Cooking Free Gourmet Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving menu consisted of apricot glazed turkey (unique, isn’t it?), sausage and chestnut stuffing (love chestnuts… it’s so hearty, it also had button mushrooms in it),  green beans almondine, roasted butternut squash with toasted marshmallows, mash potatoes, cranberry orange relish, and saffron risotto.  Yes, saffron risotto.  With my multicultural family a rice dish always has a place on the table.  It’s like a meal is not complete if they don’t have rice even if it doesn’t fit the menu.  Sometimes, I think they would rather have the rice than the meat. That’s not everybody, though.  The guys dig into the meat, but for the sake of the elders, the rice is a must.  For desert there was a fabulous rum cake made into individual servings, which I’m going to try to replicate sometime soon.

 

You may be wondering where the recipes are for this Thanksgiving meal.  I don’t have these recipes because I didn’t cook any of it.  I thought I would just let you salivate over the thought of it 🙂

I took a break from cooking for the most part of the weekend and let others take care of Thanksgiving dinner.  If you are curious about the recipes for any of the above dishes, just send me a message and I’ll see what I can do to get them for you.  I did, however, get the recipe for the saffron risotto to share with you.  You could literally see the saffron threads and taste the saffron in every bite.  This was some high quality saffron, folks.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

3   tablespoons unsalted butter

1    finely chopped medium sized onion

kosher salt and black pepper  to taste

1   cup Arborio rice

1/2   cup dry white wine

1/2   teaspoon saffron threads  (quality saffron is essential)

3   1/2   cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus more if needed

1/2   cup   grated Parmesan (2 ounces), plus more for serving

2   tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Method

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 6 to 8 minutes.

Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until absorbed.

Add the saffron and half the broth (1 ¾ cups) and simmer, stirring once, until absorbed, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the remaining broth and simmer, stirring once, until the rice is tender and creamy, 8 to 10 minutes. (If the rice is not cooked through and the mixture is dry, add more broth and continue to cook until tender.)

Stir in the Parmesan and the remaining tablespoon of butter. Sprinkle with the parsley and additional Parmesan, if desired.