Thanksgiving Recipes Revisited

instead of the sickly-sweet candied yams, how about curried sweet potatoes? bake, peel, and mash sweet potatoes with a little coconut milk to the consistency you like, and season with salt, pepper, and curry powder. for spinach, you might try sauteeing it in olive oil and topping with balsamic vinegar, raisins, pine nuts, and a little red pepper. for dessert, how about a cranberry walnut turnovers with white chocolate chips? you can take puff pastry, cut it into squares, and put a few dried cranberries, walnuts, white chocolate chips and a small dab of cream cheese. fold and crimp shut, brush with beaten egg, top with cinnamon, and bake.

My mom makes the most delicious Thanksgiving sides. The recipes, according to an ancient cookbook called "Cooking is saying I love you", are pretty easy and are traditional enough to not startle the tradition bound. Also, and i'll say it again: extremely extremely delicious. Sweet Potato Casserole: (italics are my notes, not the cookbooks') Mash 3lb of cooked, drained sweet potatoes Beat in 2 eggs, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 2tbsp orange juice,1/4tsp salt, 1/4 tsp cloves (we never have cloves on hand, and it's fine without it) and 1tsp cinnamon. Pour into greased casserole (i'd recommend one that's broad and shallow, the more surface area for nuts and glaze the better) Cover surface with pecan nuts (arrange prettily in rows, if you have the time) Bake in 375 degree oven for 25 While baking, Make a syrup of 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp orange juice, 2tbsp margarine or butter. Melt and pour over casserole. Bake for another 25 minutes. I just realised the other recipe isn't in this cookbook, but approximately: Broccoli & Cauliflower Gratin Mix frozen broccoli and frozen cauliflower chunks, put in a casserole dish; mix with a cheese sauce and top with toasted breadcrumbs, and bake. (You could use fresh veggies instead of frozen, but to be honest, that just makes it take longer and doesn't really make a difference to the final result.)

For a side: Pineapple Souffle 3 eggs beaten 1/2 cup sugar 1 large can of crushed pineapple (in it's own juice) 1/2 stick of butter (melted) 5 slices of white bread (I used sliced sourdough) with crust removed Cut bread into small croutons. Mix all ingredients and let sit in the refrigerator 12-24 hours in a souffle dish. Before putting in oven, you can use two or three more slices of bread (cut up to crouton size) and tossed with 1/4 cup of melted butter and put on top of souffle. Cook uncovered at 350 degrees for around 40 minutes or until top is browned. For dessert: Pumpkin Roll 3 eggs 1 cup sugar 2/3 cup canned pumpkin ¾ cup all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 2 tsp cinnamon 1 teaspoon ginger ½ teaspoon nutmeg ½ teaspoon salt Cream cheese filling (below) Preheat oven to 375. In bowl, combine eggs and sugar, beating well. Add pumpkin, mixing until blended. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Add to egg mixture, mixing well. Lightly butter a 10X15-inch jelly roll pan. Line with a sheet of lightly greased wax paper. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Cool for about 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Invert on clean dish towel/tea towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. From 10-inch side, roll cake up in the towel. Set aside. Meanwhile, prepare filling (page 46). Slowly and carefully, unwrap the cake and evenly spread filling over cake. Roll up the cake (without towel). Tightly cover with plastic wrap. Place cake seam-side down and chill for at least 2 hours. Cream Cheese Filling for Pumpkin Roll Beat together 1 8-ounce package soft cream cheese and 4 TBS butter. Stir in 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla, blending till smooth.

I like to kick up the mashed potatoes with garlic and horseradish. I love http://www.vegan-food.net/recipe/380/Cranberry-Sorbet/ and this recipe is about how I do it (I don't use ginger). Break up your courses and serve a teaspoon of sorbet in a flute of dry champagne - it will make your palette squeaky clean.

Chestnut bites, good for an appetizer: 1 can boiled shelled chestnuts (about a cup and a half, if you find fresh) 1 large sweet onion 2-3 cups mushrooms 1 Tbsp fresh chopped rosemary 2 Tbsp butter salt and pepper to taste 1 box pre-made puff pastry, thawed Slice the onions thinly and caramelise in the butter untill well browned and sticky. Slice the mushrooms and throw in to fry lightly. Mix with all other ingredients except the pastry in a bowl, blend to smoothness in a food processor or with a hand blender. Roll out the puff pastry, cut into matchbox-sixed piece, and put a teaspoonful of the mix on top. Bake at 350 until puffed and golden. For garnish, use fresh rosemary or toast the leaves lightly in the oven (very nice and edible then).

My family went nuts for this http://www.chowhound.com/topics/298807#1653381 (really a cake). It's super easy to make and it's even better if you bake it on the Wednesday (or even the Tuesday) before. I added a little almond extract to the batter. French vanilla ice cream and/or whipped cream are great accompaniments.

I'd like to go on record as recommending adding a can of smoked oysters to your stuffing, but I know this is a love it/hate it sort of thing. So I'll give you something more mainstream that uses a fall vegetable: Take a bunch of sweet potatoes, say one for every 2-3 guests. Chop 'em up into cubes no more than, say, 3/4 inch on a side. I like them more like 1/2 inch. Cut up some red onions, say one medium-sized one for every two sweet potatoes. Lay them out on baking sheets with raised edges. Douse them with olive oil. Top with fresh chopped garlic, say one clove per sweet potato or two, kosher or sea salt, and black pepper. Bake them in the oven until the sweet potatoes are nice and tender, stirring them roughly every ten minutes. Take them out, dump them in a big bowl, throw in liberal amounts of rosemary (fresh is preferable, but dried will do) and parmesan cheese. Now add more. Toss. Serve. Yum. I should stress that most older people in my region have absolutely no idea what to make of this dish, but the younger and/or more culinarily adventurous generally adore it. In most contexts, I loathe sweet potatoes, but I really, really like this dish.

The combination of sweet potatoes, cream, and chipotle peppers is very good. You can do it as whipped potatoes or as a gratin.

oops, forgot dessert. Baked pears: hollow out pears from the top (standing on end) stuff with butter creamed with your liqueur of choice plus brown suger, cinnamon, ginger and allspice (about 1 teaspoon or less per pear); place on end in 1/2 of water in a shallow pan and bake at 350 about 20 minutes. You can sprinkle a little brown sugar over each pear if you like it sweeter. Serve as is or with whipped or clotted cream, or ice cream. A nice light dessert after a heavy meal. Damn, now I wish it was my turn for Thanksgiving this year! http://www.metafilter.com/64955/So-many-herbs-so-little-time!