Giada's Holiday Handbook (2015–…): Season 3, Episode 2 - Giada's Turkey Day Feast - full transcript

-Ta-da!
-Ooh!

GIADA: I love the holidays.

Go, Igor, go!

And I also love to entertain.

Ohh!

In fact, over the years,
I've gathered together

my favorite recipes and ideas

to create a one-of-a-kind
holiday handbook.

It's filled with pages and pages
of cherished recipes and menus,

unique party themes,
cocktails for every occasion...

To the holidays.
-Cheers!



...and some really fun
decorating ideas.

Whether it's a classic
Thanksgiving dinner, open house,

or Christmas with the kids...

Jade Marie!

...I have everything you need
to make the party truly sparkle.

WOMAN: Merry Christmas,
you guys.

Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.

Today, I'm hosting Thanksgiving
dinner for my family...

I like the pasta
and the turkey.

...and making a menu
of holiday favorites.

I always love your salads.
So good. So good.

Plus, I'm digging into
my handbook to share

some tried-and-true ideas

for making
the holidays extra special.



♪ Happy Thanksgiving ♪
-Happy Thanksgiving.

Nice
to be all together.

It's my Turkey Day Feast,
and you're invited.

The key of Thanksgiving
is to be organized.

I like to plan a week
in advance --

making a shopping list,

planning out plates
and all the decorations.

And I think what's also
really helpful to take

some of the stress away
from Thanksgiving

is to delegate,
taking some of the pressure off,

and that way,
you're not in the kitchen

making everything last minute
while all your friends

and family are outside
having a good time.

-Whoa.
-Ohh!

In our case, we like
to play bocce ball,

and I would like to participate.

-There it is.
-Whoa.

-Nice.
-Ohh!

GIADA: The sides are usually
the things I delegate out

whenever I know that someone
likes to make something,

so they feel like
they're contributing.

It's Thanksgiving,
so everybody's giving thanks

and coming together.

This year's menu
offers an Italian twist.

My mascarpone cannoli cheesecake

is a make-ahead dessert
that's always a hit.

I'm going all out
with my succulent

prosciutto-wrapped turkey.

For the pasta lovers,
I've got lemon and pea Alfredo.

And for a light taste of fall,
my sweet and savory kale salad.

♪♪

Cheesecake is phenomenal

'cause it only gets better
the longer it sits.

You can make it up to two,
three days in advance.

The cheese filling -- it's
mascarpone and cream cheese.

You need that mixture
of the tang

with the creaminess
of the mascarpone.

And mini chocolate chips.

Kind of the feeling
and flavors of a cannoli,

but in a cheesecake form.

I top it with these baby
Italian cherries.

It's stunning, and I think
it's the perfect

ending to a decadent meal
like Thanksgiving.

♪♪

For the crust, I take
almond-flavored biscotti

and put them in a food
processor with butter and salt.

♪♪

And then I press it in
the bottom of a spring-form pan

and pop in the oven at 350
for about 8 minutes

until you get
a light-golden crust.

♪♪

I've already put two 8-ounce
packages of cream cheese.

Always got to have
the cream cheese.

And you want that cream cheese

that comes just
kind of like butter,

'cause the flavor and
the texture of the cheesecake

will be fantastic.

And you want to make sure
you get that flavor.

All right, so,
we've got the sugar.

So, we're going to add about
8 ounces of mascarpone.

So, one part mascarpone,
two parts cream cheese.

Remember, anytime you're baking,

everything's got to be
at room temperature.

Then we're gonna do a little
bit of vanilla extract.

And I have to say that,
over the years, cannolis --

I love the filling
of the cannoli,

but I'm not always such a fan
of the cannoli shell itself

because the shells tend
to be a little bit stale.

But the inside is so fluffy
and so flavorful,

so that's what I'm going for.

I'm going for the flavors of the
cannoli cream in the cheesecake.

Now I'm gonna add
a little bit of salt

just to kind of balance
out the sweetness.

Now we need
a little bit of lemon

to sort of lighten everything.

And my favorite cannolis
are made in Naples,

and they make a filling
that has a lot of lemon,

because they're in the south
and they grew a lot of lemons.

So, it's nice and bright, and it
takes away any of the heaviness

you would get from
these soft cheeses.

And now we're gonna do the eggs.

So, three eggs to just bind
the mixture together.

And again, really important when
baking something like this

that all of the ingredients
are at room temperature,

so make sure you pull
them out in advance.

Now we're gonna mix
this all together.

Get it nice and fluffy.

Go a little bit higher here.

♪♪

Then remember to scrape
the sides to make sure

that everything's
blended really well,

so all of the cream cheese

and all of the mascarpone
is all together.

There we go.

And we're gonna just
mix it one last time,

and then we're gonna add

my favorite part,
which are the chocolate chips.

And some of my favorite cannolis
always have either

chocolate chips

inside or chocolate chips
on the outside of it.

I'm adding chocolate chips
into it,

but I'm not adding
regular chocolate chips.

I'm adding these little mini
chocolate chips.

So, we're gonna do 3/4 cup
of mini chocolate chips,

semi-sweet.

And we're just gonna
kind of lightly mix it,

'cause you don't want
to break them up.

There we go.
We're folding it in.

And we'll pour it right
in the middle.

Nice and creamy,
and it smells really good, too.

Done.

So, you just want it
to settle just like that.

We're gonna pop this in a
325-degree oven for 45 minutes.

♪♪

Then, I put it in the fridge.

You can make it up to two,
three days in advance.

And then I top it
with baby Italian cherries

soaked in syrup.

It looks like red velvet pouring
over this white cheesecake.

It's stunning.

Up next, the star of the show --

a Thanksgiving Day turkey
wrapped in prosciutto.

And later, some simple ideas
to make your holiday table

truly sparkle.

GIADA: I'm opening up my holiday
handbook to share my ideas,

recipes, and tips
for Thanksgiving dinner.

My secret for success is to be
as organized as possible.

I do that by starting
a few days early

and delegating side
dishes to my guests.

My make-ahead mascarpone
cannoli cheesecake

is chilling in the fridge.

Time to get started
on the holiday turkey.

A lot of times, turkey can be
the hero of the meal.

It can also be the one
that people eat the least.

And I feel like, yes, it needs
a lot of flavor added to it,

but I think you can get
pretty creative with the bird.

And it can look pretty gorgeous
and be really tasty.

So this year, I once again tried
to come up with a new twist

on making turkey.

I dry-brined it.

I took salt, red pepper flakes,
lemon zest, and thyme,

and I rubbed it on the meat,
underneath the skin.

I put herbs inside, shallots,
lemon and thyme and rosemary,

and I put that
in the cavity of the bird.

And then you throw it
in the fridge,

and you leave it overnight,

just so it can dry-brine
and absorb the flavor.

The dry-brine really makes it a
lot easier to pop in the fridge

and keep the fridge clean.

Next day, I pull it out,

and I wrap it
in thinly sliced prosciutto.

♪♪

My turkey's already
brined overnight,

so now it's time
to wrap it in prosciutto.

I just got pre-sliced
prosciutto,

made it really easy on myself.

And stick it to the turkey.

And the prosciutto is
sort of sticky anyway,

so you just want
to take the slices

and just basically wrap
the turkey in the prosciutto,

just like this.

Don't worry about the prosciutto
breaking or anything.

It'll add a lot of flavor
to the turkey.

Plus, I think
it's really pretty.

Work your way all
around the turkey.

And I'm sort of giving it
a little Italian spin.

A lot of times, you'll see it
wrapped in bacon.

For a 14-pound turkey,

you're gonna need about
12 slices of prosciutto.

♪♪

Pretty much the whole
bird is covered.

And sometimes what I like to do

is just stick a couple
of toothpicks in there,

just to make sure that,

as the prosciutto starts
to cook on the turkey,

it doesn't come off.

Just kind of holding it down
a little bit.

Just a couple of them
in different places.

Just one more on this side.

It's like it's got
a little winter coat on.

All right.

The turkey is sitting on
just some celery stalks

to keep it above the liquid,

and also, the celery will flavor

the gravy
we're gonna make later.

A little bit of chicken broth,
about a cup,

And I'm just put a piece
of parchment paper,

and then I'm gonna cover
this up in tin foil.

I'm putting a little
parchment paper so the tin foil

doesn't touch
the actual prosciutto,

'cause you don't want it
to peel it off,

and it also creates
more moisture in there,

so it keeps the turkey
nice and moist.

We're gonna put this in the oven
at 350 for 3 hours,

and then I'm gonna up
the temperature to 400,

take everything off,

and let it get nice and crispy
for about 45 minutes.

While that turkey's sitting,
you take the pan juices

and you put them
in a different pot

and you add maple syrup
and balsamic vinegar.

And you let that reduce down
and cook down for a few minutes.

Sweet and tangy, which I think
is perfect over the turkey.

♪♪

I want to showcase the turkey
in a fun way,

and since Jade loves to paint,

I thought she could make us
something special.

This year, I picked a platter,
and I had her do her fall-ish,

Thanksgiving design.

And I'm gonna use it
as my platter for my turkey.

And it makes her
just really excited,

and it makes her feel like
she's a part of Thanksgiving.

Up next, it wouldn't be
Thanksgiving in my house

without pasta.

I'm making a family favorite.

And later, a quick
and easy salad

that's loaded with fall flavors.

GIADA: I'm digging into
my holiday handbook

to share some of my favorite

Thanksgiving Day recipes
and ideas.

Besides turkey, there's one dish
that's always on the menu.

I love to make pasta
in the holidays,

and it's sort of in the vein
of my grandfather,

only because he always
had pasta at the table.

I wanted to do something kind of
light but kind of decadent.

I did sort of a spin on my lemon
spaghetti, and this time,

I'm using fusilli con buco.

It's a long corkscrew,
it has a hole in the center,

and it's really festive
and fun and Jade loves it.

It's really nice
for the holidays.

Do a shape that
you don't normally do.

And beautiful, vibrant,
green peas.

I think that'll work really well
with the turkey.

♪♪

I'm just gonna melt
a little bit of butter

and a little bit of olive oil

for my lemon-pea Alfredo.

And I have to say that
I really came up with this

for my restaurant in Vegas,

because my lemon spaghetti
became so popular,

and I kind of wanted
to change it up a bit

and give it a new spin.

So, what we're gonna do is just
melt a little bit of butter

with some olive oil and garlic.

All right.

We're gonna have to take
a little bit of pasta water,

which is where
all the flavor is.

We're gonna use about 1/2 cup of
pasta water in with the butter

and the olive oil
to start creating a sauce.

This is a really fast sauce.

So, just kind of mix
that all together.

You can start
to smell the garlic.

Ahh.

So, here we go.

Let's grab the pasta.

Turn it off, and we'll put it
directly into the pan.

See how pretty this looks?

Curly, curly Q's.

♪♪

All right, so, we've got
the pasta in the pan.

Now, we're gonna add to the
pasta 1 1/2 cups of Parmigiano.

And I've already grated
my Parmesan cheese.

So, you can do a lot
of the legwork in advance

and add all of the ingredients

and not have to do much
work at the last minute.

And some mascarpone.

♪♪

And I'll add all the mascarpone.

So 2 1/2 cups of Parmesan cheese
and 1 cup of mascarpone.

The combo will give you
that creamy

Alfredo sauce taste and texture.

Let's lighten it all up
with a little bit of lemon.

So, we're gonna zest
a whole lemon,

and then we're gonna juice
the lemon as well.

Ahh.
It lightens up everything.

Lemons are the best.

Gonna add a little bit of salt.

Season it.

Actually, I can use this.

And I want to toss
this together,

and melt the mascarpone
and the Parmesan cheese

with the pasta water
that we added earlier.

♪♪

Next, we're gonna do
1 cup of peas.

I like the peas 'cause they
give it a nice, green color,

and I think along in the table,

I really like the vibrant,
green color.

Then we're gonna add
some lemon juice.

It's about a tablespoon, so it
kind of depends on the lemon

that you have
and how juicy it is.

Think this one we're gonna
do the whole thing.

Kind of give it a nice,
bright, lemony flavor.

Gonna toss it again.

See how pretty this looks?

And now, to really make it super
pretty and special

for Thanksgiving,

one of my favorite ingredients
lately -- pink peppercorns.

They're very florally,
and they add a beautiful color.

But they don't give,
like, hot spice,

but just sort of warm spice

and a wonderful aroma.

It's sort of that
last ingredient

that everybody talks about.

Now, let's see here.

Take a little bite.

Mmm.

Last sprinkle of salt.

And that is it. My lemon and pea
Alfredo is done.

♪♪

I try to pull the plates
and platters in advance,

just to make it easier
when I go to set the table.

So, for this Thanksgiving,
I thought we'd stick to nature

and have very natural colors.

Linen table with
taupe border on it.

I'm gonna set it up under this
California pepper tree outside.

So I thought it would be nice
to have wood-stump chargers.

Really feels earthy
and very outdoorsy in a way,

but yet elegant.

Gold utensils, gold cutlery,
white plates

so that it makes the food pop.

The napkins are sort of orangey,
so again,

the colors are very fall-like.

I also put little candied
apples at everybody's seat,

'cause I love candied apples.

♪♪

Up next, a holiday salad
that tastes like fall.

And some simple ideas
to keep your guests

entertained until turkey time.

GIADA: It's almost time
for our Turkey Day Feast.

This year, it's all
about being organized.

That means making sure
your guests are entertained

while you put the finishing
touches on the meal.

-Okay, come on, Jules.
-Beautiful.

-Nice.
-Perfect.

-No!
-Ohh.

WOMAN:
That's about to beat...

It's become a family tradition
to play bocce ball

anytime we're outside
for Thanksgiving.

My grandparents used to play it.

Something that's
very traditional

in the Italian culture,

to play that before
and after a meal.

I like to set a little
antipasto platter,

so that everybody can have
a little nibble here and there.

But really, they save
the bulk of their hunger

for the actual meal.

-Come on, Jade.
-There it is.

-Whoa.
-Nice.

-Ohh!
-Ohh!

GIADA: And then, I'm also
making a kale salad.

I can make components
of the salad in advance.

Like the sweet potatoes,
I roast them with the onion

a day in advance.

I cut the sweet potato into,
like, little half-moons.

I roast them with pearl onions,
just olive oil and salt.

Super simple.

I make the dressing a day
in advance as well.

I make a pomegranate-molasses
vinaigrette.

The pomegranate molasses
is truly what makes it.

A little Dijon, olive oil,
and it makes for a very rich,

sweet, very elegant dressing.

So, I think it works
really well with the kale

and the sweet potato.

♪♪

I'm cutting my apple
for my salad,

and we're just gonna put all
of the apple right on top.

Just like this.

Then I take the cooled
sweet potato and pearl onion.

Got to have a little sweet
potato at Thanksgiving.

♪♪

Here's the sweet part.

Here's the dressing
we made earlier

with the pomegranate molasses.

And we just pour that nice,
thick dressing over it.

There we go.

Gonna toss it all together.

Look how pretty that is.

Now, that is a fall salad.

Looks so pretty.

And last but not least, since
we used pomegranate molasses,

we're gonna finish off the salad
with some fresh pomegranates.

And I love them 'cause they look
like red, little jewels

on top of the salad,
which I think is so fun.

And there we have it.

My salad's done, so it's time
to eat some turkey.

♪♪

LULU: Oh, that's right, mine
didn't look like yours.

Yeah.
They're all a little different.

-Oh, awesome.
-Oh, is this origami?

Hey, Lulu, will you give Julian
a piece of turkey?

-Yeah.
-Pasta preseli.

You want a piece?
What do you want?

Turkey.
Get some turkey, Jade.

MAN: Giada,
I love the place mats.

-You like them?
-Very creative.

GIADA: Well, since we're outside
under a tree...

-It's very fitting, right?
-Yeah.

Could I have some salad, some
mashed potatoes, stuffing --

I like the works, everybody.

-Oh, my gosh. This is so good.
-Sure.

MAN #2: Can I get some gravy
when you're done, Lu?

Yep.

What's the dressing
on the salad?

Pomegranate molasses.

♪ Happy Thanksgiving ♪
-Happy Thanksgiving.

WOMAN:
Nice to be all together.

Once the turkey's gone,
you'll see that

there's a design on the platter.

Guess who you think made
that design on that platter.

-Uh...
-I can guess.

-Jade.
-Jade.

-She did.
-Cool!

Sweet potatoes
are very good.

Turkey's really moist.

GIADA: I put prosciutto
over the turkey.

I like the prosciutto
on top.

Look, our names
are on the apples.

Our names are
on the apples.

-Yep.
-Aww.

-This is my apple.
-I like the turkey.

-Thank you.
-It's delicious.

-It's moist.
-Mom, look what I did.

Mm, that's a good bite, Jadie.

The pasta's delish.

I like the pasta
and the turkey.

I always love your salads.
So good.

♪♪

-This is so good.
-Look at this.

-We love the crust.
-Mmm.

I love these cherries.
Get six more of those, please?

WOMAN: I think the crust
is what I'm gonna like.

-I love these cherries.
-The cherries are...

-The cherries are so good.
-I love the cherries.

The cherries
make the cake.

Oh, go, Igor, go!
Go, Igor, go!

Go, Igor!
Oh, my gosh.

So, this year for Secret Santa,

instead of everybody
pulling a name out of a hat,

I've sort of decided for them.

And I printed out little
pictures of everybody,

and I'm gonna put
that person's picture

underneath the
other person's plate.

So they won't know it
until the very end

and then they'll see
the picture of the person

and they'll know who they
have to buy a gift for.

I think it'll be really fun.

Lift it up.

You all have something
underneath.

-Secret Santa.
-It is Secret Santa.

Oh, look at the Santa face.

Okay, don't share it.

Everybody knows who they have,
so think about a gift.

JADE: Wait, who's your
Secret Santa, Mom?

It's a secret!

Ah!

♪♪

We have these little
take-home gifts,

which are little chocolate bars
that have nuts and dried fruit

and stuff like that that's
wrapped up for everybody.

Everybody gets one of these
to take home.

Oh, thank you very much.
I'm just gonna eat this.

LULU: Thanks, G.
This is my favorite.

WOMAN: It's dark chocolate.
This is good.

Thank you.
-Oh, wow.

-Thank you.
-Happy Thanksgiving.

Thank you.