My college friends are my nearest and dearest. Long story short, I am so thankful that the universe put them in my life.
I'm also thankful that they are foodies like me! Something we can all appreciate when we get together is amazing food. That's why our annual Friendsgiving is one of my favorite times of the year!
We actually don't even call it Friendsgiving; we call it Danksgiving! Dank is slang for potent, high quality... er... herb. What better way to celebrate a friends' gathering than by calling it dank! (Dank also has a negative definition meaning damp, musty, etc. But we're just going to ignore that.)
Anyway, this year our Danksgiving fell on December 1st, so Holidanks was born! My talented friend Christine and her fiancé Jon (a foodie, artsy power couple) hosted us at their home in Morristown and provided us with a beautiful spread of goodies! With everyone contributing a dish or two, our Holidanks meal was a rich and comforting meal that left our tummies happy and our hearts full!
I brought over canned gravy (what was I thinking!?), and Jon promptly got to work on a homemade concoction of what I can only describe as liquid gold. If you know me, I would literally drink gravy if I could. He took chicken gizzards out of the fridge and walked me through the process. Here's the kicker, he uses MARMITE for umami. According to Wikipedia, "Marmite is a British food spread produced by Unilever. Marmite is made from yeast extract, a by-product of beer brewing." I've heard of it but never used it in my own cooking before. I am looking forward to trying it! That gravy was salty, smooth, brown GOODNESS. Thanks Jon!
And thanks to my friends for this wonderful spread! Let us all give DANKS!
EDIT: I just remembered, he also used anchovies in the gravy! 😯 They added a salty, umami taste as well, and you absolutely could not taste any fish flavor--similar to using them in a caesar dressing.