The Thanksgiving Recipe Collection
What we're cooking!
Hi Friends,
It’s here! It’s Thanksgiving week, the second big food holiday after Diwali.
A huge thank you to all who made it to last Saturday’s Thanksgiving Chat on Substack. I enjoyed every minute.
Over the years, I’ve become wiser and learned to ask for and accept help preparing for Thanksgiving. I don’t need to do it all, and neither do you! It’s a dinner that can quickly get out of control and become laborious and less enjoyable. Sometimes my guests will offer to make one of their favorite dishes and bring it over; others might ask for a recipe, and I’ll give them one. I’m always grateful and will never say no! I’ll also tell them what I’m cooking and what flavors to expect. This also makes the evening more fun, and the conversations shared turn even more special. For example, one year, I learned why a friend’s mom always makes her stuffing with stock and gin (yeah, gin – I didn’t expect that one, but the flavor of juniper berries comes through).
The Main Course
I think turkey and the stuffing are the traditional mains at Thanksgiving, but I’m always open to other options. There are years when I skip turkey entirely and make something else. For example, one year, it was porchetta, and another year I made a beef wellington. It isn’t the end of Thanksgiving if you skip the turkey. You can make a turkey breast or cook the legs if you can’t be bothered with a whole bird.
Stuffings/Dressings are a fun menu item to play with. It’s like ice cream, a blank slate, and you can make it what you want. I like nuts and dried fruit in my stuffing, and I’ll usually start there and then figure my way around. One important rule with most bread-based stuffing, soak it in the egg and stock mixture overnight and bake it the day of Thanksgiving. This gives the bread enough time to absorb all the goodness from the liquids and develop a crustier top.
Turkey + Condiments
Dressing/Stuffing
Cornbread, Chorizo, Kale, and Cheddar Stuffing
Green Olives and Chouriço/Chorizo Stuffing (The Flavor Equation)
The Sides
Sides are the wildest and most fun part of Thanksgiving. They might be the equivalent of the Indian thali (actually, Thanksgiving dinner is the equivalent of thali when it comes to food). There are so many options to choose from. I keep the rules very loose here. I’ll use flavors from different parts of the world; this year, we’ve got gochujang and preserved lemons on my menu.
There are some recipes in this digest that you can tag and prepare for Christmas (like the pommes anna).
Potatoes + Sweet Potatoes
Pommes Anna with Guava Onion Jam
Crispy Parmesan Garlic Yuzu Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes with Garlic (The Flavor Equation)
Baked Sweet Potatoes with Maple Crème Fraiche (The Flavor Equation)
Salads
Mixed Greens and Herb Salad
Roasted Pumpkin Barley Burrata Salad
Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad (The Flavor Equation)
Vegetables
Black Garlic and Miso Green Beans
Green Beans with Preserved Lemons and Crème Fraiche (The Flavor Equation)
Roasted Maple Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta
Lentil and Potato Croquettes with Yogurt Tartar Sauce
Roasted Delicata Squash with Gochujang
Creamed Corn and Oyster Mushrooms
The Sweets
Ironically, I’m more of a sweet potato lover, but this year, I’ve got a bunch of new pumpkin recipes to share with you. If you want a pie filling but don’t want to make a pie crust, try the bebincas or the spiced pumpkin flan. Bebincas are a type of Goan dessert (brought during the Portuguese colonization of Goa), and we make two varieties. One that’s made of several layers and requires a bit of time and effort, and another called mock, which is much easier to make but just as tasty. If you want to skip it all and eat ice cream at Thanksgiving, DO IT!
BTW, if you attempt the Masala Chai Pumpkin Cake, don’t make the witch’s cat out of the fondant to decorate the cake. Use a pie or cookie cutter to make a pumpkin, scarecrow, corn cob, or something more appropriate.
Pumpkin
Sweet Potato
Honey Beer Sweet Potato Pie (The Flavor Equation)
If you are not interested in pies, pumpkins, or sweet potatoes, then try this
Okay, that’s all from me this Thanksgiving. I’m incredibly thankful to have you all here, cooking my food. I hope you have a lovely holiday weekend; rest, relax, and spend time with your friends and families.
xx
Nik
Good god, I want to make them all ... but we’ve already committed to Persian Thanksgiving! Maybe for Christmas?