For An Easy Thanksgiving, Make Some Stuff Ahead
Whether you’re cooking for two or two dozen, preparing a traditional holiday dinner can be mighty stressful. Trying to turn out several dishes perfectly while getting the timing exactly right can make you think about re-examining your life choices.
Hopefully it never turns into the kind of apocalyptic meltdown portrayed in The Bear’s Christmas dinner flashback, but the goal should be to not spend Thanksgiving wishing it was over.,
Local Food Forum is here to help.
Tip #1: Unless you are wall-to-wall busy today (Tuesday) and tomorrow, take advantage of your time by making a few items ahead. It may be a little less romantic than trying to do everything at once, but having a few items in the fridge on which you’ve already done quality control will make Thursday a whole lot easier. You’ll thank yourself, and if you have guests, they won’t even notice.
Tip #2: Simplify. Unless your friends and family will never forgive you if you don’t present your famous sweet potato casserole with toasted marshmallow topping, then there are a lot easier preps that will still make the folks happy.
One of the benefits of working from home all the time is that Tip #1 is easy for me to follow. As you’ll see, I’ve already made most of the feast.
Let start with sweet potatoes. I used the six (photo above) I brought back from my weekend visit to Eastern Market in Detroit.
I first cubed them, put them in a baking pan, and splashed on a little neutral oil (I used avocado) to help them brown and keep them from sticking to the foil. Then I set them to roast at 400 degrees for 40 minutes
I stirred them at about 20 minutes. Then 10 minutes later, I added a splash of maple syrup and a sprinkle of cinnamon. (I don’t give exact measurements because there aren’t any. Do the add-ins slowly until you get the taste you want. And don’t get carried away, because those potatoes themselves are pretty darn sweet.)
The finished product. My only warning: This stuff is like candy. Put it in the back of the fridge so you don’t polish it off snacking between now and Thursday.
You can complicate mashed potatoes if you want to, but this is one of the simplest dishes in the world to make. First I cubed these new yellow potatoes.
I put the cubes in a colander over a pot of boiling water, covered loosely, and steamed them until then were soft enough to easily mash (about 20 minutes). You can boil them, of course, but I find steaming is less messy.
I reserved a cup of the potato water and added some of it with the cooked potatoes that I moved into the pot to facilitate the first mash. I then added a few pats of (Kerrygold) butter, a little half and half, a few splashes of chicken broth, and a very light sprinkle of salt (taste and correct if necessary). I don’t even recall when or where I got that potato masher, but it makes really short work out of the process.
The finished product. Note that Barb and I like mashed potatoes to have a little texture, which is why these accurately look a little lumpy. (Maybe I empathize because I’m a little lumpy too.) If you like a smoother mash, add more liquid and keep mashing until the lumps disappear. If you like really smooth whipped potatoes, a hand mixer or ricer will help.
Every year there’s a robust debate about whether jellied or whole berry cranberry sauce is the best. My question is why buy canned at all, when cranberry sauce is one of the easiest things to make at home.
I started with 12 ounces of western Michigan cranberries. After rinsing and picking through to make sure none of the berries had spoiled, I put them in a pot and covered about 3/4 of the fruit with local apple cider (water is fine, we just happened to have cider in the fridge and we like it). If you want a very sweet sauce, this is the time to add sugar. We prefer it a little tart, so I just add a little maple syrup and cinnamon at the end of cooking.
Cook on medium for about 15-20 minutes, until the cranberries are softened and a little broken down (you can mash them a bit for a smoother sauce). You’ll know it’s done when the liquid starts to naturally gel.
This last one is a little fancier but still super-simple. I rinsed, trimmed and halved a couple of dozen Brussels sprouts. These roasted about 400 for about 20 minutes, turned once and gaining a little tasty char.
Meanwhile, on the stovetop, I melted some butter, sautéed 4 ounces of chopped pancetta until it started to brown (you can use regular bacon instead), then added one chopped onion. When the onions started to brown, I added the roasted Brussels sprouts, and now have my favorite prep for that vegetable.
What’s left? The bread for the stuffing is drying and I’ll probably make that tomorrow. And the tuirkey? As soon as this published, I’m going to get it in the oven. Tomorrow’s Local Food Forum will feature the foolproof recipe I’ve been practicing for decades, with photos, of course.
And if you have any tasty time-savers you’d like to share, please do and I’ll publish them.
Happy Almost Thanksgiving!