Rosie's Been A Busy Girl Today.

My Thanksgiving Eve starts early this morning. I'll be brining my turkey and also preparing the ingredients for my Gateaux of Crepes.
Here's the game plan.

Mr. Hawthorne is happy with his hand up a turkey's ass.











Rosie makes a yummy brine for our bird:
Leaves from my bay tree, onions, garlic, sliced oranges and lemons, cider vinegar, about a cup of Kosher salt, about a cup of sugar, some honey, a little Old Bay, salt and pepper.


Here, I'm starting to make my Gateaux of Crepes, from Julia Child's Julia Child and More Company." I'm starting out with the ingredients for the crepes, and nary a tortilla was involved.








Mix ingredients until you have a lovely, smooth batter. Let set for about an hour, so the flour can absorb the liquid, hence making a tender crepe.

And, here's a lovely crepe in the pan.

Making crepes takes a bit of technique and expertise. You pour about 3 tablespoons of batter INto the center of the pan, swirling the pan in all directions to get an even, thin crepe. Then flip it over and cook the other side. Here's my stack of crepes.

I always double the original recipe, and freeze the leftover crepes for later use. Say ... a shrimp filled crepe with orange sauce, cheese, and perhaps Grand Marnier. Or a crabmeat crepe with Brie and sherry. So many ideas.








Now, we start preparing the various fillings for the gateaux. I had Mr. Hawthorne julienne the carrots. Oops, watch out for Pointer!






Here are the rest of the carrots, all julienned, and fresh dill from pots on my deck.

Rosie sautees and flips the julienned carrots in butter as Mr. Hawthorne photographs.









Rosie added a bit of fresh dill and salt and pepper to the carrots. Set aside.

Rosie chopped and peeled broccoli.











Drop broccoli INto boiling salted water and bring back up to a boil - maybe 3 minutes. Until just tender.











Drain the broccoli, then put INto ice water, to stop the cooking and to preserve the green color.

After chopping the broccoli, saute briefly in butter and add salt and pepper. Here's an action shot Mr. H. took of me flipping the broc.

Next, on to my mushroom duxelles. Clean up a basket of mushrooms and dump INto food processor.













Pulse on and off a few times until you have teeny, tiny shroom pieces.












Dump the shrooms ONto a clean towel - an impeccably clean towel- as Julia would say.

Now, have someone stronger than you squeeze the liquid out of the shrooms. That's the balled up towel with shroomies in it and the liquid dripping out.

Mr. Hawthorne got about 1/4 cup of liquid out of those mushrooms. Good job. You need to get as much out as you can.

Here's the squuzzed-out shroomies. Looks like ground pork.

Mince some shallots and green onion. And I used the oniony part of the onion, unlike Auntie Sandy.

















Sautee the mushrooms, the shallots, and the green onions. Salt and pepper. Then add some sherry at the end. Oh, this is delicious.

Now, my friends, all the ingredients are ready for assembly. Tomorrow, I will make the custard cheese sauce and put together this mighty fine gateaux.