As a foodie, I am usually quite excited to plan out a menu for a major holiday. It is not uncommon to find me sitting, weeks prior, at the dining room table with twenty cookbooks surrounding me as I furiously scribble notes about what I might want to cook, what recipes can be thrown together the day before, what dishes can be baked at the same time in the oven…. On occasion I get lost in my pursuit of NOM and wind up planning Christmas dinner as well with all of the “extra” dishes that I’ve way-over planned for Thanksgiving.
This year was a little different. Because I have been traveling recently, I had not given much time to thinking about Thanksgiving dinner. My ‘Food & Wine’ Thanksgiving edition sits unread, my seasonal cookbooks still have dust build up from the past twelve months. And while I have been fixing Autumn dinners for my family this year, they have been the quiet, old standards – easy to remember, tasty without fuss.
This year I chose to rely soley on internet recipes. Quite a change for me. I even took things a step further (since I like a culinary challenge) and limited my dishes to recipes that had been featured on TV (for what reason, I don’t know; too much caffeine that day, I suppose). I eventually settled on choosing from the Food Network mostly because that’s where I thought to start. I found some fantastic recipes right off the bat from some of my favorite chefs with a simple search of key ingredients that I had already chosen for this meal.
Here is what I served my family this year….
1. Roasted Winter Vegetables
‘Barefoot Contessa’ Episode “Friend In Need”
2. Cranberry Wild Rice Dressing
‘Semi-Homemade Cooking’ Episode: “Cabin Fever”
3. Homemade Applesauce
‘Barefoot Contessa’ Episode: “Halloween for Grownups”
4. Cranberry Orange Sauce
‘Tyler’s Ultimate’ Episode: “Ultimate Thanksgiving”
5. Sweet Potatoes and Sweet Potato Balls
‘Food Network Specials’ Episode: “Paula’s Southern Thanksgiving”
by M.S. Milliken and S. Feniger, 1996
The table:
Notes:
1. If you suddenly realize that you don’t have a zester, you can always get all handy and grab a keyhole saw (normally used for drywall). Works well. WASH IT FIRST.
2. Sometimes if helps if you have Batman as your sous chef.
And here are some changes that I made to the recipes.
1. Roasted Winter Vegetables: While the recipe called for drizzling good olive oil over the veggies prior to baking, I also added a tbsp. of butter and a couple squeezes of honey for good measure. What sounds better to you: “Roasted”, or “Honey Roasted”?
2. Cranberry Wild Rice Dressing: I made significant changes to this recipe. Outlined as a “Quick and Easy” dish online, I switched out the instant rice with a long-grain wild rice mix from Minnesota. This meant that the cooking time was about an hour longer than what the recipe suggests. I also added some ginger and some curry powder, and I sautéed some leeks prior to toasting the rice as well.
3. Homemade Applesauce: I’m not sure what the reason is for leaving 2 apple’s worth of red skins in the recipe, but the red apples I got from the store were a little bruised, so the peels didn’t really look all that great. I threw them in anyway, to what effect, I don’t know.
One thing to really think about with a recipe like this (or others that require zesting) is that you really want to scrub the skin of your fruit thoroughly with soap and water since who knows what kinds of pesticides and dirt may reside thereon. For this specific recipe, I bought organic red apples, just to add one more level of safety. I realize that buying organic can be expensive, but choosing your use of organics wisely makes a lot of sense to me.
4. Cranberry Orange Sauce: I didn’t change the recipe at all, though I would suggest adding a little more sugar. This dish came out a bit tart for my personal taste.
5. Sweet Potato Balls: I made these as suggested, only I set aside a portion of the mashed sweet potatoes because I have one anti-marshmellow family member. The recipe makes enough mashed potatoes for both dishes.
6. Date and Walnut Loaf: Made as intended. This is a wonderful bread! I plan on making a lot more of this over the winter. Everyone in the family liked the texture. I was tempted to throw in more walnuts initially, and this would have been fine, but I have to say that the finished product was great with the amount suggested by the recipe.
7. That’s right, no turkey.
Go. Do. BAKE.
Emily, Doer of Stuff
Emily Does Stuff 