Wednesday, November 4, 2009

My Wife's Boss is Coming to Dinner - Sucking Up for a Raise Menu - Thanksgiving Preview


As long time readers know, my wife has this inconvenient day job. It gets in the way of a lot of my plans, but it gives her a special purpose, so I tolerate it. Going along with the inconvenient day job is her boss. Actually, as bosses go, Jackie and I really like this woman. Led an interesting life, and is fun to be with.

Well, we get together a couple times a year for dinner, and yesterday I decided was a great chance to enjoy their company again... But it made me ponder, what dinner menu planning (and executing) is more fraught with pressure than hosting dinner with the boss???

And then it occurred to me... Someone, somewhere out there in the world, hundreds of cooks are hosting their first Thanksgiving dinner, sure, that's a lot of pressure, but what if it was the first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner for your Mother-in Law? Now that is pressure. So, I decided to preview a possible Thanksgiving meal with the dinner party for my wife's boss (and her husband) for any potential Mother-in-law hosts.

What would Thanksgiving be without a Turkey? I decided to smoke mine, so it was up at dawn to get this 20 pound monster on the cooker. I will blog the specifics soon...

Back in October, I blogged about my ALL VEGETARIAN MEAL. For that meal, I made an appetizer dip with eggplant. You can read all about this recipe by going HERE. How to GRILL WHOLE EGGPLANTS for Eggplant Dip - Steven Raichlen is a terrific recipe that is perfect for a milling about having the first glass of wine time. I have already blogged about this and you can follow the links above, but only change I made was rather than grilling, I smoked the plant... Came out GREAT (those slits are filled with garlic...yum).

Stuffing with turkey is VERY overrated. In fact, many a meal is disappointing BECAUSE you stuff the bird with the dressing. When done right, it is fine, but there are two problems with stuffing. First, if you stuff too full, the air flow needed to cook everything through is restricted. So your stuffing will not reach critical temperature (165 degrees). That means potentially poisoning your mother-in-law. While no jury would convict you, it will dampen the family spirits for every future Thanksgiving. Your other problem is the opposite of stuffing too full, and that is to have too much air flow, making your stuffing overcooked and dry by the time the turkey is done.

So, instead, I usually cook my dressing in the oven in a side pan. But for this dinner, I experimented and came up with a savory bread pudding, made with buttermilk and pork sausage ( the reason I am showing two different pans, one of my guests can not eat pork, so i made a savory bread pudding without meat for him. I will absolutely be blogging this recipe in the next couple of days.

And here is my wife's bosses' husband, who can not eat pork. But, I insisted he have a little pig. And, you will be pleased to know that I will not be making another post about my Fugasse Bread making skills (which are legendary in my own mind). If you are interested, you can click HERE for the recipe. But, it is a terrific bread for making shapes... Like this pig face!

But I did like the pig faced bread so much, I am showing it twice...

I invented a recipe...

A Cornmeal Vegetarian Galette (fancy name for Tart, which is just a less fancy name for a little pie).

Everybody.... OHHH AHHH, and I will be blogging this recipe soon as well (with a surprise twist)

For potatoes, I used a modification of my Bacon Wrapped Grilled Potato Boats with Goat Cheese and Asparagus that you can check out the details by clicking HERE. These I smoked instead of grilled, and I will be making a post about them as well.

And I am now a master candy maker, as I made homemade truffles (Caramel-pumpkin pie) for dessert. And you know that I am so full of myself that I will make this post about my first attempt to make candy!

So, there you go... 7 courses, a meal fit for a king (or your wife's boss, or your first attempt at a hosting your mother-in-law for Thanksgiving). Stay tuned for the details, they will be coming in the next few days.

Three wine bottles in the trash, maybe I cooked and served my way towards a raise for my wife. Someone had a good time!

23 comments:

  1. I say she gets a raise and a promotion! Note..I can't read the words "special purpose" without thinking of Steve Martin in "The Jerk".

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  2. Absolutely raise-worthy. I'm a 52 year old Piscean, married to a chef!

    Hi! I'm PJ,host of the Amazon giveaway. You're one of my new followers and I like to meet and greet those I haven't met and gret yet! :) Welcome!

    I'm following along on your blog now too!

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  3. You throw one heck of a dinner party, especially by the looks of that trash can. By the way, I gave out your inspiration award today - make sure you check it out and that I did it right! :-)

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  4. Smoked turkey is the BOMB. Your whole menu looks awesome, I can't wait to see the recipes.

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  5. Outstanding Dave...you are such an entertainer, anyone would be lucky to be your dinner guest.

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  6. What a lucky boss to be treated to such a feast! I love smoked turkey and that one looks divine! Looking forward to the recipes, cher!

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  7. Very nice! Cooking the Galloping Gourmet way ...am I dating myself?.... He used to cook with wine and always drink it too...I agree with Pam... I say she gets a promotion!

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  8. I gotta believe that your wife got a raise! Nice dinner party. Love that pig bread. You are getting really good at bread baking-it's now an art form for you.

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  9. Smoked Turkey is the ONLY way to eat Turkey and I am waiting with bated breath for the savory stuffing/bread pudding recipe so I can steal it!

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  10. What a lovely meal! How could she not get a raise?? I wish I could come for dinner too.

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  11. I want to come to dinner. Seriously. YUM, everything looks fabulous :D

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  12. Looks like a fun night Dave!!! Love the looks of the bread!

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  13. I love your entire menu.. what deliciousness and such care you put into it all. I am sure the boss and her husband were thoughly impressed. I am.

    Cant wait to see the recipes!

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  14. great tips on the turkey stuffing, i never knew! what a yummy dinner!

    i'm curious to hear about your risotto story, you'll have to tell it soon!

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  15. Oh my good lord! I AM SO HUNGRY NOW!

    and I never thought of putting garlic in the eggplant like that OHHH! Must tell GMR!!!

    I don't eat pork, but that bread is so cute *laughing*

    HUNNGGRRRYYYYYY!

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  16. So, get the boss drunk, take incriminating photos to assure a raise? Hee hee. Looks like a fun night. I love the piggy :)

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  17. Your wife should be in good shape with the boss with that dinner!

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  18. Hey Dave... Everything looks fantastic and I loved reading your post cause it was funny! You crack me up! I totally loved the pig bread! Soooooo I have been too scared to put a WHOLE turkey on the grill... Mostly the "up at Dawn" thingie in your instructions... HAHA... only kidding about that... I'll be watching for the specifics... maybe do a before Thanksgiving trial run.
    ~Rainey~

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  19. Your wife's boss is definitely one lucky fellow! Your grilled turkey does look good. I'm more of a turkey stuffer myself :) Thanks for the link to the eggplant dip. I will have to that as well. What I really liked was the look of your galette. Those are gorgeous looking something I will also have to try. It looks like you had a very nice meal!

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  20. everything looks great...sounds like a good time (at least the bottles in the trash suggest so)

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  21. I've never smoked a turkey myself but I have eaten smoked turkey. I love the flavor!

    What a great meal! :D

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  22. I think your wife deserves a raise and a corner office after that feast.

    Loved the bread, though I thought it was a polar bear, grins.

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  23. What a feast! And I love your pig bread!! :)

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