On Thursday we celebrated our first Thanksgiving with some good friends, wine and plenty of food. The smallest turkey we could find was almost 8kg, so we cut it down the middle and just cooked half of it. I had never cooked a turkey before, just watched my mother do at least one killer turkey every Christmas, but was rather happy with how it turned out. I roughly cut carrot, celery, onion and halved three satsumas to cover the base of my roasting dish. I lay the turkey on top, put generous amounts of butter, orange zest, rosemary and thyme under the skin, and then wrapped it with bacon. This meant it was succulent and tasty. No dry turkey breast in sight.

I served it with gravy made from the almost disappeared vegetables from the base of the roasting dish, cranberry sauce, sweet potato, carrot, leek, beetroot and red onion roasted in honey and thyme, crispy roast potatoes, brussel sprouts fried with bacon, a cauliflower and pomegranate dish and stuffing balls. These were made with roasted chestnuts, herbs, bread crumbs, pork mince, bacon and an egg to bind. I want to eat stuffing balls every day of my life.

We had prosecco, mulled wine and red wine. Apple pie, pumpkin pie, home made gelato and a persimmon and pomegranate fruit salad. And it was glorious.

Bring on Christmas!