Estación Liceu

Operation: T-Day

We’re a little over halfway through our weekend and at home and we’re enjoying the relaxing, unscheduled feel of it. Yesterday, Austin did computery things and I went to my hair appointment and ran some errands. Some laundry and dishes were done, some organizing, and lots of laying around and reading.
Our other project was to plan the Thanksgiving dinner that we are hosting and begin test runs on any new recipes. Austin was very cute and excited about hosting dinner, so much so that I had to rein him in a bit (example: he was envisioning a series of elaborate hors d’oeuvres for after dinner so that our guests would not be forced to munch on leftovers).
Last night’s test dishes were the sides since the brined turkey from last year is still being talked about and will be repeated this year. We did the mashed potatoes recommended by my old French adviser from college, the Bon Appetit recipe that involves fresh sage, white cheddar, and of course butter and cream. We decided that a slightly less heavy side would be in order so we tried Cooking Light’s Green Beans with Toasted Hazelnut- Lemon butter.

Both dishes turned out quite well and are on the Official Menu of the 2nd Annual LundeRoy Thanksgiving. The potatoes were creamy and buttery and delicious and sage was a lovely addition. The bonus feature is that the dish has to be baked so you can prep the whole thing a day or two before and all you have to do is throw it in the oven (if you can spare the space) until it’s warmed through. I didn’t use white cheddar since I couldn’t find any but it’s only a question of aesthetics since cheddar is not yellowy-orange by nature; that comes from an additive.
The green beans were also just right, light and buttery and lemony with the crunch of hazelnut bits. The beans can be trimmed the night before and the butter can be prepared up to a week in advance so all you have to do at game time is boil the beans for a few minutes, then toss in the butter mixture. In this dish, I was so concerned about getting the hazelnuts down to the perfect size that I forgot to toast them. I probably will do so on T-day.

posted by Kelly @ 8:40 a. m.