Home made

[muckefuck]

We never cook like we do during the holidays, and we have the pantry to prove it: only about a half dozen plastic storage containers not in use. Too often when we cook from scratch, we end up losing track of what we have and it goes bad in the back of the fridge while we run out and buy more food. I'm determined not to let that happen this time. To that end, I've made lists of stores which I will post prominently and force the GWO to consult before he prepares something new.

Ah, what the hell:

FRIDGE
• turkey stock
• sofregit (+ oil)
• pumpkin soup
• turkey gravy
• loose turkey
• turkey breast
• potato/parsnip mash
• cranberry sauce
• stuffing
• sweet potato mash
• mincemeat pie
• pork chops
• cream
• half & half
• 2 egg whites
• turkey shmaltz

FREEZER
• pumpkin pie pre-filling
• cherry pie filling
• turkey soup base (broth + purée)
• mincemeat + pumpkin pie
• apbluecherry pie
• turkey gravy
• morcilla

And that's just what we know about. The weekend before Thanksgiving, I suggested we begin defrosting the mystery containers in the freezer one by one, eating their contents if they were still edible and pitching them if they weren't, but neither of us had the courage. Instead, the Old Man fixed, in turn, (1) steaks with bleu cheese sauce; (2) lamb tagine; (3) pork chops with cider reduction. (Hold on, it was me who fixed the pork chops.)

Today, I stripped the turkey carcass (hence all the loose meat), boiled it down (hence the stock), and puréed the little bits since I had the immersible blender out anyway (hence the "soup base"). Meanwhile, I took out all the bits of cut onion in bags and made a sofregit, part of which I pulverised with some boiled root vegetables. Combine this with the bulk of the roast pumpkin purée from last week and several cups of turkey stock et voilà! Savoury squash soup for dinner tonight.

But I didn't want to return the leftover pumpkin to the fridge as-is for fear it wouldn't stay good much longer, so I combined it over heat with sugar, syrup, and spices to achieve stage one of the pumpkin custard that proved so popular at Thanksgiving. (I wonder if I even need to bother with a crust next time or if it would cook fine in a bain-marie. Hmmm.) And as long as I was at the stove doing that, why not cook up the tart cherries we'd defrosted for the mincemeat a week ago?

So now my lower back is screaming, but my head keeps telling it to shaddap and thinking of all the good eating ahead.

Comments

[danthered.livejournal.com]

I read this whole entry, but mostly what I saw was mumblemumbleTurkeymumblePotatoParsnipMashmumbleCranberrymumbleStuffingmumbleGravymumbleCherryPiemumble.

Except:

(Hold on, it was me who fixed the pork chops.)

YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!!!! ;-P

[gasterea.livejournal.com]

Very impressive. Btw just throw the egg-whites into the freezer too - they freeze really well and I doubt you will find time and inclination to cook anything new in the next couple of days :-)

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I think there are already some in there...