shallot has softened, sprinkle enough flour into the pan to cover the bottom and cook, stirring continuously, until the flour browns very slightly.
3. Slowly begin to add small amounts of chicken/turkey stock to the pan, whisking continuously to avoid lumps. If you can warm the stock a bit in the microwave first, lumps will be even less likely. Continue adding the stock and whisking until you reach your desired consistency in the gravy; when the mixture comes to a hard simmer, it will be at its thickest.
4. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and set aside.
Individual Potato Gratins
In a 350 degree oven, roast the individual gratins for about 15 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center feels hot to the touch. If you do these a little ahead of time, you can keep them warm in the oven covered in foil at 250 degrees while you complete the other items.
Roasted Green Beans
Toss Pinwheel Local Green Beans with a bit of olive oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper. Roast at 350 for about 10-12 minutes. In the last 5 minutes, add some finely chopped garlic to the beans.
Spelt Orzo Stuffing with Dried Fruits, Nuts, Fresh Herbs & Bacon (optional)
Prepare Agrozimi Spelt Orzo according to instructions on the label. Once drained, toss the orzo with some olive oil.
Toast nuts in a dry sauté pan until fragrant, about 5-7 minutes over medium heat, depending on the size of the nuts. Do not look away while you are sautéing them or they will burn!
Chop your selection of dried fruit so that they are of similar size to the nuts.
If you’re using bacon, cook until crisp, then break into small pieces.
Heat a sauté pan over medium heat. If you cooked bacon, add enough bacon drippings to the pan to lightly coat the bottom; if not, melt a tablespoon or two of butter in the pan. Sauté some minced shallot and a few ribs of finely chopped celery until softened. Add the nuts and fruit, as well as some thyme and rosemary.
Add about a quarter cup of apple cider to the pan and toss until everything is heated through. Add this mixture to the spelt orzo and thoroughly combine. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with chopped parsley and a sprig of rosemary and thyme.