My Thanksgiving at the Farm 2020
Thanksgiving is among my favorite occasions, especially when I can spend it with my family and dear friends.
This year, I spent the holiday at my Bedford, New York farm - a quiet gathering of 10. We cooked a delicious turkey from Mike's Organic in nearby Stamford, Connecticut. I served vegetarian stuffings in pumpkins from my garden. And of course, we had traditional sides including cornbread made in my fanciful turkey molds, potato puree, cranberry sauce, sweet potato gratin, butternut squash soup, oven-roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted celeriac, parsnips, and more. For dessert, I was proud to share a variety of beautiful homemade pies.
In all, it was a most enjoyable holiday feast - and don't worry, everyone tested negative before the gathering. Here are photos from my Thanksgiving. And see more great photos on my Instagram page @marthastewart48.
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- Whenever I entertain, I always like to decorate my Winter House. For Thanksgiving, we had lots of beautiful turkey figures such as these. I made these turkeys years back for a shoot. We casted numerous turkeys from a material called PermaStone, a lightweight, durable cement and then gently tinted them in various earth tones. They look so beautiful sitting on my servery counter.
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- The night before Thanksgiving is always busy with preparations. This year, I made 24-pies – some to enjoy with family and friends, but most to give away to my hardworking staff – a tradition I do every year. Here are two perfect pie crusts. I have been making this pate brisee for many years and have perfected this recipe. It calls for two-and-a-half cups all-purpose flour, one teaspoon kosher salt, one teaspoon granulated sugar, two sticks unsalted butter, and a quarter to a half cup of ice water.
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- I worked in an assembly line fashion to get all the pies ready in time.
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- Here, Tarte au Fromage cooking in the oven – five of them – this is a popular favorite.
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- Once cooked, they are left to cool – on the stovetop, on the counter, near my sink – there were pies cooling all over my kitchen.
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- All the pies for gifting were wrapped carefully in cellophane, tied with twine, and labeled for each recipient. Here they are in my flower room waiting to be picked up. And look underneath the pies – I lined the entire table with durable cutting boards from cuttingboard.com, the Cutting Board and Butcher Block Shop. The company makes custom boards in various colors to fit any space. I chose black to cover all the work surfaces in my Flower Room kitchen.
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- The crew was given several pie and tart choices, and I made all the pies “to order” – five-spice pumpkin pie in phyllo crust, Tarte au Fromage, cranberry tart, and the classic pecan pie.
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- Inside, my long table was set for the all-important Thanksgiving meal. Because this dinner included family and our closest friends, we felt safe eating together – and to be extra safe, we were also tested before gathering.
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- This Thanksgiving, I selected blue Staffordshire turkey plates. Do you know the history behind such decorative dinnerware? By the 1870s, America’s rising middle class was eager to celebrate Thanksgiving with dinnerware specifically made for the holiday. England’s potters went to work and started producing lots of plates and platters for the American market. These plates are still very popular today.
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- On top of the plates, light blue linen napkins. As part of the table setting, I placed small pots of the Chinese Money Plant, Pilea peperomioides.
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- Even the silver flatware was all decorated with turkeys.
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- This is called Thanksgiving cactus – not to be confused with Christmas cactus which blooms a few weeks later. Both Christmas and Thanksgiving cacti are in the genus Schlumbergera and are native to the tropical forests of Brazil. They are attractive plants commonly sold and given as gifts around this time.
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- Fresh out of the oven are these cream-infused jalapeno turkey cornbreads. The turkey molds I use are five-cup turkey molds from Nordic Ware. They can be used for cornbread, cranberry sauce, or even cake.
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- My daughter, Alexis, and her children, are vegetarian, so we had lots of flavorful vegetable sides. The pumpkins were grown right here at the farm. We used them for stuffing and soup.
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- Here is a roasted pumpkin with fruit and nut stuffing – nuts, apricots, apples, celery and other vegetables. I also served a cornbread stuffing with roasted chestnuts.
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- This is sweet potato gratin. Sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber and beta-carotene.
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- I made roasted Brussels sprouts. These tiny cabbage cousins are always a big hit.
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- And here is the finished turkey – roasted to perfection and golden brown, served on a white platter. This is from Mike’s Organic, a small delivery service and warehouse shop that focuses on providing healthy and delicious foods to its clients. This turkey was one of the best we’ve ever had.
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- I stopped for a quick snapshot before we all started eating. I served all the dishes on one of my long kitchen counters – everyone helps themselves and then sits down in my large dining room, the Brown Room. Other dishes included endive salad and classic cranberry sauce – another popular dish especially with the turkey leftovers.
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- The children made place cards for every guest. This is Kevin’s seat at the table. My grandchildren, who are fluent in Spanish, call him “tio” which means uncle. We started with a bowl of warm butternut squash soup.
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- And then each had a plate filled with scrumptious Thanksgiving foods. Everyone walked away with a full plate – and then went back for seconds, and some even thirds.
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- But all ended with a clean plate.
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- I was so pleased with all the pies I baked. Here I am cutting a piece of the Tarte au fromage for my granddaughter, Jude.
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- Despite all the challenges we have experienced this year, I do hope you all enjoyed the day with those near and dear to you. I am looking forward to more small holiday gatherings in the weeks to come.
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