We have a tradition of gathering in Sunriver, OR for Thanksgiving with about 10-12 friends that are also Oregon transplants. This is my 10th Sunriver Thanksgiving and Matt’s 12th. We rent a big house that fits all of us and everyone pitches in with some part of the meal either by making a dish or cleaning up. It is one of my favorite weekends of the year. The last few years, we have made more of an effort to use local foods. We even won a Farmaid contest last year.
We neglected to order a turkey from Deck early enough this year so when we contacted them, they were all gone. We tried a few other potential sources with no luck, so our turkey this year was from California. Besides the turkey, most of our other main ingredients were local. A detailed ingredient source list is below.
Last year we used the juniper & herb roast turkey recipe from Sunset magazine. It got such good reviews that we decided to make it again this year. The turkey is almost entirely Matt’s effort (note the detailed bacon lattice work over the entire bird) and it always turns out really well. This year was no exception, but you can definitely taste the difference from last year when we roasted heritage, free range birds.
Matt also makes his Mom’s wild rice dressing which is also a perennial crowd pleaser. My contribution is a braised chiffonade of brussel sprouts, a recipe adapted from Matt’s sister, Amy. Cathy (Matt’s mom) made it for us on a visit a few years back and we have made it a dozen or more times since. This recipe has changed more than one person’s mind about brussel sprouts. You will find Amy’s recipe below. (Thanks, Amy, for the awesome recipe!)
The pumpkin tart also turned out delicious, despite having to bake it about an hour longer than described in the recipe. For some reason, the pumpkin filling just wouldn’t set. I have a hunch that my fresh pumpkin puree has more water in it than the canned pumpkin puree that the recipe calls for. I also did a search for the recipe online and found similar comments to mine, plus a note from Dorie that not all of the filling should be used for a tart (I used all of it and it did seem a little too full). Here is a link to her recipe. The crust and filling are truly delicious. I will be attempting this recipe again using a little less filling and will let you know my results.
Amy’s Braised Brussel Sprouts
1 lb of brussel sprouts
2-3 cioppolini onions
4-6 Tbsp butter (or olive oil if you want it to be healthier)
2-3 Tbsp brown mustard seeds
Salt & pepper to taste
Thinly (very thin) slice the onions. Remove the outer leaves of the sprouts, if necessary and cut off the stem so you only include the leaves. Thinly slice the brussel sprouts, making a chiffonade.
Melt butter over low heat in a medium-large sauté pan. Add onions after butter is melted and carmelize them over low to medium-low heat. This will take 20-25 minutes. After the onions are carmelized, add brussel sprouts, continuing to cook over low to medium-low heat. Cook until brussel sprouts are slightly brown. Add mustard seeds and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Amy also includes chopped bacon which is delicious too.
Here is a summary of our dishes and their ingredients:
Turkey
Turkey (not local – California)
Spices (not local)
Thyme, rosemary (local – from our backyard)
Butter (local – Rose Valley)
Bacon (not local – Long’s was out, so I bought Beeler’s at the grocery)
Cathy’s Wild Rice Dressing
Wild rice (local – Oregon Jewel)
Butter (local – Rose Valley)
Eggs (local – Rose Valley)
Bread stuffing (local – Bread Stop Bakery)
Onion (local – CSA)
Turkey giblets (not local – California)
Heavy cream (local – Eberhard’s)
Chanterelles (local – Capella Market)
Spices & seasoning (not local)
Amy’s Braised Brussel Sprouts
Brussel sprouts (local – CSA)
Cioppolini onions (local – CSA)
Butter (local – Rose Valley butter)
Spices & seasoning (not local)
Pumpkin tart
Pumpkin (local – CSA)
Heavy cream (regional – Organic Valley)
Sour cream (local – Springfield Creamery)
Sugar & spices (not local)
Flour (local – Wheat Montana. Even though it’s not local to Oregon, we brought it back from our driving trip to North Dakota over the summer)
I’m so glad to see another local food blogger!
Your Thanksgiving looks very similar to mine — especially the brussels sprout hash!
I was inspired by your description of the brussels sprouts endive salad at Belly (which I haven’t had) to make mine with endives and hazelnut spice mix.
I really like Wheat Montana. My sister lives up there and I’ve been to one of their outlet stores. I think it’s hard to get really local flour here unless you grow your own wheat. Even Bob’s Red Mill ships theirs in from the Plains states. Stone-Buhr has a new line of PNW flour, but I haven’t tried it.
If I may ask, who is your CSA?
Eugenia-
Thanks for the note – you were one of my inspirations for starting my blog!
Our CSA is Groundwork Organics. We have been subscribers for about 5 years and have been really happy with it.
Thanks for the tip on Stone-Buhr – I had never heard of it.
[...] Thanksgiving! Juniper & herb turkey, wild rice dressing, braised brussel sprouts, and sour cream pumpkin tart. Read more about our contributions to our Thanksgiving meal in my Thanksgiving post. [...]
[...] Another awesome recipe from my awesome sister-in-law, Amy. It is week 2 of dungeness crab season and I returned to Newman’s to pick up 2 crabs for this delicious recipe. Instead of shelling them by myself, I recruited Matt to help me after work on Friday. He is a champion crab sheller (see exhibit below). Last week, I shelled 3 crabs by myself and my hands about froze. I digress. [...]
We tried the brussel sprouts last night and enjoyed it! Nate had the task of thinly slicing the onions and b. sprouts. Now, he wants to get me a fancy food processor! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Nicole – Glad you enjoyed the brussel sprouts. I think that most people that dislike them would love them if they ate brussel sprouts like this. I hope you get a fancy food processor out of the deal!