Thanksgiving Dinner
Every year for Thanksgiving we close the restaurant to the public and invite our close friends and family over for dinner. 
Thanksgiving is -my favorite holiday and one of my favorite days of the year. I cook all day in the restaurant’s kitchen (alone?)and it feels so great. This year I started around ten thirty in the morning by –heating up the ovens for the turkey which had been brining for twenty hours. After rinsing the turkey thoroughly and patting it dry, I put into the cavity of the bird a few cut oranges, lemons , sage, lemon verbena, star anise, coriander, salt, cracked pepper and olive oil. Then I rubbed the outside of the turkey with a mixture of chopped rosemary, lemon verbena, salt, ground pepper and olive oil and placed the turkey on a bed of quartered onions, oranges, lemons, rosemary and a mix of olive oil and butter. The turkey was then placed into the oven to roast at 400 degrees for about 2 1/2 hours. Every 
fifteen minutes or so I would brush a liquid sage-garlic butter on the skin. I let my turkey rest for about 2 hours before slicing it. In order to serve the turkey warm with the other accoutrements I flash heated it in the oven at 375degrees for about 3 minutes.
But before the turkey was served there was a cocktail/hors d’oeuvres hour. We served fresh Heart of Palm Salad (so much more delicious than the canned stuff!) topped with Alaskan King Crab, an assortment of Rover’s house cured meats including our own bresola and salami ,and Rover’s house cured salmon accented by a cucumber salad and domestic white sturgeon caviar. I made a “cocktail du Jour” using
pomegranate, huckleberry and cranberry juice with the guest’s choice of vodka or gin. We poured a Taittinger Champagne followed by a Chablis grand cru and finally a Bordeaux 1994 la Conseillante.
To accompany the turkey I roasted a big pan of root vegetables including parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, carrots, and rosemary. I also roasted some fingerling potatoes in olive oil and finished them with some butter. There was a celery root mash and a sweet and sour puree of quince to accompany the turkey, my take on the more traditional mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Using the drippings from the turkey roasting pan, I made a gravy of reduced wine and poultry stock finished with butter.
Kathy, my lovely wife, made her famous wild rice pilaf which she cooks every year, and a fabulous pecan pie. My sister in law Lynn also contributed by bringing a wonderful tart. What a feast we had! 
It was so wonderful to be able to gather around the table with good friends and family. I hope your thanksgiving was also delicious!
