World's Best Gravy

My mom makes this gravy every Thanksgiving and there is tons for everyone and enough for leftovers, too! You make it ahead of time, unlike traditional Thanksgiving gravies that you can't make until the bird is done. This is one of those family recipes that you kinda feel like you should lock up in a vault somewhere, but something this good just shouldn't be kept from anyone! You will be the QUEEN of Thanksgiving if you bring this to the table (or the King, if you're a dude).

This gravy is made using turkey wings. When you make this you can have a little private pre-Thanksgiving when you have the turkey wings for dinner, like my folks do. You can make this up to one month ahead of time and freeze it; thaw it for two days in the refrigerator. When reheating, whisk it often in the saucepan. When your Thanksgiving turkey is done you can skim the fat from it's pan and add in the fresh pan drippings to the gravy.

This recipe is from a magazine, my mom has the photocopied page in her big recipe binder. That binder, by the way, is one of those things you go back into a burning house for! Lots of gems in there. I took a picture of the recipe so I could type it here for you. I don't know what mag this is from, so next time I'm in Richmond I'll get that info and edit this post to give it credit. World's Best Gravy
Makes 8 cups
Prep: 10 minutes
Roast: 1 1/2 hours
Cook: 1 hour 40 minutes

4 turkey wings (about 3-4 lbs)
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
1 cup water
8 cups chicken broth
2 medium carrots, cut into chunks
2 medium ribs celery (with leaves), cut into chunks
4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 t. dried
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 T. butter
1 t. pepper

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Put wings in a large roasting pan; add onions. Roast 1 1/4 hours or until wings are browned.
3. Put wings and onions in a 5-6 quart pot. Add the 1 cup water to the roasting pand and stir to scrape up any brown bits, then add to the pot. Add 6 cups of the chicken broth (refrigerate remaining 2 cups for later), the carrots, celery, and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered for 1 1/2 hours.
4. Remove wings from pot and eat them for dinner!
5. Pour the rest of the contents of the pot through a strainer into a 3 quart saucepan. Discard vegetables and skim off the fat (to help skim the fat, refrigerate for a while and the fat will solidify on top).
6. Whisk the flour into the remaining 2 cups of chicken broth until blended and smooth.
7. Bring the gravy in the saucepan to a gentle boil. Whisk in flour mixture and boil for 4-5 minutes to thicken. Stir in butter and pepper, and check seasonings to see if you need to add salt. Serve, refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for up to a month.

Cranberry Sauce with Blueberries and Candied Orange

This recipe is original by mistake, and was kind of an experiment, but it turned out so great! I endeavored to make a recipe called Cranberry, Tangerine and Blueberry Sauce from Bon Appetite, but encountered two major problems: cranberries and tangerines are not in season yet. The store didn't even have frozen cranberries. So I bought 2 cans of whole berry cranberry sauce, and since I thought the combination of flavors in the original recipe sounded interesting, so I got a navel orange and half a pint of blueberries. I candied small slices of the orange, heated up the cranberry sauce to melt it, and added the blueberries to cook them a little. Then combined the oranges in to the sauce and refrigerated it. I thought it was good cold, and extra good warmed up. The orig recipe also called for some minced fresh ginger, which I forgot to add LUCKILY. I stirred in some ginger to a small amount of the sauce and thought it threw off the balance of flavors, but my mom did enjoy it that way too.

Cranberry Sauce with Blueberries and Candied Orange
2 cans of whole bean cranberry sauce
1/2 pint blueberries
candied orange slices from one navel orange (recipe below)

In a sauce pan over medium-low heat, melt the cranberry sauce, then add the blueberries and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat to cool slightly, then stir in the candied orange slices. Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold.

Candied Orange Slices
1 navel orange
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar

Cut the oranges into halves or wedges, and make very thin slices (see pic). Boil the water and sugar together in a heavy saucepan, then add the orange slices. Continue to boil for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to medium and cook for another 30 minutes. Lay out the slices onto a sheet pan lined with non-stick foil (or wax or parchment paper) and let cool. (For the cranberry recipe, you can use while still warm.)

Note: Multiply the recipe to make extra. Navel oranges are a must, or other thick-skinned orange; the white part of thinner skinned oranges is too bitter. These would be great to add to the tops of cupcakes or other desserts, and I can't wait to try this with grapefruit!

Navel orange, sliced and ready for the pot:

Gremolata Rice

Gremolata is the simplest and tastiest accompaniment for grilled chicken, or, if you accidentally spill rice all over your kitchen (including into your bowl of gremolata - as I did right before taking the picture at the blog heading...), for rice.

Gremolata
Italian parsley
minced garlic
lemon zest
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients (in amounts according to your taste). Add olive oil if you'd like to create more of a sauce-like consistency.

You can add gremolata to rice before cooking and it will be delicious, accident or not!