RMDM Kitchen: Talking Turkey

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With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching I wanted to introduce another feature topic that I plan on posting about regularly. In our household I’m in charge of the day to day cooking that is generally very simple fare, especially after watching our little man all day. While I enjoy my role as the family chef what I really enjoy is putting together the big production holiday feast.

That being said, I’m also not one that finds a tremendous amount of comfort in strictly following tradition. As I prepare to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with my family there will be no Norman Rockwell setting in my dining room. Nor will there be any bygone era images of the family patriarch preparing to carve some majestic roasted turkey as those gathered eagerly wait.

The truth is I don’t care much for turkey. This isn’t anything new for me. My grandfather – a butcher during his nearly 50 year professional career – didn’t like turkey either. One of the most endearing memories I have of thanksgiving while I lived with my grandparents during college was coming home from work to find a large ham on the platter where one would normally find the thanksgiving turkey. However, so as not to disappoint those in the family that would have missed the turkey, my grandfather had dutifully affixed roasted drum sticks and a measure of stuffing to the ham to give the illusion that “turkey” was still the centerpiece of our thanksgiving table.

Of the few thanksgivings I have prepared myself I have for the most part kept with tradition and served the standard holiday fare to my family and guests. However, last year I decided to try something different as I was inspired by an article in Charlotte magazine about alternative thanksgiving day menus. Instead of spending hours roasting a turkey and keeping my fingers crossed that it came out alright I wanted to find something that would allow me to put a quality meal on my holiday table without needing to spend hours watching a bird roast.

As a result I will be serving Osso Bucco Style Turkey again this year with side dishes that are very much inspired by my Italian heritage. One of these sides that I’m going to serve is a roasted butternut squash risotto this year partly because I want to try something different. Also, I wanted to have one starch on the table that my wife could eat. Due to some issues our little man has she needs to avoid any intake of dairy, so the standard garlic and chive smashed potatoes will be off limits.

I have made some adjustments to the original recipe that I found in the Charlotte magazine article and you can have this dish from the refrigerator to the table in about two hours.

Have an interest in giving this recipe a shot either for Thanksgiving or just because you like turkey? Right click here and download the PDF, or hit me up by email at pj@realmendriveminivans.com.