Thanksgiving At Hill Top Cottage | A Menu With Recipes

I have not had the honor of hosting a Thanksgiving meal, and this year I am celebrating the holiday with my husband, my dad and his partner Laura at my dad’s home. Laura is a phenomenal cook. I can only dream of perfecting her meal planning and cooking methods. She is often an inspiration and her Thanksgiving menu sounds divine. She has everything covered, so I will bring the dessert (homemade apple and pumpkin pie). That being said, I am happy that I will also be hosting a post-thanksgiving holiday meal at Hill Top Cottage the day after Thanksgiving for the very first time.

Our niece Makayla will be visiting for the long weekend and our good friend Anson will also be joining us. Makayla is looking forward to an old-fashioned New England Thanksgiving and I want to make it magical for her. I will not be cooking a full turkey, but I fully intend on creating a menu to impress, a feast that feels like the nostalgic Thanksgiving meal she deserves. In other words, a more simplified, but still traditional Thanksgiving menu with just a few exchanges. Instead of a full turkey, I will be making a turkey en croute. Instead of a green bean casserole, I will be roasting Brussel sprouts and glazing carrots. Instead of having multiple potatoes and sweet potatoes, I will be serving a simple mashed potato side. Simple yes, but not any less enjoyable.

I am writing this after completing my grocery shopping and writing out my meal plan, which will begin a couple days in advance to make the day itself run smoothly.

Appetizers will be simple; a pumpkin baked brie (you may find my recipe here. The only change I have made is that I now use Bonne Maman Spiced Pumpkin Spread instead of the Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter I used to use.) and a charcuterie board featuring our favorite local New England cheeses (Arethsa Dairy Bella Bantam cheese -my favorite -and Cabot’s Seriously Sharp Cheddar -Matt’s favorite) , apricots, nuts, olives, pepperoni, salami, fig spread and crackers.

I’m also going to have a bowl of black canned olives available in honor of my grandfather. I have fond childhood memories of the holiday season when he would encourage me to place the black olives on my fingers. I would walk around with my snack on each finger and graze on them as I played. I like keeping a bowl of them on hand every Thanksgiving and Christmas because it reminds me of him.

For a starter, I decided to skip the salad because this is a large menu and there are plenty of vegetables and greens in the main meal. Traditionally, a squash soup would grace a Thanksgiving menu, but Matthew is not a big fan of squash so I will be making his personal favorite cheddar broccoli soup. You can find my soup recipe linked here.

For the main dish, instead of a full turkey I will be making a turkey en croute. It is a lot like a beef Wellington, but made with turkey breast and stuffing (or your leftover turkey and stuffing from Thanksgiving) wrapped in puff pastry. It is a great way to make a new meal out of your Thanksgiving leftovers.

For the sides I will be making traditional mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, roasted Brussel sprouts, homemade cranberry sauce (as well as canned cranberry sauce as it is Matthew’s favorite) and homemade gravy.

Dessert will be leftover apple and pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving the day before and I will also be preparing gingerbread dough the day before so we can bake cookies together as a fun activity after dinner. If there is no leftover pie, I am prepared with extra pie crust dough that I will be making and I have plenty of pumpkin and apples to use.

Beverage options will include water, tea, coffee, cocoa, hot apple cider, sparkling cider and wine. It is going to be a delicious evening.

To make a turkey en croute

First prepare stuffing (or use your leftover stuffing from Thanksgiving). To make things simple this year I am making Stove Top Turkey Stuffing with turkey stock.

Next, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and lay out your puff pastry on a lightly buttered or oiled baking mat on a baking sheet. You want to make sure your puff pastry is still very cold, as it will get too mushy to handle if it gets warm.

With a spatula, spread out a thick layer of stuffing onto the center of the puff pastry. Place your turkey breast or leftover turkey on top. You can create multiple layers of stuffing and turkey. Some people also add cranberries or cranberry sauce. I will be adding a few cranberries here and there to give it a burst of flavor without being overpowering.

Layer on another thick covering of stuffing on top before taking your other sheet of puff pastry and covering the top layer. Then you will roll the bottom puff pastry over the top to seal around the edges of your turkey encourage. It will be in the shape of a small yule log. If you have too much leftover pastry on the edges, you can remove it and use it to decorate your turkey en croute. I enjoy using fall themed pastry cutters to make autumnal shapes.

Lightly coat your turkey en croute with a thin layer of egg. Gently cover in tin foil without bumping the pastry on top. Place in the oven for 60 minutes, for until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. You may want to open the tin foil at this time and let the top layer become golden for a few minutes in the oven before taking it out and covering again before serving. I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. It is completely inspired by a Trader Joe’s frozen turkey en croute that they used to have several years ago and do not make anymore. I think mine actually tastes better.

 

To make turkey gravy without the droppings

Turkey gravy is best made with the droppings from the baking sheet when you make a turkey in the oven. With turkey en croute, we do not have the droppings. So this is how I make my turkey gravy instead.

First you will gently brown three teaspoons of salted butter in a sauce pan. Once lightly browned, add two tablespoons of Favor Master Gravy Master. If you do not have this, use two tea spoons of soy sauce, a half tea spoon of sugar, and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Bring to a simmer and then turn off.

In a separate bowl, mix a cup of turkey stock with two tablespoons of flour. You will want to do this with cold turkey stock as hot stock can clump the flour. Mix very well so that it is not clumpy. Add more flour if needed for thickness. Pu this in a separate sauce pan and simmer. Add a teaspoon of Gravy master to this mix once it is simmering. After a few minutes of simmering, turn the other sauce pan back on and slowly pour this mixture into the butter and gravy master mix. Stir and simmer together. More gravy master, salt, or flour may be added as needed for personal preference.

 

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is a great recipe to prepare the day before. The more you can do ahead of time, the easier cooking on the day will be. Plus, cranberry sauce is best served chilled.

Pour a cup and a half of fresh cranberries into a pot and add 1/4th cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar. Bring this to a boil and then move down to medium heat, stirring occasionally to keep the mixture from burning on the bottom. You will want to cook and stir until the berries have all burst. This may take some time.

Take one small orange and use a zester to zest some orange peel into the cranberry sauce.

Once your zest is done (add as much or as little as you like), peel the orange and dice up half of it, adding the diced orange to the mixture in the pot. Add a pinch of nutmeg and ground cloves. You can even add a sprinkle of cinnamon. Stir and simmer until blended well. You can also add fresh mint leaves to this recipe if you would like to crate an orange mint cranberry sauce, but it’s not always a crowd favorite so I leave this out.

Once you have a thick sauce mixture, place the sauce in a jar or container and store in the fridge to serve cold.

 

The Table Setting

The table setting is one of my favorite things about hosting. I love vintage linens and transfer ware dishes. I cannot share a photo because I have not yet set the table, but I will have a plaid tablecloth in blue, burnt orange and green with matching linen napkins in gold napkin rings. The silverware will be tucked into my “Welcome to our patch” utensil holders (pictured below) and my set of thrifted Memory Lane (1965) dishes with the acorn point edges and country life transfer ware designs will grace the table. The matching serving platters and bowls will be used for side sides and to hold the turkey en croute. The matching gravy bowl will hold the homemade gravy.

The soup will be served in a large pumpkin baking dish with four matching pumpkin shaped bowls with lids. In the center of the table I will have a cornucopia basket overflowing with autumnal decoration and an assortment of gourds and pumpkins with two brass candlestick holders containing tall burgundy tapers will make up the centerpiece. Dinner will be eaten in the warm glow of lamp and candlelight.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that you have a lovely time with friends and family this holiday season. If you try any of my recipes, please let me know in the comments below how they worked out. I’m very much looking forward to our post Thanksgiving dinner party, our first of its kind at Hill Top Cottage. I hope that it will be the first of many. Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful Thanksgiving.