Thanksgiving dinner with the Scottos: Roast turkey, more

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash turkey and dry off with paper towel. Rub turkey with olive oil and then sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper all over turkey and inside cavity.

2. In a small bowl, mix soft butter with chopped herbs and bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper. Separate skin of turkey from the breast and using your hand, place the herb butter mixture between the skin and the breast, and place pats of butter on the outside of the turkey.

3. In a large roasting pan, place roughly chopped vegetables on base of pan and place turkey on top. Add chicken broth and place in oven at 350 degrees. Baste turkey every half hour.

4. Turkey should take 3 ½ hours to cook or reach internal temperature of 155 degrees.

5. Remove turkey from the pan when cooked. Strain all the drippings with a fine strainer. Remove fat from surface with a spoon. Place natural drippings in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Take 4 tablespoons all purpose flour and mix to a thick consistency with water, making sure there are no lumps. With a whisk, blend the flour mixture slowly into the drippings until gravy has thickened. Hold until ready to serve.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, brown the sausage in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Remove it to a large bowl. Sauté the onion, beef and veal in the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil until brown, and add the mixture to the bowl.

2. Cook the rice according to the package directions until al dente. In a large bowl, stir together the meat, rice, chicken broth, mozzarella and Parmesan.

3. Place the mixture in a casserole dish, and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

For the filling:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Split the pumpkin in half, scrape the sides out, cut ends down and place on oiled baking sheet.

3. Bake pumpkin for 1 hour or until the flesh is soft. Scoop out the pumpkin flesh and measure ¾ cup and reserve the rest.

4. Brown butter in a small sauce pan with sage, allowing the sage to fry in butter. Pour the butter and the sage over the pumpkin.

5. Transfer pumpkin to a bowl and cool. Add ricotta, freshly grated nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix in Vermont maple syrup last.

For the pasta dough:

1. To make the pasta sheets: Place the flour in the center of a work surface and make a well. Mix the eggs, oil and salt. Pour into the center of the flour well.

2. Fold the flour into the eggs and knead into a ball. Add 1 tablespoon of cold water if the dough seems too dry. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least 4 hours before rolling out.

3. Using a pasta machine, roll out the pasta on the thinnest setting and cut into 6 sheets, each about 16 inches long each. Do not roll out too many sheets at a time or the dough will begin to dry and will be difficult to handle. Keep the sheets under a damp cloth so that they don’t dry out.

4. To make agnolotti: Lay one pasta sheet on a clean work surface and cut into 3x4-inch sheets. Add teaspoon of filling and top with another 3x4-inch sheet. With your fingertips, gently press down around the teaspoons of filling and along the sides of the pasta sheets to seal the agnolotti.

For the sauce:

1. Heat saute pan over medium to high heat. Add butter while moving pan in circular manner. When butter is melted completely, add pine nuts and begin to saute. When butter begins to turn light brown, add sage leaves, season with salt and pepper and shut off heat.

2. Bring 1 large pot of water to a boil. Add in all agnolotti at once. Agnolotti will come to surface, remove with hand strainer and add directly to brown butter. Stir pasta carefully in butter until it's well coated. Serve on warm plates and spoon 2 tablespoons of sauce with pine nuts over each serving.

For the salmon:

1. Season salmon filets with salt and pepper and pan sear to desired temperature (for medium, about 5 minutes on each side). Divide artichoke and lobster hash onto 6 plates, top with salmon filets, and finish by drizzling lemon caper sauce around the plate and garnishing with sliced lemons.

For artichokes:

1. Clean artichokes of outer skins and with a sharp knife, quarter each artichoke and place in cold lemon water to prevent browning.

2. Once artichokes are cleaned, place in stock pot and add the carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Add white wine, thyme and cover with water. Cook until the artichokes are tender, then remove from cooking water and drain.

For artichoke lobster hash:

1. In a hot skillet, add 2 tablespoons canola oil and the pre-cooked artichokes and lightly brown. Add the shallot, cherry tomatoes and escarole. Sauté for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the lobster meat right at the end, so it does not get over cooked.

For lemon caper sauce:

1. Sauté shallot in 1 tablespoon canola oil, until tender. Deglaze with wine wine, then add the capers and low sodium chicken stock. Reduce by half and finish sauce with butter, parsley, lemon juice and zest.

For bread pudding:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk the milk with the eggs, vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

2. Add the maple syrup, cinnamon, apples and bread; mix thoroughly.

3. Fill the pumpkins with bread pudding, place on a baking sheet and cook for about 45 minutes until pudding is firm; remove and set aside to cool.

4. When ready to serve, top each pumpkin with warm butterscotch sauce.

For butterscotch sauce:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil and remove from the heat. Serve the stuffed pumpkins with the warm butterscotch sauce.