THANK YOU FALL

sunrise over Autumnal vineyards in Canale, Italy

I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday. Normally, I like to spend Thanksgiving in Santa Barbara, California, where my mother still lives in the house I grew up in. It's the family HQ, where there have been many feasts and fun competition in the kitchen. Most of all it's where all my epic childhood memories live as well as the many holiday and birthday meal stories. I hold on tight to the golden packages in my mind's memory file cabinet. Especially since moving to Paris 6 years ago. Oh how I miss California.

Growing up in California I fantasized about a true fall experience. I had visions of Vermont and big old wood family houses in the New England countryside. I think a lot of west coasters have a similar romantic dreamscape of the east coast. I often wondered what it would be like to spend both my October birthday and Thanksgiving in the magic of true autumn.

We've just returned from my fall birthday trip over to the Piedmont region of northern Italy. I traditionally go there now to see the vivid colored vines and to eat up white truffles. Talk about a winning combination of extreme nature and food. What a luxury and how thankful I am. Spending my fall season holidays between Noyers and Piedmont are why I never get bummed out about summer being over... I get my true autumn.

This year we'll be spending Thanksgiving once again in the tiny medieval french village called Noyers-sur-Serein. This will be our 4th year going there for Thanksgiving, where good friends ( who happen to be our neighbors in Paris!) have a warm country house that have opened it's doors to us many times. It's also home to La Porte Peinte Centre Pour Les Arts, a gallery and artist residency run by dear friends, that have also hosted otherworldly events such as this medieval age inspired feast.

THANK YOU to all the Trail of Crumbs contributors, readers, makers and inspirers! We are truly lucky to have so many beautiful stories of adventure, wanderlust, and delicious food surround us year after year. Happy Thanksgiving from our little Trail of Crumbs corner of Paris to you.

Here are a few of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes from our trusted archive:

VELVETY PERFECT TURKEY GRAVY (would be pretty sweet in one of these gravy boats)

"Dory Gravy Boat" by Contemporary silversmith Kirsty Eaglesfield & Rebecca Joselyn's "Crushed Can"

SALT AND HONEY PIE ( From the lovely Four & Twenty Blackbirds cookbook)

 WILD MUSHROOM AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH DAUPHINOIS

Trompette de la Mort, black trumpet, mushrooms blooming from a french forest floor

photo of Salty Honey Pie: Milk and Honey

BUTTERNUT SQUASH DAUPHINOIS WITH BLACK TRUMPET MUSHROOMS

Trompette de la Mort, Black Trumpet mushrooms

I can't think of anything I like more than foraging for wild mushrooms. I officially have the 'fever'. We recently went to one of our favorite french villages, Noyers-sur-Serein, and heard from our trusty friend Oreste, of Le Porte Peinte,  that black trumpet mushrooms were plentiful.  He drew us a map, which Adrian entered into the rental car's gps, to the Forêt d'Hervaux, a forest favored by locals for mushroom hunting... and not socializing. We hoped to find enough to invent something delicious for dinner. Sure enough, as soon as our eyes focused on the little black velvety flower-like horns, the fever kicked in. They were scattered everywhere underneath the autumnal leaf carpet. I did a jig like a crazy person.

Adrian and little Anton in the Forêt d'Hervaux

Before hearing the news of the black trumpets, we had stopped by David's farm stand, which he sets up every Saturday morning in the center of the village. David is an ex-computer programmer who left it all behind to cultivate several plots of organic veggies around Noyers. He is super nice and wears a lot of heavy metal t-shirts. We picked out a beautiful butternut squash which soon became Butternut Squash Dauphinois with Trompette de la Mort, trumpet of death (!), mushrooms. Despite their name, they have an incredibly alive and rich taste. They smell like black truffles combined with chanterelles and have a smokey and slightly sweet flavor.

The filtered sunlight came through the tree canopy and down onto the little trumpets singing from the soil

With Thanksgiving in the US around the corner, why not make this as a nice earthy addition the traditional family feast? I'm going to make it for our Thanksgiving which we will be celebrating at a friend's lovely home in Noyers this year. We've got family members coming in from Switzerland and ex-patriot American friends joining in that live in Paris and beyond. Can't wait.

Peeled and seeded Butternut squash turned into 1/4 inch crescent slices

A buttered baking dish with a swirl of cream and some chopped garlic and shallots

The cleaned Trumpets sautéing in butter and a sprinkle of salt

The first layer of squash with a quarter of the mushrooms scattered on top...

Ready for the oven with the last layer of squash, cream, mushrooms, salt, pepper and a few knobs of butter. This is France.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH DAUPHINOIS WITH BLACK TRUMPET MUSHROOMS

Ingredients:

1 medium sized Butternut Squash
1 1/2 - 2 cups heavy cream ( enough to cover each layer of squash )
3 cloves chopped garlic
2 large chopped shallots
4 cups black trumpet mushrooms (or any other forest mushroom) 
4 Tablespoons butter
salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sauté the mushrooms in 1 TBSP of butter and a large pinch of salt. Cook until they are nicely wilted and the water has released out of the mushrooms and cooks off. They should be moist, but not watery. About 5-8 minutes at medium-high heat. Put them in a bowl and set aside. Here is a little tip: When cleaning these guys, make sure you cut them in half in case there are little slugs hanging out in there. I found 3 in my bundle.

Peel the squash, cut it in half lengthwise, and scoop all the seeds out. Cut each half again lengthwise, quartering the squash. Slice the squash into 1/4 inch crescent pieces. Put in a bowl and set aside.

Grease the inside of your baking dish (mine was about 13 inches wide) generously using 1-2 TBSP of butter, then sprinkle a bit of the chopped garlic and shallots on top of the butter. Pour a swirl of cream over the the entire bottom of the dish.

Now let the layering begin! Start with a single layer of squash, then about a quarter of the mushrooms, a good swirl ( about 1/4 cup) of the cream, a bit of the garlic and shallots, and finally a hefty pinch of salt and a few twists of pepper. Repeat this layering process until you run out of ingredients. Portion out each ingredient per layer, with my size dish, I ended up with 4 layers. You will have some odd shaped slices of squash, just puzzle them together the best you can in order to have them sit very close together. 

You will run out of the garlic and shallots before you are finished, and that's fine. Add it to just 2 of the layers, You don't want to overwhelm the dish with garlic flavor.

Once you are finished layering, drop the remaining butter in little clumps on the top and you are good to go. Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour. The top should be a little golden brown when done. As it cools a little, the cream with thicken into a very flavorful sauce that gathers at the bottom. Make sure you serve it with each portion. It's so, so, so good. You might catch a sneaky someone dipping a hunk of bread in that sauce later.

To all my readers and friends from the US... HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING! If you want my all time best family recipe for gravy, go here. It really is loved by all. What's for dessert you ask? We have featured two incredible pumpkin pie recipes on here too... one from the inspiring Leela Cyd of Tea Cup Tea. 

My Grandfather's Perfect Turkey Gravy

H A P P Y   T H A N K S G I V I N G !

I have a special recipe for all of you. The ultimate gravy recipe. My family has made this gravy year after year for generations... and I now have made it for my American and foreign friends while living here in Paris. Everyone asks for the recipe, and we all pine over it the next day when the last of the leftovers are being fought over. ENJOY.

THE PERFECT TURKEY GRAVY

Ingredients:

Turkey giblets ( except the liver)

3 cups organic chicken stock

1 onion

1 carrot

1/4 cup chopped parsley

a few sprigs of Thyme

1 bay leaf

1 cup Madeira wine ( important ingredient! )

3/4 cup cream

4 tsp flour

3 cups water plus 1/4 cup

S & P

Giblet Stock (to be made in advance while turkey is roasting): In a large sauce pan, brown all giblets (except liver) in butter and add 3 cups water, 3 cups chicken stock, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, 1 onion and 1 carrot (stick a clove in the onion if you have one).  Boil for 2 -3 hours and skim the fat from mixture.

When Turkey comes out of the oven and is removed from roasting pan to rest, skim fat from drippings at the bottom of the pan. Place a zip-top plastic bag inside a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Pour drippings from pan into bag; let stand 10 minutes (remaining fat will rise to the top). Seal bag; carefully snip off 1 bottom corner. Drain drippings into a bowl, stopping before fat layer reaches opening; discard fat. You can skip this step if you can effectively remove the fat content. It's important to get rid of the fat in order to obtain a velvety smooth gravy.

Pour drippings back into roasting pan and put pan over moderate high heat directly on your range ( place over 2 burners). Add 1 cup Madeira to drippings, and reduce by cooking over moderate high heat until 1/2 of original volume. Be sure to scrape in any bits and pieces of drippings stuck to the bottom of the pan into mixture as they will dissolve well and add a lot of flavor. You can use a gravy whisk. Once reduced, pour liquid through a sieve into a medium sized saucepan and return to range. 

Add the giblet stock to sauce pan over medium heat and reduce to 2 cups. Add 3/4 cup cream. Stir in 4 teaspoon's flour that has been dissolved in 1/4 cup water. Simmer 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serves 8 - 10. For a larger group, simply double this recipe.

Thanksgiving Abroad

This year we headed out to one of our favorite places in France, Noyers. Noyers is a medieval village in the Burgundy region. We are lucky enough to have good friends there who have invited us into their home again for Thanksgiving. They had a total of 40 guests, most of which were American friends that traveled far and wide to sit at their long grand table. Turkeys were ordered through the local butcher shop, friends brought their favorite ingredients from home, and all made incredible dishes to bring a piece of home turf to the Thanksgiving feast.

Americans from Paris in Noyers by the old ramparts of the village

 During an afternoon break while things were roasting, baking, and simmering, our Paris gang went on a walk to forage for items to decorate the table and house with. The table ended up filled with beautiful giant orange leaves, lichen covered branches, yellow leafy sticks and lots of candles. Friends from the village came by to experience our American holiday and all gave toasts throughout such a lovely meal. After dinner , and before the dessert buffet was raided, we all ran outside to light up sky lanterns and watched them as they drifted off into the night sky. The cool air and excitement of this got everyone in good spirits. After digesting and relaxing, the room was cleared, the music turned up,  and everyone starting dancing by the fire. The following day we rolled out of bed hit the village streets to check out the black truffle market then we went up into the hills to get a post turkey nature walk in before heading back into bustling Paris.

Cheri Messerli and Scout on the foraging walk

Alison and Josh liking some lichen ....  Adrian and Mike Gallardo keeping the peace

The village of Noyers-sur-Serein looking down from the nearby ghost Chateau

 One of our hosts, Rod Deweese,  toasting every glass....

From Cheri's quinoa cornbread to my grandfather's gravy, this one was epic!

Marco Vignuzzi, our other dear host, doing his toasting rounds...

Josh, owner of Candelaria in Paris, naturally took charge of the pouring

Thanks to our bud, David Rager, we have now learned that Sky lanterns are officially 

one of the coolest things you can bring to a party

The last truffle fair of the season

On our walk home, we passed this door and admired the simple cat cut-out door. 

Then Josh pulled some magic and got the cat to appear...

Josh and Adrian at one of the 'belvedere' look out spots on the chateau trail

Two Slam Dunk Pumpkin Pies

Our friend and TofC contributor Leela Cyd is not only a photographer and cook extraordinaire, but also finds the time to write and photograph stories for The Kitchn and Re-Nest. Here she share's her favorite pumpkin pie made by her father.

We've also included a pumpkin pie recipe favored by Virginia Miller, the mother of TofC co-creator, Danielle Rubi-Dentzel! Loving all the family faves during the month of Thanksgiving. Feel free to write us and tell us some of your top TG family recipes.

Family Recipe: My Dad's Legendary Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
written and photographed by Leela Cyd

I have a confession: Trying new recipes for Thanksgiving is not my thing. In fact, when the time comes to prep my dad's legendary pumpkin chiffon pie, nothing delights me more than the same old same old. 

There are certain dishes that pull so hard at our heartstrings, the secrets to conjure the foods that define us and our family traditions, they nearly barrel us over with love. This pie is one of those dishes, a dessert that signifies togetherness. Do you have one of these recipe narratives in your life? What's your family's signature dish?

My dad, Richard, first encountered this recipe while shooting a Thanksgiving spread for Saveur magazine, over a decade ago. He's a photographer as well, although I didn't know this part of the recipe origin story until this year. Known for his images of museums, historic spaces throughout the world and most recently, a body of work addressing incarcerated juveniles, food was about the farthest thing from his repertoire. He shot the pie and accompanying Thanksgiving meal in New York anyway, typifying his photo motto of "Say 'Yes' then figure it out later." He also tasted the pie that would define our family's Thanksgiving meals for years to come.

What's so great about this pie? To put it simply, it's ruined me for every other pumpkin pie out there. I can't eat any pumpkin related confection because it just makes me wish for my dad's pie. 

You know the hallmark traits of some traditional recipes for pumpkin pie? High density, low flavor filling met by a pasty white crust? This version trumps tradition with its impossibly light 'chiffon' (just saying the word makes me feel buoyant!) texture throughout the lightly spiced filling and the shattering crusty, vanilla sweetness of a Nilla wafer crust. This pie, it's poetry. 

I know I'm being challenging when I declare this pie the best, and probably you have your own dearest pumpkin pie recipe, but Thanksgiving calls for bold statements and it calls for family favorites. If you're looking to change it up this year, throw this recipe into your mix. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the light, mousse–like filling and the strong vanilla crust.

Dad's Legendary Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
adapted from Saveur
makes 2 pies
For the crust:
4 cups crushed Nilla wafer cookies (a rough texture with unevenly sized pieces is fine)
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the pie filling:
3 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup Cointreau or Drambuie
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar and 1/3 cup sugar, divided
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
Fresh whipped cream, to serve
Prepare the crust:
Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large bowl, combine the cookie crumbs, butter, sugar and salt. Press mixture firmly into 2 9-inch pie pans (if you have any extra mixture left over, you can press this into muffin tins with great results).
Bake for 10 minutes, and cool on a wire rack.
Make the filling:
In a small bowl sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over 1/4 cup Cointreau to soften for 5 minutes. Set the mixture over a bowl of hot water and stir until the gelatin is dissolved.
In a heavy saucepan whisk together the pumpkin puree, heavy cream and 1/2 cup of sugar, 3 egg yolks, the cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, allspice and salt and cook the mixture over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula for 10 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, stir in the gelatin mixture, and let the mixture cool.
In a large bowl beat 4 egg whites until they hold soft peaks (see this video for a clear idea of what you're looking for). Beat in the remaining 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating the meringue until it holds stiff peaks, and fold this meringue into the partially cooled pumpkin mixture.
Assemble:
Pour the filling into the baked shells and chill the pie, lightly covered, for at least 6 hours. Garnish with plenty of fresh whipped cream.


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My Mom's Favorite Pumpkin Pie with Bourbon-Maple Whipped Cream
adapted from Bobby Flay

Virginia Miller says, " I made this pie last year, and it was the best one yet"...and that's coming from a very critical Thanksgiving household who loves the best of everything! (sorry no photos of this one but I'm sure you know what it looks like! ) 


1 (9-inch) pie, plus leftover filling

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust:

    * 1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
    * 6 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly warm
    * 1/4 cup granulated sugar
    * 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pumpkin filling:

    * 2 whole eggs
    * 2 egg yolks
    * 1/4 dark brown sugar
    * 1/4 cup granulated sugar
    * 3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
    * 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
    * 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
    * 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    * 1 teaspoon ground ginger
    * 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    * 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
    * 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
    * 1/2 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped and reserved

Bourbon-Maple Whipped Cream:

    * 1 1/4 cups very cold heavy cream
    * 1/2 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped and reserved
    * 2 tablespoons Grade B maple syrup
    * 1 to 2 tablespoons bourbon (to your taste)

Directions
For the crust:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Add all the ingredients for the crust to a food processor and pulse until combined; it should feel like wet sand, and just come together.

Spread the mixture evenly into a 9-inch pie pan, using your finger tips or the flat bottom of a glass. Firmly press the mixture over the bottom and sides of the pan.

Put the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake until the crust is light brown and firm to the touch, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

For the filling:  Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugars in a large bowl. Add the butter, pumpkin, cream, spices, salt and vanilla seeds and whisk to combine. Strain (important) the mixture into a bowl.

Pour the strained mixture into the baked pie crust and bake until almost set, about 1 1/2 hours. 

Remove and let come to room temperature. Refrigerate until chilled, if preferred.

Cook's Note: The filling makes more than what is needed to fill the pie shell. You are able to freeze the excess. We made a double batch and it filled 3 pie shells very comfortably.

For the whipped cream:
Combine the cream, vanilla seeds, syrup and bourbon in a large chilled bowl and whip until soft peaks form.

Garnish each piece of pie with a dollop of the whipped cream before serving.

“Oh, just in time for Thanksgiving”

We asked Jane Grawe (mother of friend and TofC contributor Sam Grawe ) to write us something from her rich culinary experiences all over the world. Every time we're in her company, we talk for hours about recipes, travels, ingredients, history, etc. Here's a little piece for you to enjoy. 

There are a few things in life you don’t do very often, and I did one of those today; I went to look for a new stove.  Then, in the course of conversing about its merits and installation and delivery fees, I surprised myself by saying , “Oh, just in time for Thanksgiving”...  Well, that is primarily because I have rarely cooked Thanksgiving dinner in the traditional Norman Rockwell sense for over two decades.

Everyone has a sense of how the day should go--mine was formed , of course, in my childhood, and particularly in my teen years in Concord, Massachusetts  where our high school football team had its annual closing game against Lexington at 10:30 am on Thanksgiving Day.  That excursion fulfilled the prerequisite need for some exercise and cool and crisp air,  for sure.  Our table had that quintessential turkey,  and was filled as well with a bounty of local produce--Hubbard squash, creamed onions, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and of course, cranberry sauce.  There were celery and carrot sticks and a few pimento-stuffed green olives on a Majolica plate used for the occasion as well. Mince pie and squash pies sat on the sideboard waiting.  The proper time for that meal was sometime in the mid-afternoon, which meant that, before bedtime, each of us could go back out to the kitchen for leftovers.  We’d lift the dampened dishtowel that my mother had placed over the turkey to keep it moist, and pick and slice the meat we wanted, light or dark.  Then, with a healthy slathering of cool mayonnaise on a slice of her homemade white bread, or Pepperidge Farm sandwich bread otherwise, each would make a turkey sandwich, usually with a slice of stuffing and a bit of cranberry sauce.  An earlier childhood memory is of my widowed mother, who while short on funds was long on tradition, made a football shaped meatloaf to which she attached paper frills sitting on chopsticks in lieu of the absent drumsticks.

Through the years, however, things changed.  Once I was upcountry in Kenya with some Peace Corps’ friends, and one, who weekly rode his bicycle to town for the mail, wearing flip flops over the miles of dirt roads, had previously announced that he would bring a turkey for our American celebration.  No one knew how he rode a bike with a live turkey on board, nor the Swahili word for turkey, so the housekeeper’s son was asked to slaughter and clean the “rather large chicken”, which he efficiently did before going for his day off.  It was my charge to make the stuffing (no problem, I’ve had plenty of experience with  that) and to cook the turkey.  That turned out to be a big problem, because we were cooking in a house with no electricity and with only a wood stove.  Well, to make a long story short, by ten pm, the turkey still wasn’t cooked sufficiently so we all went to bed hungry, and we fired up the stove properly the next day so the turkey could be properly cooked.

Over the years, we’ve put everything from oysters and sausages to chestnuts and apples in the stuffing, but we have always insisted on Bell’s seasoning for flavor, and we have never called it dressing.  Once, we had a family car trip complete with cooked turkey to a country inn in Upstate New York to accommodate our college-basketball playing daughter for her practices and tournament.  And another time, my daughter announced that she was going to bone the turkey and stuff it. She did, and the results were spectacular; it tasted absolutely delicious, made carving a dream, and everyone got a bit of both white and dark meat.  We practiced the boning on a Cornish hen--that was difficult and required quite a bit of manual dexterity!

Returning closer to the present, last year in November,  I was in Switzerland visiting my daughter.  We weren’t able to buy, nor would we have been able to consume, an entire turkey.  So, we bought a leg/thigh piece and a breast piece.  Putting the experience of that boned turkey to work, Katie made a stuffing and rolled it into the breast piece which she then covered with bacon.  The other piece was set to roast on top of an array of fall vegetables-- carrots and parsnips being requisite to our minds.  Starting with an appetizer which included foie gras, mache (lamb’s tongue/lamb’s lettuce) and a quince based dressing, we had a spectacular Thanksgiving feast.

Purchasing those turkey pieces in Switzerland, and after having had a few Thanksgivings in India,  it finally occurred to me just what the meaning of the French word for turkey was all about: la dinde, from d’Inde, which literally means “of India”, but alas, not that India.  Back to those helpful Wampanoag, and in particular Tisquantum (better known as Squanto) who taught the  Pilgrims how to plant corn and to use fish as fertilizer.  Which then makes me wonder, why don’t we eat herring as a first course at Thanksgiving?  And, just what will I be cooking  on that day on my new stove while I’m sipping a glass of Zinfandel.....

Text and photos: Jane Grawe