I was chatting with my dear friend Karen the other night and she said I needed more Thanksgiving recipes on my site and she’s right. So I thought it would be fun to share my menu for Thanksgiving this year and also provide links to recipes that I’ve made in the past that would be a great addition to your Thanksgiving meal.
My husband likes a very traditional Thanksgiving with foods that he ate for Thanksgiving growing up. So for our Thanksgiving dinner I try to strike a balance between cooking family favorites and adding a few new things so that I don’t get bored making the same old thing year after year.
Here’s this year’s menu:
- Dry-Brined Turkey (new this year – see below)
- A traditional bread stuffing adapted from a recipe my sister-in-law gave me when I first got married.
- Mashed Potatoes and Gravy – I love my potato ricer for making really creamy mashed potatoes. I make the potatoes early and keep them warm in a crockpot with a little milk on top. Updated: Jane, This Week For Dinner, had a great post on making gravy.
- Last year I made Paula Deen’s Sweet Potato Bake and everyone raved about it, so I’m including it again this year
- Broccoli Pancetta Sauté (new this year – see below)
- Buttered corn for my mom who isn’t crazy about broccoli
- My favorite dinner rolls using Lovin’ from the Oven’s Brown & Serve Roll technique.
- I grew up eating Green Jello Cream Cheese Salad and it really wouldn’t be Thanksgiving for me without it, my kids love it now too.
- Ocean Spray Cranberry jelly from the can because my boys and husband love it and choose it over homemade cranberry sauce (not that I’m bitter about that)
- Homemade Pumpkin Pie is an absolute must-have for my husband. He likes the traditional Libby’s pumpkin pie that use to always be on the label.
- Crostata con la Crema with lemon curd and strawberry coulis (I’ll post the recipe for this soon.)
I usually cook our turkey in a Reynolds roasting bag, but this year I have a beautiful new Oneida roasting pan that I got with a gift certificate at Blogher Food. I debated whether to do a dry or a wet brined turkey and came across this recipe in the Los Angeles Times for a dry brined turkey that gets rave reviews. They have a couple of different versions of it on their site because they’ve updated it to make it even easier to cook so I’m posting the version I’ll use. Hopefully, I’ll get a great picture of it on Thursday and I’ll update my post.
I was looking for a new vegetable recipe this year and saw this one in Good Housekeeping. I love that it’s made in a skillet on the stove and takes less than 10 minutes to cook.
Broccoli Pancetta Sauté
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon s olive oil
- 1 ½ ounce s pancetta, chopped
- 2 clove s garlic, crushed with press
- ¼ teaspoon s crushed red pepper
- 2 pound s broccoli florets, small
- Salt
- ½ cup s water
- 1 tablespoon s fresh lemon juice
- Lemon wedges for serving
Instructions
- In 12-inch skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil on medium-high. Add pancetta and cook 1 to 2 minutes or until browned and crisp, stirring. With slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain.
- To same skillet, add garlic and pepper. Cook 10 seconds, stirring, then raise heat to high and add broccoli and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook 2 minutes, then add water. Cover and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until most of water evaporates.
- Meanwhile, in small bowl, with wire whisk, stir together lemon juice and remain ing 1 tablespoon oil. Drizzle over broccoli and gently toss to evenly coat. Transfer to serving bowl. Top with pan cetta and serve with lemon wedges.
Notes
Dry Brined Turkey
Ingredients
- 1 12- to 16-pound turkey
- Kosher salt or any of the seasoned salts
Instructions
- Wash the turkey inside and out, pat it dry and weigh it. Measure 1 tablespoon of kosher salt or the appropriate amount of a seasoned salt into a bowl for every 5 pounds the turkey weighs (for a 15-pound turkey, you'd have 3 tablespoons kosher salt).
- Sprinkle the inside of the turkey lightly with salt. Place the turkey on its back and salt the breasts, concentrating the salt in the center, where the meat is thickest. You'll probably use a little more than a tablespoon. It should look liberally seasoned but not oversalted.
- Turn the turkey on one side and sprinkle the entire side with salt, concentrating on the thigh. Use a little less than a tablespoon. Flip the turkey over and do the same with the other side.
- Place the turkey in a 2 ½ -gallon sealable plastic bag, press out the air and seal tightly. Place the turkey breast-side up in the refrigerator. Chill for 3 days, leaving it in the bag but turning it and massaging the salt into the skin every day.
- Remove the turkey from the bag. There should be no salt visible on the surface, and the skin should be moist but not wet. Wipe the turkey dry with a paper towel, place it breast-side up on a plate and refrigerate uncovered for at least 8 hours.
- On the day it is to be cooked, remove the turkey from the refrigerator and leave it at room temperature at least 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Place the turkey on a roasting rack in a roasting pan; put it in the oven. After 30 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees, and roast until a thermometer inserted in the deepest part of the thigh, but not touching the bone, reads 165 degrees, about 2 ¾ hours total roasting.
- Remove the turkey from the oven, transfer it to a warm platter or carving board; tent loosely with foil. Let stand at least 30 minutes to let the juices redistribute through the meat. Carve and serve.
Notes
Great Thanksgiving recipes from last year:
Caramelized Corn and Green Beans with Pecans and Blue Cheese, Barbara Bakes
Fresh Cranberry Sauce with Orange Zest, Two Peas and Their Pod
Cranberry Apple Pie, Barbara Bakes (my favorite apple pie recipe!)
Pecan Squares, Barbara Bakes
HoneyB
Happy Thanksgiving Barbara! Love this post and I did add a link for my favorite butternut squash dinner rolls! 🙂 Thanks!
FOODESSA
What a great spread Barbara…very nice seeing what you excel at during this celebratory event. We Italians (at least with my family) do things quite differently and I’ve got to say that I wouldn’t mind adding that cranberry apple pie to the mix ;o)
Happy holiday festivity and flavourful wishes,
Claudia
Beth
Those pumpkin pies look wonderful. My mouth is watering at the sight of them!
blackbookkitchendiaries
that is a perfect looking pie:) very gorgeous.. happy thanksgiving!
Betty @ scrambled hen fruit
What a delicious selection of Thanksgiving recipes! I’ll have to try that dry brine for my Christmas turkey- it sounds good. 🙂 And those pies are gorgeous!
Gabriella
Ciao Barbara
Ti lascio questo messaggio per ringraziarti e per dirti che ho fatto le ciambelle fritte seguendo i tuoi consigli e la tua ricetta, sono venute BUONISSiMe. Ti faccio tanti complimenti di cuore per le tue ricette il tuo lavoro e la tua gentilezza.
Ciao a presto
Barbara @ Modern Comfort Food
Great roundup of Thanksgiving recipes, Barbara. I can particularly relate to two things you said above. I spent the last 30 years living in countries where turkeys and other Thanksgiving staples ranged from non-existent to exceedingly hard to find. Like you on your Australian sojourn, we celebrated anyway and had great fun figuring out local substitutes. And we too have a traditional T-Day green jello/cream cheese “salad” that’s ALWAYS on our menu, but made with canned pears. I tried making it from scratch one time with fresh pears and it wasn’t nearly as good. Love the sound of yours too!
Amanda
I keep hearing about this dry brining method, so you will have to tell me how you like it! I still brine mine the old way 🙂 I don’t think I could do the dry brine since I get my turkey fresh from the farmer, there isn’t enough time to dry brine it. They were butchered Monday and not available for pick up until Tuesday after 4:00. So that would leave me less than 36 hours of brining. Dying to hear how you like it though!
Maria
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! Love the recipes!
Crustabakes
Your pies look so perfect, there are no cracks on them! How lovely!
Susan
Love your blog – thanks so much for visiting mine! I love your Thanksgiving menu – all sounds amazing!
Susan http://www.ugogrrl.com
Nil
So beautiful your Blog.
Tanvi
Those pies are perfect & neatly done.Happy Thanksgivings to you and your family Barbara!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
I love to hear about Thanksgiving food, the only hint of it we get over here is the availability of canned pumpkin (in certain upmarket supermarkets) from early October through to end of November. I guess we have such a tradition for turkey at Christmas here that the Brits couldn’t handle two feasts with big birds so close together.
I made pumpkin scones with Libby’s puree tonight. Can’t wait to see your Crostata – mines a pumpkin one too!!!
Bonnie
Wish I was coming to your house for Thanksgiving. I try to add some new items each year but my family really likes the old stand bys. Our menu is starting to get a bit big.
Blond Duck
I really like that pie link you sent me. I’m going to try it!
Donna
Your family is lucky to have you making the feast! Have a most wonderful holiday!
Faith (An Edible Mosaic)
That is a lovely menu, Barbara! Dry brining is a wonderful idea, I’d love to try it! (This year we already have ours in a wet brine, but I’m bookmarking it for next year!) Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Renee
Great ideas and recipes. I love the crockpot idea for potatoes, growing up we were always waiting for someone to finish mashing the potatoes before we could finally eat… now, problem solved!
I always have an orange Jello dish on my table (talked about it in my latest blog) that is a holdover from my childhood 🙂 It’s amazing the feelings those simple dishes can bring back. Happy Thanksgiving!
Tracy
Everything on your menu sounds delicious! Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!