Holiday Pregame, Prep, and Implementation

[caleb]

A little less than a week out from our first big hosting event of the holiday season that'll give way to a steady stream of people for the next six weeks, and here's where I'm at:

1) A whole lamb has been ordered from my guy in Wisconsin. I ordered the racks whole, and I'm planning to try roasting them. High stakes, but I figure that's why we get two of them.

2) Two potted rosemary bushes have been procured. We're eating rosemary in/on/with everything.

3) We needed a new roasting pan (the old one was a horrendous mess of flaking nonstick cancer and alzheimer's diseases), which led to my most ridiculous cookware purchase to date. Yes, you can buy a Mauviel roaster at a million online and brick and mortar cookware shops in the US, likely on sale with free shipping. But it'll have stainless steel handles. The only way to get one with cast bronze handles is to order directly from France, which will require a signature for delivery, which of course nobody will be home to provide, so it'll need to be tracked down in the bowels of the post office after a special trip during the work day on Friday to avoid it being returned to France as undelivered. Clearly that's the one I'm going to go for.




I think we're off to a good start.

How are your holidays going?

[caleb]

First big event is in the books.



Turkey roasting went well going breast-side down at 400 for an hour, at which point it looked like...



And flipped...



And finished at 325...




I managed to forget the lingonberry sauce in the fridge, which was too bad since it's good: Lingonberry Relish Recipe - NYT Cooking

But the real star of the show was this green bean casserole recipe: Green Bean Casserole Recipe - NYT Cooking

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds green beans, trimmed and broken in half
Salt, to taste
6 slices bacon
2 shallots, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
½ pound mushrooms, sliced
1 cup crème fraîche
⅓ cup heavy cream
6 ounces Gruyère, shredded (1 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (optional)
½ cup bread crumbs (or crumbled Ritz crackers)

I used slab bacon cut into cubes, and doubled the cream.