Degas, where is the mince pie? Even here in So. Cal, Thanksgiving is not a holiday without some mince pie with hard, hard sauce (albeit I am the only one who eats it).
((H))

Too funny, Maitaitom! We have Thanksgiving every year and every year my husband teases me for getting the mincemeat pie that no one (but me) eats!

This year, like most others:

Appetizers (cuz I can't spell hors d'ouvers): homemade herb dip with crudite, homemade winter fruit chutney served over toasted baguette slices spread with goat cheese, my m-i-l's famous hummous with syrian bread, and cheese and crackers.

Meal: Roast turkey, savory stuffing with raisins, homemade cranberry compote with orange, Grand Marnier and walnuts, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato with cranberry hash, cranberry, apple and walnut muffins and green salad.

Dessert: Pumpkin pie and pecan pie from the greatest little french bakery in town. NO MINCE THIS YEAR!

Any great wine recommendations for traditional turkey dinner, both red and white?

Thanks, and happy thanksgiving to you all.

On Thanksgiving Day I will be on an AA flight to Paris! So will let you know what they serve.

My husband's family is Italian so in addition to the usual on Thanksgiving we have homemade ravioli, french bread, antipasti (pickled vegetables, cocktail onions, olives, marinated artichokes, tuna or crab or shrimp, dressing made with tomatoe sauce, oil and vinegar), lots of red and white wine and sparkling wine, lots of deserts. Very loud. Very delicious.

Oooh, Ronda, tell us all about Paris when you return! Judyrem, here's Broccoli Supreme for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner:

BROCCOLI SUPREME

2 pounds fresh broccoli
Creme Fraiche
2/3 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
12 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tbs. butter, cut into pieces

REMOVE and discard large leaves and tough ends of stalks from broccoli. Cut away tops, and coarsely chop. Peel and coarsely chop stems.
COOK broccoli in boiling, salted water to cover 8 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain.
PROCESS cooked broccoli and Creme Fraiche in a food processor or blender until ssmooth, stopping to scrape down sides.
STIR together broccoli mixture, cheese, and next 4 ingredients. Pour mixture into a lightly greased 2 quart baking dish. Dot with butter.
BAKE at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve immediately.

CREME FRAICHE

Make a day ahead and refrigerate overnight.

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sour cream

WHISK together until blended. Cover and cchill at least 4 hours.

Degas, how's all the cooking going in your house?

Danielle (and all): I'm not looking to lose weight this Thanksgiving, having been on the South Beach Diet for the past year and being actually really skinny because of it, so I plan to eat whatever the heck I like on Thanksgiving - how many pounds can I gain in one day ?(may actually be a good point to discuss elsewhere), but here's my recipe for truffle mashed potatoes:

4 Tblbs. Yukon Gold potatoes peeled and cut into bite-size pieces.
2 Tb really good virgin olive oil\
4 tbl really good unsalted butter (like Président variety from France)
2 Tbls truffle oil
1/2 liter milk (cream if you're a hedonist)

Salt and pepper to taste.

Boil the potatoes. Add the other ingredients and whip like mad. There you go! It's simple and the truffle taste will give you an A-plus rating.

Hi all. I am getting hungry just reading all of these great menus. We are doing Thanksgiving on Friday this year to allow the adult children to go to their girlfriends homes and not have to eat two meals on the same day. Traditional menu includes:vegatable plate with dip and cheese and cracker appetizers then
roast turkey, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes (with the ucky marshmallows that I hate but everyone else loves), stuffing, creamed peas, sweet corn, cranberry/walnut salad, apple salad, cranberry sauce, yeast rolls and for dessert homemade pies - pumpkin, cherry, pecan and mincemeat. All consumed with a generous amounts of wine and other libations before and after the meal.
Am I the only one that enjoys the cold turkey sandwiches late at night on Thanksgiving much more than the huge meal?
Happy Thanksgiving to all, aren't we sooooooo blessed?

Is there anyone else besides me who really doesn't care for turkey? I don't hate it, but I think it's my least favorite meat--too bland and often dry.

cmt - don't tell anyone because it is a secret but I HATE Thanksgiving dinner. Do not like Turkey (except afterwards in sandwiches), do not like dressing, do not like mashed pototoes and gravy (baby food), loved sweet potatoes but baked not the way they are prepared on Thanksgiving, green beens are the only vegatable that makes me go "yuck". Really like all other vegatables. Lets see, pumpkin pie, nope.

I just smile, enjoy the wine and the shrimp appetizers, eat enough to be polite and say "what I am thankful for is that this dinner comes only once a year".

Now Christmas with primerib, roasted potatoes, etc. Oh yum! I can hardly wait.

DANIELLE- Try adding a cup of freshly grated parmigano to you mashies. This is how I make them and they disappear every time.

Thanksgiving is the only culinary event in our house where we are banned from using garlic and try not to make anything taste Italian. THis year we are keeping it basic since it is the first major holiday without my mom. I am trying to do everything by memory, how she did her cranberry mold, her candied yams, peas & pearl onions, her stuffing and the garnish plate. All of her old cook books are up in L.A. One of her favorites was her Louisianna Cook book and that is where she always got her Thanksgiving recipes from. My brother is bringing my dad and a pecan pie. The kids and I will make pumpkin and apple in the morning. I think I need to buy more wine. Wishing you all a beautiful holiday.

Calamari, the first holiday without your Mom is difficult for all of you, especially your father. May blessing be with your entire family.

Thank you very much.

I'm making a 20 pound turkey for 4 people! We like leftovers and our son's friends usually drop by in the evening or during the next few days so it will all be eaten.

All your menus sound wonderful - mine is nothing special - just a traditional dinner, but I did roast garlic last night to put in the mashed potatoes, Calamari - I couldn't resist! I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Ya'll are depressing the hell out of me. All this great sounding food and here we are in Indonesia with nothing that even remotely resembles Thanksgiving fare in the entire house.

The good news is that we're off to Switzerland the day after Thanksgiving, so we'll be able to stuff ourselves then.

Happy Thanksgiving fellow Americans!

Happy Thanskgiving to all celebrating.
Greatings from Turkey ( not the one you are just about to send to your tummies but the one you could come for holiday :-)

Murat

I haven't had Thanksgining in 9 years being away so long. I threated to ccook every year at the request of friends in Dublin and almost made it this year. I decided to have thanksgiving drinks and snacks on Friday as a close second. I hate turley and don't have enough time/money to prepare a dinner for 15 people with all the trimmings! Looks like bruschetta, dips and whatever I can rustle up last minute with a cheese plate on te side. Maybe next year.....

LoveItaly: That's funny, but I also don't especially like most of the typical Thanksgiving foods. In addition to thinking that turkey is the most boring and bland meat, I really hate pumpkin pie. I guess I never thought of some of the other things you mentioned as Thanksgiving food especially. I like most vegetables, including green beans, but I never had them in in that awful concoction that I've heard is popular in some parts of the country, made all of canned goods. I always thought of green beans as mainly summertime food, although I do make them year round when they look fresh. I could take or leave mashed potatoes, and have them infrequently, and like them best if I'm sick. The only thing that I associate with Thanksgiving, in particular, that I always liked is cranberry-anything.

When I was growing up and having holiday dinners at my grandparents' house, Thanksgiving was the only holiday that did NOT have "good" food, i.e. food that I liked. (Easter had the best!) The foods that one was supposed to eat on Thanksgiving just seemed to clash with the kind of Italian food my grandmother traditionally made. Lately I usually have TG dinner at a friend's house. It was best when her mother used to bring some very non-Thanskgiving-like Chinese specialties, but for the last few years they have dropped the Chinese parts of the dinner.

SiobhanP, and don't foget the Guinness. ((b))

I am English and love cooking - many of these dishes are unknown to me.
Sweet potatoes aren't really that popular over here, although you can buy them reasonably easily. Sweet potato and coconut soup is a favourite in restaurants at the moment. Other than that all we tend to do is mash them up with some swede or carrot and some black pepper, or maybe bake them. I would love to know other dishes you make with them.

Morgan, I boil them till they are tender, then saute them till crisp in butter,,,delish and crispy sweet!

Heres' my potato filling recipe in hopes of getting the mushroom onion au gratin????

6 Lg russet potatoes
2 Cup diced celery
2 Cup diced onion
Simply slow cook the celery and onion in 1 cup butter till tender, add salt,pepper, parsley and beat into the cooked mashed potatoes in which you have added milk. Bake in oven for an hour till flavors blend. My family is addicted to this.
Now I'm hoping for the other recipe I mentioned.
btw - Everyones' menus sound absolutely fabulous!

Here's a source for the shrimp bisque:


http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-...bisque,FF.html

With pleasure, zee123. If you go to www.epicurious.com and type in &quot;mushroom and onion gratins&quot; <i>exactly</i>, the recipe will come up. It's from Gourmet, November issue from a few years back. The recipe calls for individual gratin ramekins, but you can make it all in one dish instead. Buy the fresh mushrooms already sliced, and use the food processor to do the onions. Enjoy!

And happy Thanksgiving everyone!

St. Cirq, thank you for your response. If my US Airways tix get me to Paris in May, I will look around at some provencal shops to see if I can find any apple vinegar! Actually, our plans are to go to Normandy; now that *should* be a place where there'd be apple vinegar!

Morgana, here's the recipe we make every Thanksgiving - it's a good old Southern recipe (from my cousin in Alabama)guaranteed to rot your teeth out. :)

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE (serves 12)

Two 15 oz cans sweet potatoes, drained &amp; mashed
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup half &amp; half or milk
2/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
Topping

Preheat oven to 350°, Combine sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, milk, melted butter, salt &amp; vanilla in a large mixing bowl, beating until smooth. Pour into a greased 13x9&quot; baking dish. Sprinkle topping evenly on sweet potato mixture. Bake 1 hour or until center is firm.

Topping:
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup butter, softened

Combine brown sugar, pecans, flour &amp; butter in a small bowl, stirring until mixture is crumbly.

Morgana, what is &quot;swede&quot; in the context of your food post above? Is it the name for some sort of herb or spice? I don't know of something called by that name in the US, so we may have a different name for it.

A &quot;swede&quot; is the British term for a rutabaga or yellow turnip. Mashed rutabagas (or simply &quot;turnips&quot; as my grandmother referred to them, always meaning the yellow) are one of my family's Thanksgiving traditions. My grandmother would cut up the rutabaga (an arduous task, as they tend to be rather hard), peel it, boil it in salted water, and mash it with salt, pepper and brown butter (beurre noisette). For a slightly milder taste, you can peel, cut up, boil and mash an apple with the rutabaga.

Its nice to know other people also like rutabagas. They are not for everyone.

Thanks for the tip about folding in an apple with them.

We usually cook them with diced sweet onions, a bit of bacon, and some buckwheat honey.

MY THANKSGIVING PLANS MIGHT BE OFF!! NOOO!!!!

We are planning to go to Houston to spend it w/my Dad, but he just e-mailed me from his office and told me that last night there was a terrible storm and a power line fell into his pool!! It's still in the pool, and there's no electricity in the house. It's probably too late to get a reservation at a decent restaurant, so I am now afraid we will spend turkey day at Denny's or IHOP. Please say a prayer with me to the turkey day gods that power will be restored to my dad's house today, otherwise my Thanksgiving meal might be a grand slam brunch or a large order of pancakes. :-((

Thanks.

Maybe you can go to a restaurant owned and operated by new immigrants from a foreign culture who are not too interested in TG day yet, and where most people don't think of going for a TG dinner. For example, maybe a nice Chinese or Indian restaurant would have openings. The meal might be better than typical TG fare, or at the very least memorable becasue it's different..

Actually that sounds pretty good, if we can find such a place that's open.

I am thankful for one thing--Dad has a heated pool which they use year-round, so I'm thankful nobody was in the pool when that happened.

I am elbow-deep right now in chopping cabbage for the coleslaw and the onions and celery for the stuffing and getting the creamed onions ready...the sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and Cope's corn will all be made tomorrow, along with the turkey and ham and crescent rolls and cranberry sauce and olives and sweet gherkins on Grandmom's pickle plate. It's a very tradtional meal, but this year it's different, because it's my first Thanksgiving dinner without Mom, who passed away in March. This was &quot;her&quot; holiday, and I am feeling her presence each time I check something off of the list or rearrange the refrigerator or add the seasonings...I just know she's smiling at how much she managed to get into me about how to do things--including &quot;clean up as you go along&quot;!

Update--I just got another e-mail from Dad, and there's not much hope for the power being restored today. They are frantically searching for a restaurant for tomorrow's dinner. As cmt said, this year will be different and memorable.... :-)

Good Luck P_M !! Actually, there are times that I could really go for a stack of IHOP pancakes :)
It will make this Thanksgiving one to remember ((F))
(I guess you can post on the Thankful thread that you are thankful for electricity :) )

Your menus sound delicious. As my family is not in town this year I will be helping to serve thanksgiving for those who have less. a happy and safe Thanksgiving to all

Well, the happiest of Thanksgivings to you, Degas, and everyone else, too!

Didn't mean to post so quickly. Dangnabbit ultra-sensitive new laptop, if a breeze moves past, the keys start dancing!

Meant to say that we're having the traditional fare tomorrow, except for the debut of a new dressing recipe that calls for a combination of crumbled cornbread, saltine crackers, and homemade croutons.

For dessert, Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle. Made two and served one at yesterday's office luncheon. No one croaked, so guess it's safe to serve to the family.

Grrrrr! #%*+@(*&amp; keyboard!

Oh, never mind.

Hope you all have lots to be thankful for tomorrow! Enjoy!

Hi - It's only just after breakfast here and I'm already salivating reading all of these wonderful menus. Gosh, Christmas is our big celebration here and my family certainly doesn't go to that much trouble!!

St. Cirq, thank you for your mashed potatoes with truffle oil recipe. I've copied it and will be on the hunt for some truffle oil at my local providore.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving everyone!!

P_M, hope you find a nice restaurant for T-day. If not, remember Ralphie in the Christmas Story? After the Bumpus's dogs devoured the turkey, they all discovered Chinese turkey. :)

fa-ra-ra-ra-ra. ((8))

I've resisted posting to this thread but can't contain myself any longer... 78 replies and I am the only one buying the &quot;family style dinner&quot; at Safeway (grocery store)? Or the other folks who pick up prepared foods have the good sense not to tell the world?
:-)

Best wishes to all my Fodor friends,
Susan in Seattle