Thanksgiving dinner menu

Posted on 4 min read

If you plan to celebrate Thanksgiving but are still struggling to find some good recipes, well, we are here to solve this problem for you! Here you will find some delicious recipes for juicy turkey, cranberry sauce, savoury muffins, as well as some Knödeln for a decadent, alternative dessert.

Napkin Knödel

Quantities for about 8 people.

  • 1 kg bread
  • 1 onion
  • 6 eggs, size M
  • 200 ml milk
  • 200 g breadcrumbs
  • 150 g butter
  • 400 g cremè fraiche
  • 200 g sour half cream
  • 1 bunch of parsley
  • salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste
  1. Cut bread into cubes of about 1 cm. Peel and chop the onions.
  2. Sauté the onions in the butter until translucent, add the milk and remove from the heat.
  3. Mix eggs, creme fraiche, sour cream.
  4. Add the milk and egg mixture to the bread. Chop parsley.
  5. Mix all ingredients together and season to taste.
  6. Let the mixture stand for about an hour.
  7. Form the bread mixture into a roll.
  8. Moisten a cloth napkin or heat-resistant cling film and wrap the dumpling roll in it – tie the two ends together.
  9. Put the dumpling roll in boiling salted water and simmer for about 40 minutes, the water should not boil any more.
  10. It is best to cook the dumplings with a lid on half heat.
  11. Take the dumplings out of the napkin or foil, cut into slices and serve while still hot.
  12. If necessary, prepare the dumplings one day in advance and cut them into slices cold. Then fry in butter and serve.

Polenta quince muffins with hazelnuts

Results in approx. 12 pieces

  • 1 onion
  • 500 g quinces, grated
  • 5 tbsp rape oil
  • 50 g yeast flakes
  • 200 g flour
  • 150 g polenta, fine
  • 50 g hazelnuts, ground
  • 1 packet baking powder
  • 3 eggs, size M
  • 200 ml milk
  • 100 g quark
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 pinch of turmeric
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 100 g hazelnuts, whole
  • 12 muffin cases
  1. Peel and finely chop the onions and sauté in 5 tbsp. oil.
  2. Mix flour, ground hazelnuts, polenta and baking powder.
  3. Mix quinces, eggs, milk, quark, turmeric, sugar and salt together and add to the remaining ingredients.
  4. Knead all ingredients with a dough hook to a dough. Crush the whole hazelnuts.
  5. Put the dough into the prepared paper sleeves in the muffin tray and spread the crushed hazelnuts on top.
  6. Bake in a preheated oven at 175°C for about 25 minutes.

The classic turkey

Quantities for about 8 people.

Turkey in brine

  • 1 turkey (approx. 4.5 kg), preferably ready to cook
  • 4 l water
  • 1 l cranberry juice
  • 1/2 leek
  • 300 g celeriac
  • 3 onions
  • 2 carrots
  • 100 g sugar
  • 120 g salt
  1. Dissolve the salt in about 1 litre of hot water and place the remaining water with all the ingredients in a suitable container and place the turkey, breast down, in it overnight.
  2. The next day, pick up the vegetables and keep part of the salt brine. With this step the turkey stays nice and juicy and the breast does not dry out.

Roasted turkey

  • 4 tangerines
  • 1 bunch of mayoran
  • 2 onions
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • vegetables from the turkey brine
  • 200 ml white wine
  • 100 g goose fat
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 4 tbsp salted turkey brine
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 500 ml poultry stock
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • Maïzena (optional depending on the sauces desired consistency)
  1. Remove the turkey from the water and pat dry.
  2. Wash tangerines hot and cut in half.
  3. Season the turkey inside and out with salt and pepper.
  4. Peel the onions and cut into eighths. Stuff the turkey with tangerines, mayoran and onions.
  5. Close the opening with toothpicks. Cross the legs and tie with kitchen string.
  6. Put the vegetables from the brine on a prepared baking tray, add garlic and mix with the goose fat.
  7. Place the turkey on an oven rack with the breast side up and place it on the prepared baking tray.
  8. Mix the soy sauce, turkey brine and honey together and brush the turkey with it once.
  9. Roast for approx. 30 minutes on the lowest rack of the oven preheated to 220°C.
  10. Now deglaze the bottom baking tray with the white wine. Drizzle the turkey with the roasting stock and add the bay leaves.
  11. Decrease the oven temperature to 160°C, continue roasting for about 2h25, sprinkling the turkey with the gravy from time to time.
  12. 20 minutes before the end of the roasting time, brush the turkey with the soya-honey mixture again and reheat the oven to 220°C.
  13. The turkey is cooked when the meat juice is clear when it is pierced. Remove the toothpick and kitchen string, carve the turkey.
  14. Pour the gravy through a sieve, possibly skimming some fat. Bring the sauce to the boil, season to taste and thicken with maïzena.

The mandatory cranberry sauce

Quantities for about 8 people.

  • 400 g fresh cranberries fresh
  • 50 g dried cranberries
  • 1 orange
  • 150 g sugar (if necessary, a little more sugar may be added)
  • ginger (hazelnut-sized)
  • 1 pinch of salt
  1. Rinse the orange with hot water, dab dry and grate the peel.
  2. Peel ginger and chop finely. Squeeze the orange.
  3. Put all ingredients in a pot and cook for two minutes.
  4. Let the compote stand for 10 minutes. Mix the compote lightly with a hand blender to make a more homogeneous mixture.
  5. Season with salt and serve the cranberry compote.

Dessert!

And for the dessert, let’s not look much further than the classic and decadent pumpkin pie! Just take a look at this recipe!

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