Thanksgiving recipes from McKinley’s Grille

Jingle Bells is playing on the radio. Christmas trees have invaded shopping malls. Disneyland is covered in fake snow. Netflix has prepared entire queues of holiday specials. There’s no denying it: Tis’ the season. For all of it. Starting with Thanksgiving next week.

Whether you’re planning a feast full of family recipes or taking the entire fam bam out for a glorious restaurant meal, there are myriad ways to get in the spirit of thankfulness (before diving into the spirit of consumerism.)

We have two recipes from our resident Chef David Teig. We hope these two ideas will help to enhance your already-delicious Thanksgiving feasts.

Chef Teig’s Turkey Gravy Recipe

Photo taken from IE Weekly Magazine

Ingredients

6# turkey necks
1.5 gal chicken stock
2 ea. onion (medium)
3 stalks celery
2 ea. medium carrots
1 T black pepper corns
1 t coriander seed
2 ea. bay leaf
1# butter
2 cups all purpose flour

Directions

1.  Roast turkey necks at 400F degrees until necks start to brown.
2. Cut onions, celery, and carrots into large chunks.  Toss lightly in oil and roast at 400F until vegetables starts to brown
3. Combine necks and vegetables in a large stock pot.  Add pepper, coriander, bay and chicken stock.
4. Bring to simmer and reduce by ½.
5. Melt butter in separate pot and whisk in flour to make roux thickener.   Keep moving roux slowly  on a low heat until the mixture turns light brown.
6. Strain the turkey stock and put back on a medium heat.  While stock is simmering, slowly whisk in roux until gravy reaches desired thickness.
7. Season with salt to taste.

We posted this second recipe last year but it sounded so delicious that we just had to share it again. After all, you need stuffing at every Thanksgiving meal.

Grandma Carol’s Cornbread Pecan Stuffing

Ingredients

• 2 lb. cornbread
• 12 oz. 1”diced fennel
• 12 oz. 1” diced onion
• 3 oz. chopped garlic
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups toasted pecans
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup ground fennel seed
• ½ cup chopped fresh sage
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Dice cornbread into 1.5” cubes.
2. Sweat fennel, onion and Garlic in olive oil until translucent.  Mix cornbread with fennel, onion, and garlic.
3. Mix in remaining ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Stuff in turkey and roast or put in medium roasting pan and bake covered at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.

Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving meal or recipe? Share it with us in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from you!