What Was Your Favorite Dish?
 

I'm sitting here at 9 p.m., waiting for my DH to get off work at 11 p.m. No turkey in my household today due to our work schedules and the fact that it is not an official holiday here. So, indulge me, Fodorites. What was your favorite dish on the Thanksgiving Day menu where you have celebrated this year? And, promise me I won't gain 10 pounds by just reading. :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I forgot, be sure to tell us where you traveled to in order to get that tasty dish.

(Obviously I'm bored out of my skull). :)

If it makes you feel any better, Statia, my husband just got called out to a job, so here I sit in front of my computer. We were lucky enough to have turkey day dinner with the family. Turkey doesn't excite me. My mother in law usually makes apple pie, but because of a death in the family, she skipped the baking. Apple pie, to me, is the best reason (food wise)to show up for thanksgiving dinner. My sister in law, however, made a wonderful apple pound cake with fresh apple slices and cinnamon which made up for it. YUMMY!

Oh, and we all live in the same neighborhood, so travel was extremely limited today!

Ladies, my best wishes are with you. We had dinner out, Statia, to celebrate J's birthday not the fake historical day. But a day to say thanks is wonderful and thanks to you two tho we have never met in person.

If it's 9pm and your post landed at 8:08, where are you posting from, Bermuda? Puerto Rico?

The wine was my favorite dish. Kept me mello while the out-laws were here. The Chi-Dal game was boring. ((a)) ((b))

I'm in Toronto, where Thanksgiving is an October holiday, and we celebrate US Thanksgiving in November by welcoming lots of American tourists up here. I talked for a few minutes with an Ohio family --mom, day, two young teen boys -- here for the weekend.

American Thanskgiving dinner for me tonight -- fried beef kidney, a baked potato, a glass of water, followed by going out and having a Starbucks Sulawesi coffee in a Chapters book store, reading Vanity Fair and drafting an article about how to buy a digital camera for Christmas.

Chances are pretty good I'll make some popcorn before going to bed.

BAK

We had a family get together at Mom's, about 20 of us. We are all older now... age span ranged from 14 to 92.
This year my favorite dish was the one I brought:

Baby Field Greens
Baby Spinach
Roasted slivered Almonds
Dried Cranberries
Diced Fuji Apple
Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigrette

Sometimes I throw in a good bleu cheese, crumbled, but I did not this time because so many people do not like it.

We have this salad once a week... not a "special" dish but REALLY good.
As simple as it is, everyone raved about it.

I had dinner at my sister's. Only five of us were there. My favorite part of the meal was the cornbread stuffing!! YUM! Although everything was delicious.

We "traveled" across town to my sister-in-laws for Thanksgiving dinner, and my favorite dish was the orange poundcake. I wish I had thought to get the recipe.

Mmm...favorite traditional in the bird stuffing, as well as new introduction of Rachel Ray's "stuffin' muffins" which were a big hit at the table. My personal favorite was my own pecan pie.

We celebrated at my Parents' house about 20 mins away here in NJ with Mom & Dad, Brother, Grandma, Uncle (Dad's brother)Aunt (Mom's twin sister)& her boyfriend, my Husband and his parents. Had lots of great food, and a fun time.

Budman - Had excellent Cline Old Vines Zin...YUM!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

the stuffing, always the stuffing from inside the bird...

I walked to my dining room to enjoy the day with family and close friends.

My favorite dish is the cranberry chutney, made with apples, oranges, walnuts and raisins.

Starting the day with mimosas

Ending a great lunch with homemade cinnamon ice cream to top the apple pie

At my brother's house this year, my first time having corn pudding, or souffle, or whatever it's called. It was a nice surprise, one that I want to repeat next year. I know there must be many recipes for it out there, if anyone wants to share a favorite, please do.

Traveled to Oakland CA (from Marin County) to have the first T-Day at our niece's new home. 8 family members. My favorite dish was a toss up between the pumpkin cheesecake and the homemade maple ice cream.

Hey Marilyn~Your neice thought long and hard about that meal:) She continues to be a lovely person to work with. I'll see you Friday for the GTG.

We headed up to Napa for dinner with family. It would be a toss up between: the four onion gratin, the baked yams and/or the persimmon pudding.

Hi Pam! Well, it was a fabulous meal. They brined the turkey, the stuffing was divine, 2 kinds of potatoes, we made a fatoush salad, and of course we had our BIL's delicious wine (the Pinot was to-die-for). I loved the pumpkin cheesecake and maple ice cream, but there was also a wonderful apple pie and nutmeg ice cream. Yikes -- how will I manage to eat ANYTHING tomorrow?
A bientot!

Hey there Statia :-) Happy Thanksgiving! The best thing about our dinner here in the mountains (at my sister's place) was the turkey dressing/stuffing, made with cornbread and oysters!!!! Add the gravy, and YUM!

Oh boy....it all sounds divine. It's still morning and I'm already getting hungry for lunch.

Buffalogirl, I'm glad I was in good company yesterday evening. It can be hell being married to the man in charge, huh? :)

Mimi and Bonnie, good wishes going out to you, as well. Thanks.

Budman, not Puerto Rico, but you're close. I'm just south of St. Maarten and St. Barths.

Keep the faves coming. It sounds like everyone had a lovely meal. Perhaps my DH and I will have our celebratory dinner tonight, but we won't be traveling anywhere to do so. :(

Good morning, Statia!

For the first time in years we had dinner at our house last night...tough deciding what my favorite dish was but I'd have to say the wine, followed by my mom's recipe for stuffing (cubed white bread, onion, celery, butter, white wine, s&p, thyme) and sweet potatoes (whipped w/butter, cinnamon, br sugar--topped with butter, br sugar, cinnamon, walnuts then baked). Oh! Suddenly my appetite is back.... :-)

I agree with Budman: the '81 Ch Margaux was PDG.
My daughter's pecan tart was a close 2nd.
M

I hosted my first Thanksgiving this year and everything went better than I could have expected. Turkey was moist inside and crispy out. Blueberry pie was commented to melt in your mouth. I made so much food you all could have come on over and there would still have been leftovers!!

That said, I tried a new recipe (always a risk when entertaining) from the Durgin Park Cookbook I picked up in Boston last week. It was for Scalloped Tomatoes and though it took a while to make - SO worth it!! It got raves and I loved it too, which makes it even more gratifying!!!!

Hey tpatricco...
How about the recipe for Stuffin' Muffins!
They sound interesting!!!

After traveling 5000 miles to purchase the appropriate cookware, I HAVE to say my wife's apple tarte tatin. A surprise second was the warm kale and onion salad. Everything else was good too, just not surprisingly so.

Went out to dinner to an Indian resto- fave was tandoori salmon :)

We also had Rachel Ray's Stuffin' Muffins this year and they were a huge hit...everyone gets to have some of the crispy part! Worst part was about 2 hours ago when I went to have some leftover turkey (we had tons left over) and SOMEONE (probably my BIL) didn't put the top on the tupperware properly so when I took it out of the fridge the whole thing fell on the floor...so no turkey sandwiches for us!

It would have to be the stuffing. It is my great great grandmother from Ireland's recipe.
I look forward to it every year! I do enjoy the yams too, and yes it is the recipe with marshmallows!!!

Spouse and I ate out yesterday -- a first for Thanksgiving. My favorite dish was the skin-on mashed potatoes. (You know those babies are real!)

The local oysters! They just came into season recently (opened the beds) so the Oyster Stew and Oysters Rockefeller were divine!

Our coastal oysters are much smaller and saltier than Gulf oysters.

Tomorrow? Our annual Oyster Roast!

My stuffing. Cornbread, with little bits of cherries, apricots, apples, and raisins in it. Thank goodness there is plenty left over :)

Statia - When asked this question, my frisky Yankee replied..."you"...LOL ((L))

My sausage and foccacia stuffing and my fresh cranberry-citrus relish :)

TxTravelPro & ckfior, The Stuffin Muffins were great in the center of a delicious bowl of turkey soup for lunch today too!

The recipe is from Food Network chef Rachel Rey's "Thanksgiving in 60" special. (Her normal series is 30 minute meals)

Here's the link:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci..._29101,00.html

Here's the recipe from the link as well:

Apple & Onion Stuffin' Muffins
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 stick butter, softened
1 fresh bay leaf, available in produce department
4 ribs celery and greens, from the heart, chopped (save time and purchase celery already washed, trimmed and cut into sticks, this makes chopping fast work)
1 medium to large yellow skinned onion, chopped
3 McIntosh apples, quartered and chopped
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
8 cups cubed stuffing mix (recommended: Pepperidge Farm)
2 to 3 cups chicken stock, available in paper containers on the soup aisle

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil to skillet and 4 tablespoons butter. When butter melts, add bay leaf and add the vegetables as you chop them, celery, onions then apples. Sprinkle the vegetables and apples with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Cook 5 to 6 minutes to begin to soften vegetables and apples then add parsley and stuffing cubes to the pan and combine. Moisten the stuffing with chicken broth until all of the bread is soft but not wet.

Butter 12 muffin cups, 2 tins, liberally with remaining butter. Use an ice cream scoop to fill and mound up the stuffing in muffin tins. Remove the bay leaf as you scoop the stuffing when you come upon it. Bake until set and crisp on top, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove stuffin' muffins to a platter and serve hot or room temperature.

These were really easy & came out great! As I mentioned, they were delicoius with soup the next day too.

:) Enjoy! Trish

Oh my gosh Trish, thank you for that muffin receipe. And I told myself I would not eat again for at least a week LOL. This receipe sounds so easy and so very very good. I can hardly wait to fix it!

Me again, actually what I meant was I can hardly wait to eat them!!!!!

Thanks so much Trish!

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Warm Chutney Dressing FABULOUS!!!!
Recipe courtesy Devon Delaney -- Sara's Secrets MORE SAVORY THAN USUAL

Prep Time: 15 minutes  Cook Time: 30 minutes  Yield: 8 servings 
Salad:
4 medium-sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup raw green pumpkin seeds (also known as pepitas)
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped scallions (green and white)
1 cup julienned roasted red pepper

Dressing:
6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup mango chutney
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup olive oil

Make the Salad:
1 Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a roasting pan, combine the potatoes, 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, rosemary, salt, pepper, cumin and ginger. Stir to combine and bake until the potatoes are fork-tender and golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.

2 Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and cook, stirring, until toasted. Transfer the seeds to a plate and season with salt and pepper.

3 In a small bowl, combine the cranberries, scallions, and red pepper and set aside.


Make the Dressing: Prepare the dressing by combining all the ingredients (except for the olive oil) in a small saucepan and heat. Remove from heat and whisk in the olive oil.
Assemble salad by gently tossing the roasted potatoes with the red pepper mixture. Add enough of the dressing to coat and garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds. Serve with extra dressing on the side.

wow - thanks for the thread, the ideas and the great sounding muffin recipie....I cam't wait to make them.....has anyone evr tried freezing them? It would be great to pop one into the microwave to have with the occaisonal chicken breast?????

Seafox, I haven't tried this particular recipe for the muffins, but have frozen similar ones, and have had excellent results! I wrap snugly in heavy foil, then insert into a freezer bag....... just like fresh if you take them out of the foil and thaw unwrapped.

I tried a new recipe this year that came from my book group's brunch: a cold salad of peas, pecans, and shredded cabbage, with a light curry dressing. Everyone loved it!