A British Thanksgiving (of sorts)

I made an effort, albeit a small one – to celebrate my favourite state-side holiday here in London. On the official Turkey Day I didn’t actually get home from work until 9 p.m. so my plan was to do something small over the weekend instead.

After a raucous weekend in Horsham, Sunday night found me stuffing a chicken (a turkey seemed a bit excessive for 3-4 people) mashing potatoes (a “lighter” recipe than my typical garlic cream and cheddar cheese ones), steaming broccoli and serving up a fresh batch of my world-famous brownies (yes they were once shipped to my brother in Finland where it was claimed that they were the “best brownies ever”).

Herein was a simple meal (perhaps one of my favourites) that I was making for some dear friends which yes, I am very thankful for. Like the brownies as well, the stuffing is an old family recipe. On paper it looks and sounds a bit strange. However, for one reason or another the stuffing is quite simply ridiculously good. It could arguably be the most revered and loved family recipe my clan posesses. I’ve even been jokingly accused of putting illegal substances in it which makes it addictive. While I can promise that I don’t – I do have to admit that technically I “smuggled” the main ingredient over from the States.

It’s important here to repeat – the recipe looks and sounds strange. You will wonder if I’ve left out half a dozen ingredients. You will think of jello molds, and dishes made in the 70s called tuna pea wiggle. I promise, if you approach with an open mind – you will love it. Everyone does (recent guests from Sunday night included).

C-B Family Stuffing
(This was enough for about 6 servings).

1 box of Ritz crackers (4 sachets)
1 large carrot
3 garlic cloves, chopped
½ large onion
2 Tbsp butter

Put the crackers through a food processor until fine meal forms. Or in the instance that you don’t have a proper food processor, but like me have a "mini chopper" that looks like it should be sitting in my niece's doll-house, put the crackers in the mini chopper in 8 (Yes, EIGHT!) rotations to get them all ground up. Remove and place in a large bowl.

Add onion, garlic, and carrot and finely grind. Add to crackers.

Melt butter and add to crackers/onion mixture. Stir and add a little water, a tbsp at a time, if it is still dry. Note: sometimes I grind a bit more carrots and onions and add to the mix if it seems too “crackery”.

If you are making a whole chicken or turkey, stuff inside the bird and underneath the skin of the breasts. An easier, week-night variation would be to buy boneless chicken breasts, with the skin on -and place the stuffing under the skin on the meat.

Note: Here in London they sell boneless chicken breast with the skin on. In the States you’ll have to ask for it special. If you take a package of chicken breasts with the bone/skin to the butcher’s counter they’ll typically take the bones out for you.

The brownies that I made that night are also a family recipe. Whenever people who don’t know me ask if I eat store bought baked goods, I always tell them no – I much prefer homemade and why buy the pre-packaged store bought stuff when it’s just so insanely easy to make simple things from scratch? The recipe, more than any other in my permanent repertoire, exemplifies this.

A funny thing about these brownies though...at present there is a bit of a family debate over who whips these brownies up in the best and tastiest fashion. Originally a race between my mother and myself, my brother recently followed the straight-up easy to follow recipe and declared that his batch was the “best batch ever”.

Note to brother: Highly unlikely, and may I remind you that you once rang me (from another country) and asked me how to make a baked potato. I won’t even get into the story of when you also called me for instructions on how to make mashed potatoes. An individual who makes these types of calls can not be the current family brownie-making champion.

Now, every good girl needs a few secrets...and as such will hold on to this brownie recipe for the time being...it might yet be an idea to still bring it to the mass market. :-)