This will be the second year in a row my immediate family has celebrated a very scaled-down Thanksgiving dinner. I don’t remember exactly why we didn’t produce the usual large extended family Thanksgiving get-together last year. I think it was a combination of no one wanting to commit to hosting a big spread, some relatives traveling out of town for the holiday weekend and the general excuse of people just not having the wherewithal to plan that far ahead. In any case, last year there were only 7 of us at dinner. My sister-in-law lamented the less than bountiful variety of food options. “Maybe we can all get together next Thanksgiving,” she commented hopefully. 2020 had other ideas.

Thanksgiving dinner this year will be an even more scaled down affair–for safety reasons just myself, mom, my brother Ken and sister-in-law Mariko, and my brother Sam…and of course, our respective dogs. After having roasted a big ass bird last week to make my Turkey Cranberry Hand Pies for the bake sale, I wasn’t particularly psyched to do it all over again. Even the smallest turkey, a 9 or 10-pounder, would be way too much for the 5 of us. Besides, I still had some turkey pie filling left in the freezer!

My initial game plan was to buy a large boned out turkey breast which I could then stuff and roll into a neat little roast–ideal amount for 5 of us. Unfortunately, I waited much too long to order the turkey breast from the neighborhood butcher shop and they’d sold out on practically all things turkey. Plan B was to head to the supermarket in search of the smallest turkey I could find. Perusing the meat section at Lucky I hit pay dirt–frozen whole boned-in turkey breast…on sale no less! They were still pretty substantial in size but manageable. Minus its limbs my bird look resembled the hilariously persistent Black Knight from Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975).

No, I did not recite the dialogue out loud as I was prepping the bird…only in my head.

It took just about 3 days to thaw the bird. To make things easier for myself, I cut out the back completely–roasting it to make a rich, flavorful stock–then removed the wishbone so I could spatchcock the breast. I set the spatchcocked breast on a rack inside a deep roasting pan after thoroughly seasoning all sides with a dry rub consisting of sea salt, sugar, black pepper, cayenne, smoked paprika, garlic and onion powder, then let the bird hang out uncovered in the refrigerator for 24 hrs.

In the past I’ve gone through the trouble of wet brining the turkey, but lately I’ve become a dry brine convert–much less mess, crispier skin. Besides, who the heck has space in their fridge to store a large bird in wet brine?

I love stuffing (or dressing since it’s technically not stuffed inside the bird) so I don’t mind having leftovers of that. I could eat it for days! And honestly, I really only make stuffing probably once a year. Despite our downsized Thanksgiving dinner, I made a full batch, with the intention of repurposing my leftover stuffing for a number of savory delights.

As for dessert, I hate only having one choice of pie at Thanksgiving. Baking a selection of 5″ pies on the other hand, now that’s the kind of downsizing I can get behind. Okay, I might have gone slightly overboard with the variety. I started out with only 3 flavors in mind–Apple Crumble, Pumpkin, and Maple Pecan–but then decided I wanted other textures and flavors so I added Coconut Chocolate Creme and Meyer Lemon Meringue to the mix.

Since all but the apple required a blind-baked crust, I decided to just blind bake all my pie shells, Though it’s not the traditional way of baking pecan and pumpkin pies, I like to use a blind baked crust for any custard-based filling to ensure that the filling doesn’t get overbaked and to guard against the dreaded “soggy bottom”–something Mary Berry would deem unacceptable.

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For the apple pie, I sautéed sliced Pink Lady and Honeycrisp apples in brown butter, brown sugar and a little cinnamon until just tender, then thickened the juices with a little cornstarch mixed with lemon juice and flavored it with a tiny splash of vanilla at the end. I find that if you start off with a precooked apple filling there won’t be a gap between the top crust and filling once the pie is baked because the apples have already shrunk down from precooking so you can really pack in the filling. Although with a crumble top that’s less of an issue since the crumble sinks into all the nooks and conforms to the filling.

While some would argue that making a bunch of little pies is far more work, I would say, on the contrary, not really. I essentially made the equivalent of 5 full size pies in terms of filling, which yielded about 20 small pies–some I sold to friends also having downsized Thanksgiving dinners. My family was happy because we had a mini pie buffet for dessert. My brother Ken was especially excited to have Meyer Lemon Meringue Pie–his all-time favorite–a pie I don’t usually baked for Thanksgiving. I’d say it was a win-win situation.

Were there any leftovers, you might ask? After my siblings took home their share of leftovers, I had an apple, a pumpkin, and part of a cream pie left. Mom snagged the remaining lemon for herself. To switch things up, I might just break up the apple pie and layer it with ice cream and caramel, turn it into a sundae a la Mitchell’s. In fact it was that luscious Mitchell’s Ice Cream specialty that inspired the deconstructed Apple “Pie” Parfait at my recent bake sale.

Then again, I probably won’t get any of the leftover pie since they’re currently sitting in mom’s fridge. The woman can be quite territorial when it comes to leftover dessert. Oh well, at least we managed to make this down-sized Thanksgiving dinner feel anything but a compromise.

You can use either regular pie dough (store bought or scratch made) or the more indulgent pate brisee for your pie shells. Just make sure you chill the dough thoroughly–I pop mine in the freezer–after you form the shells. Also lightly “dock” the surface (poke with a fork) to prevent the dough from puffing up. I play around with my fillings, adjusting flavors and spices to taste–like adding a splash of bourbon and maple syrup to the pumpkin custard filling. But for the Meyer Lemon Meringue Pie, I always stick to the recipe, which is adapted from Cook’s Illustrated. Instead of making a French meringue, however, I make an Italian meringue which I find holds up better over time.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Filling:

• 1 1/2 c. water
• 1 c. sugar
• 5 T. cornstarch
• pinch of sea salt
• 6 large yolks
• 2 t. grated Meyer lemon zest
• 1/2 c. + 1 T. Meyer lemon juice
• 3 T. unsalted butter

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together water, sugar, cornstarch, and salt to dissolve.
2. Cook the mixture under medium heat, whisking constantly until it becomes very thick, letting it bubble for about 1 min.
3. Remove the pan from the heat, then gradually whisk in about 1/3 of the hot mixture into the yolks to temper them. Combine the tempered yolks with the remaining mixture in the pan, then cook for another minute, whisking constantly.
4. Whisk in the lemon juice and zest. Turn off the heat and whisk in the butter.

Meringue:

• 1/3 c. water
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 T. corn syrup
• 5 large whites
• 1/4 t. cream of tartar
• 1/4 t. sea salt

1. Combine water, sugar, and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil.
2. In a stand mixer, begin whipping the whites, cream of tartar and salt on medium speed. Increase the speed to high when sugar syrup reaches 235 degrees. Whip the whites to firm peaks.
3. When the sugar syrup reaches 250F degrees, take it off the heat.
4. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and carefully pour the hot syrup in a thin steady stream between the side of the bowl and whip attachment.
5. Increase the speed to high once all the syrup is incorporated. Beat the meringue until stiff and glossy.
6. Pour the hot lemon filling into the pre-baked shells, then dollop big spoonfuls of meringue on top to cover all the filling. Use the back of the spoon to create swoops and swirls.
7. Bake the meringue topped pies at 375F degrees for 8-10 mins. or until meringue is golden. Cool pies on a rack until filling has set, about 2 hours.