- Baked, smothered turkey wings with gravy and cornbread dressing
- Roasted sweet potatoes
- Golden and red beets
- Beet and/or collard greens
- Cranberry sauce
- Yeast rolls or cornbread
- Some kind of desert
Recipes to follow. This is a menu with limited leftovers, for people who don’t want to put on the holiday 10. If you don’t eat dairy, substitute vegetable oil or margarine for butter. If you are vegan, don’t eat the turkey wings or gravy or cornbread dressing.
The order of cooking. Make your dessert the day before. We use canned cranberry sauce because everyone wants something different. I like whole berry, others like jellied, and there are a few holdouts for orange-cranberry relish. Refrigerate it the day before.
Buy Rhodes Bake and Serve yeast dinner rolls and prep them so they will thaw and rise while you are cooking. Start them early the same day, like around breakfast time or even earlier if you plan to eat early.
On Thanksgiving or whenever you are planning to eat this, start the sweet potatoes and beets, because they can roast for longer without being overcooked, plus you can put them on the lower shelf and push them toward the back. Then make your cornbread. Prep your wings while that is baking. Take out your cornbread and put your wings in the oven. Cook your greens while everything else is cooking. Make the gravy last using the drippings from the wings.
Turkey Wings
I allow 1-2 wings per person. Wash the wings and pat them dry with a paper towel. Spray cooking spray in the baking dish you plan to use. Arrange the wings skin side up. I cut off the 3rd joint to make gravy and just roast the drumette and the second joint. Sprinkle with garlic powder, paprika, poultry seasoning, and a little salt and pepper. You can use jerk seasoning instead, or add a bit of crushed red pepper for zing. Rub the seasonings all over the wings, and place them in the dish. Peel and thinly slice (not see-through, just not big chunks) a smallish white or yellow onion and arrange the pieces on top of the wings. If you like bell pepper, you can add some also. Drizzle with olive oil. Add a little bit of room temperature water to the dish. For my small baking dish, I use about 1/2 cup water or so, maybe a little more. Do NOT put the water on top of the wings, because it will rinse the seasonings off. (IF you are using a glass pan, try to put in enough water at the beginning so you don’t risk killing your baking pan by adding water to it when it is already hot. It probably will crack if you do that, and there goes your dinner!) Cover tightly with foil. Roast at 350F for an hour, then check to see if the wings are done. If not, cover again and put back in for another 10-15 minutes.
Gravy
Use turkey stock made from the simmered wingtips, or buy an envelope of turkey gravy mix and just add water and your drippings. To make from scratch, take your stock and warm it in a saucepan while you are making a roux with oil and flour. Using a skillet, brown the flour in an equal amount of oil, stirring gently but constantly. The more flour you have, the more gravy you will have. You only need a few tablespoons, like 2-3, for 2 people. Do not leave it for a minute. If it scorches, throw it out and start over. When the roux is golden brown, add the warm stock and stir until it is incorporated and you have gravy. Add the drippings and let simmer while you do whatever is left to do. Season to taste.
Cornbread for dressing
While your oven is preheating, add 1/2 stick of butter to the skillet you plan to bake your cornbread in and place it in the oven. Let the butter melt and brown while the oven preheats. I use the following for a 6 inch cast iron skillet: 1/2 cup yellow or white cornmeal, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar (optional for you but not for me), pinch baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, pinch salt, and 1 cup whole fat buttermilk. I add about 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste if I am using sugar. Mix together until all mixed in but don’t overmix because you want tender cornbread, not overdeveloped gluten from the flour. Pour the browned butter from the skillet into the batter, stir, then pour it all into the hot skillet. Bake for about 30-40 minutes until it looks like cornbread should. If you don’t know, then test it with a toothpick to see if it is baked all the way. Remove and let cool until you can work with it to make the dressing.
If you want to make cornbread instead of yeast rolls, just double everything and bake it in a larger cast iron skillet. I use a 10-inch skillet for 8-10 servings and use 1/3 for the dressing and the rest for eating.
Cornbread dressing
Take your cornbread and crumble it into a bowl. If you want to sneak a slice to eat, that’s ok as long as it isn’t a big slice. Add about as much celery as will fit in the cupped palm of your hand, the same amount of onion, and grated apple (1 small apple, like winesap or pink lady). Add a little bit of poultry seasoning (or equal amounts of sage, marjoram, rosemary, thyme and black pepper), about 1/2 stick cubed butter and 1 cup of chicken or vegetable broth. Mix thoroughly and place in a greased casserole dish. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until it is golden brown and crispy but not burnt around the edges.
Sweet Potatoes (or Yams)
Wash and dry the potatoes thoroughly. Rub the skin with olive or vegetable oil, wrap tightly in foil, and put in the oven at 350F. Bake for at least an hour. The potatoes are sweeter than if boiled and are easy to serve by plumping them like baked white potatoes and topping them with butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a sprinkle of coarse sugar (like turbinado or brown). Allow 1 small potato per person or 1 large one for 2 people.
I recommend candied yams rather than baked ones if you have yams. Peel and slice the yams about 1 inch thick. Boil until cooked all the way through. Drain off the water, add butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Put the yams in a baking dish, cover tightly, and bake for about 30 minutes.
Beets
Scrub beets to get off all the dirt. Cut off and save the greens. Trim stray roots. Score them with the sharp tip of a knife. Rub them with olive oil, salt, and pepper (just a little bit). Wrap them in foil. Roast in the oven with the turkey at 350F for about an hour. Then open the package and let them roast a bit longer, like maybe 15-20 minutes. When they are done, you should be able to peel off the skin easily by holding a cooled beet with a paper towel in one hand while you wipe off the skin with the other. Watch out, they can stain you, your clothes, your counters, etc. Slice and serve warm or use in another dish. Allow 2 beets per person.
Beet Greens
Thoroughly wash any greens to remove dirt, grit, stray critters, etc. You can saute the greens in a bit of oil with garlic and onion, then add a few tablespoons of vegetable or chicken stock, put the lid on the pan, and steam them on low heat until tender.