Thanksgiving Feast 2007

Vietnamese Pumpkin Soup
Autumn Salad with shrimps
Dijon Mustard Turkey
Homestyle Gravy
Mushroom Cornbread stuffing
Shanghai Cranberry Sauce
Green bean Casserole
Baked Japanese yam with scallion oil
Japanese Scalloped corn
Chocolate Raspberry pie

Vietnamese Pumpkin Soup

6 cups chicken broth
3 cups pumpkin
1/2 cup boiled peanut
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup coconut milk
salt and white pepper to taste

1) Cook peanut, pumpkin, and onion in chicken stock until nicely soft (20 minutes). Remember to soak peanut for couple hours before cooking, it takes much longer to cook than pumpkin.
2) Use mixer to puree soup.
3) Put back to simmer for a few minutes, add coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper.
Option: Use a large hollowed pumpkin for the soup, warm up in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes before serve.

Autumn Salad with Shrimps
8 cups mixed greens
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup cooked shrimps
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 can pear
1/4 cup roasted walnut
1/4 cup rasin
5-6 prunes, chopped
French dressing

Top salad greens with shrimps, eggs, nuts, fruits and dressing. Mix well when served.

Dijon Mustard Turkey
1 fresh young turkey, 10 lbs
2 T dijon mustard
2 lemon
1 t paprika
1 T chopped fresh rosemary, oregano and thyme
1 gallon brine

1) Soak turkey in brine for 10 hrs. Make sure you have a big enough container for your turkey and enough brine to cover ans also enough room in you refrigerator for it. If not, use a bag and put in you cooler.
Brine: 4 cups orange juice, 1 cup table salt, 1/2 cup sugar and enough water to cover turkey (about 1 gallon all together). Make sure salt and sugar all dissolved.

2) Rinse the bird throroughly, pat dry and massage the bird with fresh squeezed lemon juice, dijon mustard, chopped fresh rosemary, oregano, thyme. Finish with a coat of papprika.

3) Turn oven to 475 degrees. Cover turkey breast and wings (or you can fold wings back) with foil. Bake for 30 minutes, reduce to 350 degree. Bake for 1 hr 45'. Remove foil. Brush butter or oil on turkey (after basting, if you do). Bake for 30 more minutes.

4) Remove and let turkey stand for 20 minutes before carving. Reserve pan drippings for gravy.

Baked Japanese Yam with Scallion oil

6 Japanese yams
2 T scallion oil
salt and pepper

Bake yams in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. You can prick yams before baking (optional). Make a slit along yam, use a kitchen towel to push the ends to make yam open up. Season scallion oil with salt and pepper, stir in yam with a fork.

Shanghai Cranberry Sauce

4 cups fresh cranberry (1 12 oz bag)
1.5 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cinamon stick
12 kumquat candies, cut in half
1 T port or cognac

Wash cranberry and place in a sauce pan with sugar, water and cinamon stick. Stir and simmer until cranberry bursts (about 10 minutes). Add kumquat candies and cognac in, stir well. Chill and serve.