Happy Cheesegiving

For more than a decade The Man and I spent the week of Thanksgiving in Hawaii, renting houses on the various islands; staying in the Bungalows at the Turtle Bay Resort and one year the 7-day cruise of the islands. (Back-in-the-day, there was only one cruise line, American Hawaii Cruises, and none of the megaboats. Our ship was the SS Constitution , the ship that took Grace Kelly to Monaco to marry Prince Rainier.) Which means I never had to cook (or clean-up) on Thanksgiving. Now life is quieter and The Man and I stay home and enjoy this day of thanks with out feline friends and today even a possum joined us.

For Thanksgiving this year we spent a quiet day together with our feline friends binge watching Longmire (which we have been viewing for several weeks and finished) and Seinfeld. We also watched Letters to Juliet and Red Notice. Letters gets 4 1/2 stars; Red Notice a soft 1. And I prepared a four-course meal that spanned the day from breakfast at 10am to dessert at 8pm.

Course one was breakfast: Pizza with Swaggerty’s Farm breakfast sausage, veggie seasoning and Rogue Creamery’s Whoa Nellie jalapeno cheddar, topped with sunny-side up farm-fresh eggs.

Course two was French Onion Soup with Emmi Le Gruyere AOP.

Course three was standard Thanksgiving fare: turkey breast, mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, Hasselback sweet potato with brown butter and caramelized onions* and green beans.

Course four was warm Georgia Gold Peach Cobbler with French Vanilla ice cream.

Our feline friends got their fair share and we all faded away into an L-Tryptophan coma… it was another perfect day with The Man.

*I think Hasselback potatoes are visually beautiful but The Man “requires” standard mashed potatoes with turkey and gravy. I decided to go a different path with the sweet potatoes this year. I found a Hasselback recipe at howsweeteats.com that incorporated caramelized onions and since I was already caramelizing onions for the French Onion Soup, I threw in a couple more.

How to caramelize onions: It takes me between 2 and 3 hours to caramelize a large batch of onions. For the French Onion Soup and the Hasselback Sweet Potato, I used 6 onions and 4 tablespoons of Kerrygold Butter.

1. Peel the paper off the onion and slice off top and root.
2. Slice onion 1/8″ thin with either a sharp knife or a mandolin.
3. Melt butter in large skillet. I used a 14″ skillet for this large batch.
4. Toss onion slices in melted butter until all are coated.
5. On a low heat, cook the onions – tossing every few minutes until sweated down and dark brown in color.

Stay tuned: The Tillamook Cheddar and Kelly’s Jelly Cuties Giveaway starts December 1. 3 readers will win a selection of 5 Maker’s Reserve Cheddars (Vintage 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2012) and a gift pack of Kelly’s Jelly Jellies and Preserves. Delivery in time for Christmas. Giveaway will be conducted independently by rafflecopter.com which will also pick the winners.

In addition to being a member of the Internationale Guilde des Fromagers (Jura and Garde) and an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.

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