Turkey Time '08

Shhhh...be very quiet. If you don't move or make a noise it might not sneak up on you. "Gobble-gobble" "Gobble-gobble" Ughhhh...it's here isn't it. Oh Thanksgiving, why must you sneak up on me like that. I thought I had weeks to prepare and figure out if I should cook a whole turkey or just the breast, if there should be soup, if anyone would like brussels sprouts, if I should buy new plates, what should I do about dessert, and it goes on. Like every love/hate relationship, the love seems to always edge out a bit more. Traditions, families, and the FOOD. Oh yeah, the FOOD. With the addition of my aunt and uncle, who just immigrated from Guangzhou, China this spring, I feel the need and the pressure to show off Thanksgiving the way it should be. No burnt turkey, or setting the oven on fire (yes, that really did happen to me one year), or lumpy gravy. Although I might be behind on my menu, I decided to get myself in a turkey mood by eating a turkey sandwich. I do think it's working too. I already decided on the cranberry sauce I would be serving =) In this post: Turkey Sandwich with Cranberry-Pomegranate Sauce and Sage Derby Cheese and how I set my oven on fire.



It was my first Thanksgiving dinner. I don't remember the exact year but it was probably my freshmen year in college. I decided to make turkey, a salad, a few pasta dishes, and some sides. Nothing fancy, nothing really challenging. In my household we hardly use the oven. It was more of another storage area for the wok and other pots and pans. While I was buttering up the turkey, I told my mom to clear out the oven and make sure it was empty. She said it was clear and I started to preheat the oven. Since I figure it would take a few minutes, I went upstairs to my room. Ten minutes later I hear my mom screaming my name. I went downstairs and she pointed at the oven. Black smoke was coming out. A minute after that the smoke detector went off and so did my dog, screaming and barking. I opened the oven door and saw smoke and ash fly out. Open the broiler section of the oven and saw fire, to be more exact newspapers on fire. It turns out my mom stored newspapers in the broiler compartment of the oven and she forgot it was there when she cleared the oven. Why does she have newspapers there? I don't know. I really don't know. I know she saves them for dog dodo picking, but why store them in an oven is beyond my comprehension. Both of us and her friend were freaking out and didn't know what to do. So I quickly grab a bowl of water and started throwing it on the flaming papers. It worked. The floor was wet, ashes on the counter, and the dog was still barking. We cleaned up and saw that there was no damage to the oven and started over. This time we were pretty sure the oven was empty.



This turkey sandwich really started out with the cheese. I was shopping at Di Bruno Bros. on Chestnut a few days ago and spotted this green marble cheese named Sage Derby. I knew nothing about it but I had to tried it based on the color alone. Started googling it up when I got home and discovered it's a pretty common holiday cheese that goes well with turkey and chicken, and especially on a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce. Hmmm...turkey and cranberries? Thanksgiving automatically popped into my mind and that's when I realize it was approaching soon and I was definitely not prepare yet. On the other hand I also realize what I wanted to eat for dinner the next night, a turkey sandwich with sage derby cheese and cranberry sauce. I know I would be getting off work late, but didn't want to resort to canned cranberry sauce. So did a bit more searching and found this really simple recipe via Food & Wine for a Cranberry-Pomegranate Sauce.

The original recipe produces 6 cups of sauce, but I only needed enough for 1 person so I cut down the recipe. I also omitted the use of fresh pomegranate seeds, because I don't think that would be necessary when using the sauce on a sandwich. When I was grocery shopping, they were all out of the regular POM Pomegranate juice so I went with the POM Pomegranate and Tangerine.




Cranberry-Pomegranate Sauce
From: Food & Wine

Ingredients:
4 ounces of fresh cranberries
1.5 ounces of pomegranate juice
3 to 5 tablespoons of sugar depending on how sweet or tart your preference is


Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine the cranberries and pomegranate juice. Add the sugar as well, but start of with 3 tablespoons and taste as you cook along. I ended up using 4 tablespoons.

Bring everything to a simmer and cook over moderate heat. Stirring occasionally until most of the cranberries have burst.

Take the sauce out of the pan and let it cool.




To assemble the sandwich I started off with mayonnaise on the bottom piece of the bread. Topped that with 2 slices of roasted turkey, followed by slices of Sage Derby cheese, and finished it off with the other piece of bread spread with the Cranberry Pomegranate sauce.



Are you prepare for Thanksgiving? Have any Thanksgiving cooking stories to share?