Thanksgiving at My Farm 2018
Thanksgiving is among my favorite occasions, especially when I can spend it with my family and friends.
Every year, my holiday begins weeks before with careful preparation. This Thanksgiving, several tables were set for the more than 40 adults and children that joined me at my Bedford, New York farm. We cooked three large turkeys, which came from Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, New York. The turkeys were prepared three different ways: in parchment, in cheesecloth, and spatchcocked. I served vegetarian stuffings in squashes from my garden. And of course, we had traditional sides including mashed potatoes, and corn bread and cranberry sauce made in my fanciful turkey molds. For dessert, I was proud to share a variety of beautifully decorated homemade pies and cookies.
In all, it was a most enjoyable holiday gathering - enjoy these photos.
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- The week of Thanksgiving is always so busy, but try to leave time for a few special details. I spelled out this fun welcome message for all my guests on the Scrabble board in my indoor porch.
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- Thanksgiving Day was among the coldest on record here in the Northeast – temperatures topped in the mid 20s. Here is one of two fires outside my Winter House where my guests could gather and keep warm.
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- And here is the other fire burning right outside my kitchen. It was still a beautiful autumn day, and guests were scheduled to arrive for a 2:30pm lunch.
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- The falcon in my entrance hall was surrounded by touches of autumn – small pumpkins grown right here in my garden.
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- Whenever I entertain, I enjoy bringing various plants indoors to decorate my home. Luckily my orchid plants had just started to bloom.
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- By the window, red factor canaries looked stunning in their shades of apricot and orange. My canaries are all doing very well and continue to fill the room with song.
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- On this antique desk, more tropical houseplants sit around my gold German vases.
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- Several tables were set for this all-important Thanksgiving meal. This table is in my smaller dining room. I set two tables in this room. One tip is to always be prepared for extra guests just in case someone decides to bring another along.
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- Here is the other smaller table in this dining room. This table for six was set with more Staffordshire turkey plates. I’ve collected many of them over the years from tag sales and antiques fairs.
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- Here is the 18-foot long dining table in my Brown Room. It is set for 16-guests.
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- Another table is ready for an additional eight on the other side of the Brown Room.
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- The children’s table was charming. It was decorated with more turkeys on the plates and place mats – and a most important sign…
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- It is very self explanatory.
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- I was so pleased with all the pies we baked – many made using my perfect pie crust recipe. Here I am in front of my servery counter where I love to display the pies for all to see.
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- This photo shows the pies in such a great light. We made many, many pies – and not one crumb was left over.
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- On the left, I baked this berry crisp. On the right is a sweet potato pie with decorative sugar pie crust leaves and sugared cranberries.
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- On a cake stand, I served maple leaf sugar cookies with maple sugar on top.
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- This is a cranberry curd tart. We made the crust using saltine crackers and adorned it with meringue and sugared berries.
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- This is a traditional apple pie with a lattice top that is heavily sprinkled with glazing sugar. This was made using the recipe from my original “Pies and Tarts” book.
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- This pie is a big favorite – the Atlantic Beach Pie – also with a saltine cracker crust. The decorations were made using my classic pate brisée recipe and then painted with eggwash and sprinkled with sugar.
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- Here is a sweet potato pie with a meringue topping.
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- And a bourbon brown butter pecan pie. I wanted this pie to be “deep dish” and everyone loved it.
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- This is called a tarte au fromage. It resembles a ricotta cheesecake in flavor and texture, but it is made with a mixture of creme fraiche and farmer’s cheese. I will teach you how to make it in the upcoming season 11 of my television show, “Martha Bakes” on PBS.
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- This is a maple custard pie from season 7 of “Martha Bakes” – all the pies were so beautiful and delicious.
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- A bowl of sugared berries sat nearby – it, too, was empty by evening’s end.
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- I like to serve unique cocktails on special occasions. I chose two drinks for Thanksgiving – one rum and one bourbon.
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- The raw sugar was the perfect touch to our bourbon sour glasses.
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- Of course, I also served a bowl of roasted chestnuts.
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- Guests arrived right on time for my holiday dinner. More than 40 in all. Many took photos of the foods and shared their pictures on social media.
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- Chef Pierre Schaedlin and I always collaborate on my entertaining menus. I set up a colorful, long buffet in the kitchen for guests to serve themselves. There were many wonderful creations from which to choose. This year, I served three turkeys, lots of traditional Thanksgiving dishes and roasted vegetables.
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- One turkey was cooked with cheesecloth, one was cooked in parchment paper and the third was spatchcocked. All the recipes can be found on my web site at marthastewart.com
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- I used large turkey decorated platters for the impressively large turkeys – each between 18 and 25 pounds. They were plated with citrus and sprigs of rosemary from my garden. I am so fortunate to have fresh herbs growing all year long.
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- Here’s the spatchcocked turkey fresh from the oven. We cut out the backbone, then pressed the turkey to flatten it. This worked very, very well – the skin was crisp and nicely browned.
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- Every year, I make many vegetable dishes for my daughter, Alexis, and other vegetarians at my table, including this roasted pumpkin filled with fruit and nut stuffing, and roasted to perfection.
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- We also had fresh green beans.
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- And a platter of garden turnips and carrots – another big hit with my guests.
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- We baked the corn bread in turkey shaped cake molds – they always look so lovely. We made the cranberry and pomegranate relish in the same molds.
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- I’m glad we made several cornbread turkeys – they went very quickly.
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- Everyone walked away with a full plate – and then came back for seconds, and even thirds.
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- Although it was very cold, it was a beautiful afternoon. Here is a view looking through the bare branches of the weeping katsura tree outside my Winter House.
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- Here is a beautiful photo taken from my terrace parterre. The moon was so bright. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Tomorrow, I will share more photos from my Thanksgiving weekend.
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