Thanksgiving en français

Before we moved I didn't think that much about celebrating such a distinctly American (and Canadian!) holiday abroad. It's easy to think that you'll just make the usual Thanksgiving dinner anyway, regardless of the fact that people don't have the fourth Thursday in November off from work, a whole turkey isn't exactly the easiest bird to find, and cranberries? Um, yeah. I won't even mention trying to find pie plates.

We were incredibly lucky this Thanksgiving - Sarah and Matt were here, Zoli was off the boat and we visited friends in Strasbourg to celebrate the holiday. Sarah and Matt were kind enough to bring gorgeous weather with them, in addition to cranberries and aluminum containers to hold extra stuffing and cornbread. We took advantage of the sun, repeating the trip I did several weeks before, taking the ferry to Teufelsbrück and walking back to central Hamburg along the Elbe. This time it was gorgeous, with amazing late-afternoon sunlight (late afternoon being, oh, 3pm).

The tide was low so we were able to walk across a bit of the beach as well.


So, we did a lot of walking, some eating and some exploring. Then Zoli came back from the boat and was home for 12 hours before we left for the Hauptbahnhof and a six hour train ride to Strasbourg with two pies, three pans of cornbread and a jar of cranberry sauce in tow. I was nervous because I was in charge of the train logistics but to my relief the trip went smoothly. Matt was able to get a pickled herring Brötchen in the train station to fortify him for the trip and I didn't leave the pies on the train. Joseph and Rebeka, our gracious Thanksgiving hosts, awaited us with delicious quiche, wine, cheese (oh, the cheese!) and little pots of chocolate mousse. This set the stage for our three day visit and it was the most restrained meal we had.

First off on Thursday morning we had to figure out the turkey. Joseph procured it from a local farm and it came with the head attached, which was both fascinating and bit perplexing.

But after we all examined it, Zoli cut it off and we added the neck to the various innards to make the broth for stuffing and gravy.

For a pre-dinner snack we made an approximation of American onion dip - Sarah found some onion soup mix in the grocery store and we subbed cremé fraîche for the sour cream.
We had to pick out the little bits of dehydrated croutons in the mix, but it wasn't bad - surprisingly a bit sweeter and less oniony than the American version.

The beginning of the meal was a foie gras terrine that Joesph's mother made for us.

It. Was. So. Good. But, not exactly light so it made continuing on to the next course, a.k.a all of Thanksgiving, a bit more difficult. We had a break though, because we still needed to cook the vegetables and make the gravy.


And open more wine.


I forgot to take photos of the actual food, but we had: turkey, stuffing, green beans with almonds and pomegranate seeds, Brussels sprouts, cornbread, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy. Joseph selected the wine, tutoring us on which type of wine goes with which course. Before each course there was a test to see if we remembered. (White with foie gras (typically sweet, but Joseph prefers dry and it was quite tasty), red with turkey, red with cheese, white sparking with dessert.) After the main meal we were all seriously stuffed, but we had cheese anyway (with an amazing French blue I can't remember the name of, and several tiny, tasty goat cheeses). Then we all mustered our inner masochistic glutton and partook in the pies, apple and pumpkin.


(I gave up on finding pie plates here and used springform pans instead, which I DO NOT advise doing, although they worked well for transporting the pies.) So - we learned that the addition of foie gras and cheese to Thanksgiving makes for a very delicious and physically painful affair.

The rest of the trip we took the opportunity to be tourists, taking a narrated boat trip along l'Ill, the river that surrounds the old city of Strasbourg.

We learned all about the bridge on which criminals were tortured, mocked by townspeople doing needlepoint, that sauerkraut originally comes from China, and something about the architecture of the European Parliament building, but I was getting a bit sleepy by that point. We also sampled some regional foods, including: tarte flambée (Pflammkuchen auf Deutsch - a very thin, circular crust covered with cream, onions, lardons and cheese, and baked until the crust is a bit charred and everything is toasty) accompanied by local beer; and choucroute garnie (big pile o'pork products on sauerkraut). Not specifically local, we had tasty waffles (gaufre, otherwise known as gophers) with chocolate and whipped cream,


and Raclette to end our visit. Not to mention the pastries for breakfast, and roasted chestnuts and gluhwein at the Christmas market. (I feel full just thinking about this.)

Strasbourg is famous for both its cathedral and its Christmas market. We climbed the tower of the cathedral, which had amazing city views

as well as some fairly impressive graffiti.

Unfortunately we forgot our chisels. The Christmas market was a madhouse, but quite attractive and festive at night. On a chocolate-buying expedition we even found an Oberlin connection.


Sunday morning Sarah and Matt took the train to the airport and we went back to Hamburg. We had first class seats for the trip home, which basically just means bigger seats - after three days of non-stop eating I needed it.


Pumpkin Pie

The filling in this pie was fabulous - much better than my first attempt at pumpkin pie in college. (The less said about that the better, but it involved food coloring.) Use whatever dough you like for the crust, I like this version as well as this one.

Crust for one single-crust pie, in pie plate and ready to be filled. (You can also par-bake it if you like before filling.)

1 small Hokkaido pumpkin (2-ish lbs)
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c granulated sugar

1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 c milk
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp whiskey
1/3 c moscovado sugar or other brown sugar
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a bowl, toss pumpkin with butter and granulated sugar. Arrange on a baking sheet or in a large baking dish. Roast, stirring occasionally, until caramelized and very soft, 30-40 min. Let cool. Pureé pumpkin in a food processor or with a hand blender until very, very smooth. Measure out about 15-oz of the puree - freeze any extra. (This step can be done a few days ahead, or you can freeze it for about a month. Just be sure to freeze what you need separately from any extra.)

Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin pureé, cream, milk, eggs, yolk, whiskey, brown sugar, peper, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour into prepared pie shell and bake for 15 minutes, turning once for even browning. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for 25-30 min., rotating again, until the pie is mostly set but still slightly jiggly in the center. Remove and let cool to room temperature.

Serve the same day or chilled overnight - either way with freshly whipped cream.