gingerbread pate de choux with unagi and horseradish cream

My husband and I have hosted an Orphan’s Thanksgiving for the past few years now, but this year, we took a break and spent Thanksgiving with our friends Marc and David instead. Marc, especially, is an incredible cook–he’s been to culinary school, graduated at the top of his class, and staged at the Herbfarm for eight months. (He’s also staged for a day at the renowned Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, and he was so good, the sous chef told Marc he would hire him in a heartbeat if he ever moved to Chicago.) He never made cooking a career though, because Microsoft pays the bills. So for him, Thanksgiving is one of those times he gets to go all out, by taking three days off work to prep and cook.

(Need I tell you dinner was tremendous?)

the Herbfarm leek tart with sage poached cherries

an assortment of cheeses, cured meats from Sea Breeze and Salumi Biellese, pear mostarda

When we arrived (all 16 of us), we were greeted with a trio of appetizers. My favorite was the gingerbread pate de choux, a recipe he got from Poppy’s talented pastry chef, Dana Cree. (And yes, we recently learned that unagi is not sustainable, and so Marc will be subbing the unagi for catfish in the future. The Herbfarm tartlets were also delicious–the crusts exceptionally tender and flaky.

“Don’t take a photo of my kitchen! This is the messiest it’s ever looked,” says Marc. Uhm, ok. I hate him if that’s true.

Chianti-glazed  beets in action

the adobo-rubbed heritage turkey

And soon, we sat down to turkey. Two turkeys, to be precise. One was a heritage turkey, brined in an Asian-style mixture, then deep-fried and served in our friend Kairu’s little Momofuku steamed buns (made with Mangalitsa lard. Oh yum!) The other turkey was an adobo-rubbed Southwestern turkey with gravy.

brussels sprouts, apples, and Szechuan pepper salt

an updated version of the French’s green bean casserole

mashed potatoes

Marc’s Chinese sticky rice with a lot of shallots. He told me I was not allowed to comment on this dish, so no comment

butter-glazed baby purple carrots

The best porcini, sour cherry, morel, and RIB stuffing ever. (Yes, he braised racks of ribs and shredded the meat for this stuffing. Wow.)

The amount of work that went into this meal was staggering, and though Marc only fed 16 of us, there was easily enough food for 40. (You know how it is though–you don’t want to even come close to running out of food!) My favorite side dish was the stuffing, full of porcini, morels, shredded braised rib meat, sour cherries, and a whole bunch of other delicious goodness.

sweet corn pudding

Southwestern adobo-rubbed turkey with gravy

Jenifer’s croutons and bacon, for her rosemary sweet potato soup

(the finished soup)

Clara’s cranberry raisin tartlets

And need I tell you desserts were lovely? I especially loved Lourdes’ pumpkin pie. The filling was so light and airy, like pumpkin chiffon, and the crust was beautifully crisp. Clara’s cranberry tartlets were the perfect balance of tangy and sweet.

Lourdes’ lemon tart

my Valrhona chocolate chestnut cake

Lourdes’ pumpkin pie

a stack of cookies wrapped in duct tape and aluminum foil for the classy hosts

Ken is a stage designer and channeled his artistic skill into a stack of cookies bundled up with duct tape and aluminum foil. Inside: gingersnaps, and little cookies filled with peanut butter and chocolate cups.

Blanche continues her tireless search for more food

Stella hangs out on the carpet

Marc and David have two beautiful dogs–Blanche is obsessed with food, and actually gets up on the counter to snitch bites. Both dogs are sweethearts!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks, Marc and David, for hosting such an extravagant meal, and for the delicious plates of leftovers.

(Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too! Would love to know what you all cooked this year in the comments section!)