First Draft, Thanksgiving Menu

In the past week, I have been completely unable to avoid thinking about Thanksgiving, even if I tried. There are hundreds of turkeys for sale at work, my twitter feed is being barraged by others’ menu ideas, and holiday advertising is nearing its peak. I have been convinced by my family to keep things somewhat traditional, but I also want to try and get a little creative with some things. So here are my initial thoughts. The menu will of course develop in the next couple days, and I hope the end result will be deemed a success.

- Fennel and white bean soup with balsamic and thyme roasted butternut squash

I have made a simlilar soup to this before, and I hope to add to it some traditional Thanksgiving flavors. The butternut squash should give it a touch of fall, and maybe some nutmeg might add something to the overall flavor as well.

- Garlic and rosemary cauliflower puree

I plan on serving sweet potato, and I hope to bring some flavors of a classic mashed potato without doubling up on potatoes.

- Mesculin salad with apples, walnuts, bleu cheese, and maple balsamic vinaigrette

My mom requested a mesculin salad, and some local bleu cheese and apples will add a lot to this salad, dressed with a vinaigrette starring Vermont maple syrup.

- Turkey roulade with crimini mushroom cranberry buffalo sausage stuffing, and extra stuffing…

This one might need some tasting and tweaking between now and Thursday as I have never attempted many aspectsof the dish. I have never cooked a turkey roulade, and I plan to make my own cranberry buffalo sausage. The extra stuffing will be necessary. My brother will be able to polish off the stuffing in the roulade himself I imagine.

- Sweet potato mash/puree (sweet potato, fromage blanc, balsamic, molasses, nutmeg)

Sweet potatoes remind me so much of fall, and I love a good sweet potato puree.

- Braised cabbage, carrot, and leeks with cider, cumin, clove, ginger, thyme

This was actually the first dish that I tested, mostly because I wanted to eat it last week. It was the first time I had made it, and it turned out very well. I used a local hard cider with local cabbage, carrots, and leeks. I may look to tweek it a little, but I am also not sure if it needs it. Here it is…

- Golden beets prepared agrodolce w/thyme

I love beets, and I think that some pre-cooked golden beets couldbe finished off well in the pan with a sweet and sour praparation.

- Pumpkin soufflé with graham cracker crumble and marshmallow whipped cream

For dessert, I want to finish things on a light note. I think a pumpkin soufflé will achieve this perfectly. This is also a fun twist on a pumpkin pie. The graham cracker crumble will take the place of the crust, and I hope that a cool marshmellow whipped cream (or maybe a homemade ice cream) might add some richness to make it feel like a complete dessert.

So that is what I’ve got so far. It is by no means written in stone. I think I am finally ready and excited enough to get through a few days of holiday cooking. I also hope to keep good records of the process with pictures. Hopefully I can get everything done and nothing major goes wrong in the kitchen…

Thanksgiving is around the corner…

…And the idea of spending a couple days in the kitchen with a fifteen pound turkey and its companions does not have me too excited. Maybe it’s the long days at work combined with going to school, or maybe I just want to do something new. Either way, I think it would be much more enjoyable to take the expanded budget of a Thanksgiving dinner and do some culinary experimenting. My mom seemed a bit hesitant when I told her this, and my brother told me pretty bluntly, “Dude, we have to make turkey and stuffing. It’s Thanksgiving.” So I am stuck in the middle of my family’s appreciation for a certain tradition and my own desire to do something unique.

The first thing I brought up in a conversation with my mom was sushi and fresh fish that we could order to have delivered the day before the feast. This may have not been the best way to introduce my idea. My mom is not a fan of eating raw or barely cooked foods… Thoughts of what I could do with fresh uni, live spot prawns, abalone, tuna, or halibut danced through my head. Don’t get me wrong. I want my family to be behind the endeavor, so this may have to wait for another occasion. Perhaps my birthday might be more appropriate.

In the past couple of days, I have made more of an attempt to take a traditional Thanksgiving and put my own twist on it. Game birds are available in Vermont, right? I may have to put in an order at work for pheasant along with the turkey that my brother insists be a part of the meal. Maybe I don’t even need anything new. Does my brother need to eat a whole roasted bird? I know he needs stuffing or dressing, and last year he even strayed from his go-to Stove Top to try my homemade dressing. He liked it too. It was difficult to convince my mom to keep the bag of dried bread cubes and seasoning shut, but I managed to do it. My brother was still happy. Would he be as happy with some kind of turkey roulade? Would I be able to make a reinvented cheesecake desert? Cheesecake ice cream with a white chocolate and graham cracker ganache and blackberry whipped cream? That one may take some more thought and practice, but why can’t I have fun with tradition?

I guess the way I’m thinking about it is that Thanksgiving dinner just might not have to look the way it always has to satisfy tradition. Introducing new flavors or just presenting the old flavors in a new way might get the job done. Obviously this is how I have fun. I am almost certain that my family would be skeptical of anything different I do, but they are usually not disappointed. It will be a challenge to take a meal with so many courses and deliver on each one. In spite of this, I am more than willing to present one dish that is not entirely successful. This will be my attempt to get through the overwhelming feeling of redundancy that has taken over me. Sure, the meal is only made once a year, but I want to do something different, and I will definitely post about the experience, however positive or negative the result.