Thanksgiving
2220 recipes found
Broccoli Crown, Leek and Potato Colcannon
As a last minute deferral to the need to have a green vegetable on the menu at Thanksgiving, we often choose broccoli. Broccoli on its own can be boring, but not in this dish, where it is cooked just until bright green and soft enough to easily chop fine and mix with mashed potatoes. The broccoli remains bright and tints the mashed potatoes pale green, with pretty green specks throughout.
Roasted Carrots With Yaji Spice Relish
A fragrant combination of dried spices and aromatics, yaji, also known as suya spice, is as ubiquitous as salt and pepper in homes across Northern Nigeria and West Africa more broadly. Often used to cure meats and finish other dishes, the spice blend is made depending on taste and access to ingredients, so the recipe can range from home to home and vendor to vendor. Common among blends is the addition of a warming chile powder, ground ginger (although fresh is used in some cases) and pulverized peanuts. Here, a basic yaji spice blend is incorporated into a fresh, piquant relish of scallions, lemon zest and juice as a finish to liven up roast vegetables.
Winter Squash Casserole With Rosemary
A pungent bath of minced garlic and rosemary gives a squash casserole new life, and in turn, this casserole gives new life to your fall and winter tables. It comes from Sarah Leah Chase, a cook on Nantucket, Mass., whose book "Cold-Weather Cooking" is full of good things for the winter holidays. Flouring the squash cubes helps them form a crust, and prevents the casserole from becoming mushy; the whiff of ginger in the coating is barely detectable but adds freshness. Slow-baking the squash turns it tender and sweet.
Lefse
Lefse, thin potato-dough flatbreads like Scandinavian tortillas, or Oslo injera, can be found on holiday tables throughout the upper Midwest, wherever Norwegian families settled to farm. The recipe is adapted from Ethel Ramstad, 90, who learned it from one Ollie Amundson in North Dakota decades ago. We picked it up when she was teaching it to Molly Yeh, 25, a Chicago-raised food blogger marrying Ms. Ramstad's great-nephew, on a farm in the Red River Valley, right before Thanksgiving. The riced potato mixture that forms the basis of the dough should be very, very cold when it is rolled out, to prevent stickiness. And although you do not need a lefse griddle to make great lefse, a lefse stick — essentially a long, thin, wooden spatula — is an admirable investment in success.
Celery-Leek Soup With Potato and Parsley
This celery-forward soup is in essence a potato-leek soup that substitutes most of the potatoes with brighter celery, and skips the vast quantities of cream in the original, resulting in a lighter flavor and texture. Woodsy herbs like thyme and bay leaves, and fresh, raw parsley give the soup its intensely green, almost grassy taste. It’s worth trying the soup without dairy, then admiring the transformative effect of a splash of crème fraîche or cream, which subdues the louder celery notes.
Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes are an essential Thanksgiving side dish but can be time consuming. Instead of starting with raw potatoes, then peeling, cutting and boiling them, start with these prepared potatoes and no one will know you didn’t make the dish from scratch. I tested many varieties of prepared mashed potatoes and Bob Evans refrigerated potatoes were the best.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
The not-so-secret secret to roasting fresh pumpkin seeds — and crisping them properly — is making sure they’re really dry. Patting the seeds down with paper towels does a fine job, but drying them out in the oven is even more efficient and effective. Once they’ve toasted slightly, simply dress them with oil and salt, then continue to roast them until lightly golden. Feel free to add spices — say za’atar, or cinnamon and cayenne — in Step 3 with the oil and salt. But take note: Some add-ins, like nutritional yeast or raw sugar, may melt under high heat, so sprinkle them onto the seeds just after roasting.
Sweet Spiced Mushroom and Apricot Pilaf
This pilaf scores all the points for being both gluten-free and vegan (provided you use vegetable stock), and for being robust enough for no one to notice. Star anise and cinnamon make this a warming (and winning) combination for a festive Thanksgiving spread, complementing roast turkey and just about any dish that finds its way to your table. It also serves well as a stand-alone main, with some lightly cooked greens to go alongside. Feel free to swap out the fresh mushrooms for whatever foraged finds you can get your hands on, just make sure to break them up into large chunks, keeping intact their natural “meatiness.”
Wild Mushrooms and Brussels Sprouts
Here, wild mushrooms and brussels sprouts get crisp and golden in the oven while brandy-glazed chestnuts add a touch of sweetness. You can make the shallot-chestnut mixture the day before and refrigerate it in an airtight container. Sprinkle it evenly over the roasting vegetables during the last 5 minutes of cooking to warm it through.
Roman-Style Braised Fennel
Fennel is a crunchy, assertively anise-flavored vegetable that mellows and sweetens when cooked. Here, the vegetable is prepared in the style of carciofi alla Romana, or braised whole artichokes, which is a simple preparation of simmering them in aromatic olive oil until incredibly tender. The braising liquid is infused with bright lemon, fragrant garlic and fresh herbs, which impart the fennel and shallots with layers of flavor. This versatile side dish can be served warm or at room temperature, and leftovers can be chopped and tossed with spaghetti and Parmesan for an easy meal. The unused fennel stalks can be chopped and sautéed as part of a vegetable soup, and the fronds can be used in place of dill to make gravlax.
Wild Rice and Berries With Popped Rice
As delicious simmered until tender as it is popped until puffy and crisp, real hand-harvested wild rice, available from a few vendors online, is unlike any commercial paddy rice. Nutty and woodsy, it cooks in half the time of commercial wild rice and tastes of the piney forests and clear northern lakes. In the Anishinaabe language, wild rice is “manoomin,” or “good berry,” and is served at many ceremonies in the Great Lakes region, from holiday celebrations to weddings and funerals. I often garnish this dish with fresh or dried ramp leaves, depending on the time of year, but chive stems or sliced scallions are a simple substitute. Top with roasted turnips and winter squash or serve with sautéed vegetables, roast meat or pan-seared fish.
Sweeney Potatoes
This is a variation of a dish sometimes called "company potatoes," popular in the postwar kitchens of the 1950s, made with canned condensed soups and frozen hash browns. Maura Passanisi, of Alameda, Calif., shared it with The Times as a tribute to her grandmother, Florence Sweeney, who originally served it as a Thanksgiving side dish. Ms. Passanisi uses fresh russet potatoes and no condensed soup, but plenty of cream cheese, sour cream, butter and cheese. "Legendary," she calls the dish. And so it is. Small portions are best. It's rich. And feeds a crowd.
Coconut Kale
The kale in this recipe, adapted from Meeru Dhalwala and Vikram Vij of Vij’s Restaurant, in Vancouver, British Columbia, is rich and fiery, sweet and salty all at once. Grilling softens the texture of the kale without entirely removing the mild bitterness of the leaves, while the marinade of coconut milk, cayenne, salt and lemon juice caramelizes in the heat to create a perfect balance of flavors. Made over a charcoal fire or even in a broiler or wickedly hot pan, it becomes a dish of uncommon flavor, the sort of thing you could eat on its own, with only a mound of basmati rice for contrast.
Creamy Potato Gratin
There is an annual color war in our household, with one faction demanding sweet potatoes with marshmallows, the other countering with a potato gratin. I parcook the potatoes in half-and-half before baking the gratin. It’s easier to fine-tune the seasonings that way. And if there are leftovers, reheat them in the microwave and serve before the end of the weekend; this is not a dish that freezes well.
Stuffed Acorn Squash With Sausage and Kale
This recipe dresses up the humble acorn squash for a dinner that’s a hearty and comforting celebration of fall flavors. Feel free to tweak the recipe to use what you have on hand: Any leftover rice or cooked grains will work, along with spinach or other sturdy greens in place of the kale. Though this is not a recipe for rushed weeknights, the squash can be assembled completely in advance and finished in the oven just before serving. For best results, use medium squash, and remove the stem for easier cutting.
Rawia Bishara’s Brussels Sprouts With Tahini Sauce
This recipe is a mashup from Rawia Bishara, who has gradually adapted the home cooking of her childhood in Nazareth to the tastes of Brooklynites at her restaurant, Tanoreen. She'd never cooked Brussels sprouts before she arrived forty years ago, and she said that at first, deep-fried was the only way her children would eat them. We modern cooks may prefer roasting for a weeknight dinner, but the golden, crisp fried version should be experienced at least once. Sesame is one of the most universal flavors of the Middle East, and the base for many of its staples: tahini (sesame paste), hummus, halvah, and the spice mix called za'atar. But straight tahini sauce, with sesame, garlic, and lemon juice, comes on a little strong. The sweet sharpness of pomegranate molasses provides a counterpoint to the rich sesame, and yogurt lightens the mixture.
Sweet Potatoes With Bourbon and Brown Sugar
These silky mashed sweet potatoes are spiced with cloves, nutmeg and a little black pepper, brightened with lemon zest, and spiked with bourbon (or orange juice, if you'd prefer). Puréeing them in a food processor yields the smoothest, airiest texture, but for something a little more rustic, you could mash them by hand. Whichever you choose, these reheat well, either in a microwave or in a pot over low heat.
Sweet Potatoes With Cranberry Chutney
This is an easy and surprisingly delicious way to get a dramatic-looking sweet-potato dish on the table with little fuss. The heat of the jalapeños in the chutney, mixed with aromatic vegetables and the sweetness of the dried fruit, gives the cranberries depth. A dollop of sour cream goes on the halved sweet potato, followed by a generous spoonful of chutney. Make the chutney up to two weeks ahead and keep it in the refrigerator. It also freezes well. Assembly on Thanksgiving is an easy last-minute task.
Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough
Roasted Turnips and Winter Squash With Agave Glaze
Traditionally, this dish, from the Great Plains, would include timpsula, the wild turnip that grows in patches across the region. (Old Lakota harvesting stories tell of how the timpsula point the forager from one plant to the next.) In Lakota homes, the turnips are often braided and dried for use throughout the winter. Unless you live in the region, fresh timpsula is difficult to come by, as it’s not sold commercially. It’s also milder and slightly denser than the garden turnips we’ve substituted in this traditional pairing. The agave glaze adds a touch of sweetness to the vegetables, and the toasted sunflower seeds add crunch. Serve this with bison pot roast with hominy or spooned over wild rice for a comforting vegetarian meal.
Roasted Beets With Yogurt, Pistachios and Coriander
This sophisticated side is easy enough for a weeknight, but fancy enough for entertaining thanks to a few unexpected additions: Seasoned Greek yogurt forms the basis of an effortless sauce, while toasted coriander seeds and chopped pistachios add texture. Roasting sweet, earthy beets concentrates their flavor, and a splash of balsamic balances out their sweetness. This dish can be prepared in advance and served hot, cold or at room temperature, but its assembly should be done just before serving so the toasted coriander seeds and roasted pistachios retain their crunch.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes With Maple and Brown Butter
This recipe is a grown-up take on sweet potatoes with brown sugar and marshmallows. A generous swirl of browned butter and maple syrup give the potatoes an earthy sweetness and great depth of flavor, while salted, toasted pecans sprinkled on top add a savory crunch. To save time on Thanksgiving, toast the pecans and make the brown butter up to a day in advance. Simply store the pecans in an airtight container, and the brown butter in the refrigerator. (Gently melt the butter in the microwave before using.)
Warm Kale Salad With Walnuts and Pomegranate
Pomegranate molasses makes a sweet-tart contribution to this salad of cooked, not raw, kale. It’s really more of a vegetable side dish, but could very well be a salad course on its own. In every bite there’s a morsel of warm kale, walnut and pomegranate. Truth be told, it is just as tasty served at room temperature. It’s also great to make ahead of time: You can cook the kale, toast the nuts and make the vinaigrette early. Then toss everything and garnish five minutes before serving.
Clementine-Pomegranate Jello Salad
A gelatin salad, or Jell-O mold, may seem retro, but when you make one from scratch, substituting fresh juice and fruit in place of artificial flavoring and color, it can be spectacular, making a great showpiece for a dinner party or buffet. This particular combination of tart clementine and sweet pomegranate is quite refreshing for a very light dessert, but it may also be served as a fruit salad.