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November 16, 2005

Offbeat Thanksgiving recipes

I've added new recipes at the bottom.

In newspapers across the nation, Thanksgiving Food sections are landing today. (If you work on a news site, Thanksgiving sections can land anytime, and I spent Monday putting ours together. )

Since the Thanksgiving beat is planted in my brain, I'm going to offer a highly opinionated selection of recipes that sound interesting to me from other papers' food sections on the Web. I'll work my way around, updating this post with what I find.

But first... My family has already decided they want a nontraditional dessert for Thanksgiving -- the venerable Icebox Cake, a tower of chocolate cookies slathered with sweetened whipped cream and refrigerated overnight till it all soaks together into a dense mass of flavor. It's served sliced on the diagonal. Tip: Don't use canned whipped cream. There's too much air in it, and your cake will end up dry and ugly when the volume sags into a thin layer of cream.

The recipe is still printed on the Nabisco chocolate wafer box, but I found an alternative that involves concentric rings of cookies that yield a reasonable facsimile of a cake shape. Same recipe, but I don't recall that sprinkling of cocoa powder.

(The photo is a Martha Stewart version made with mint whipped cream and sprinkled with chocolate chips. I don't like mint and it doesn't need cold waxy chips interrupting the "mouth feel." I understand there's another variation using graham crackers and chocolate pudding, but I haven't tried that.)

Fig & Prosciutto Cornbread Stuffing Muffins at the San Francisco Chronicle start with a bag of cornbread stuffing and add butter, eggs, chicken broth, prosciutto, creamed corn, dried figs and pepper.

Brining is a big deal, but the Cleveland Plain Dealer brines and goes Asian with Glazed Five-Spice Turkey With Stuffed Gravy. (Stuffed gravy?)

I'm not brining. But I will store the turkey in the fridge breast-side down, so the juices will flow that way, and maybe cook it that way for the same gravity-fed reason. Some people turn it. I'll probably end up with a big hot turkey on the floor if I try that.

Lame: WaPo's sidebar on vegetarian options can't come up with something more festive than corn pudding and macaroni and cheese? Must this mush be eaten in a dark corner? The link goes to the Monterey Herald, which took the story off the wire, since the Post left the macaroni and cheese recipe out of its Pair of Vegetarian Delights story.

Truly odd combo: Sage and Cranberry Crab Cakes at the Casper (Wyo.) Star Tribune.

Cook Like A Pilgrim -- Serve An Organic Thanksgiving Dinner at the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va., has recipes for a pumpking pie made with a pecan-date crust, and a nice rice stuffing for the bird.

Stranger: Ritz cracker stuffing at the New York Sun.

Look ma, no cans: Green bean casserole doesn't have to be awful. Emerilized Green Bean Casserole and Tyler Florence's Green Bean Casserole are both made without canned french-fried onion rings.

More to come...

Here's more.


Vegetarians can carve up creative pumpkin dishes on Thanksgiving at the Tacoma, Wash., News Tribune has a pair of stuffed pumpkin recipes that seem to come from warring kitchens.

Baked Stuffed Pumpkin has Granny Smith apples, walnuts, other fruits, rum, ginger and traditional spices -- a sweet, tasty combination. (I might make this. If it looks anything like the photo of another sort of stuffed pumpkin, it could double as a centerpiece on a crowded holiday table.)

You might expect Thanksgiving Stuffed Pumpkin to be grander. Instead, it's weighted down with stuffing mix, mayonnaise, canned condensed cream of mushroom soup, broccoli and more.

The Detroit Free Press asked readers for their favorite side dishes, and showcases seven of the responses. Fresh Cranberry Relish, made with apples and Grand Marnier liqueur, may appeal. Cranberry Salsa with Lime is a new twist, and Turnip Gratin with Blue Cheese is something I might try this weekend. (It's low-carb enough to substitute for mashed or scalloped potatoes, if you care about this.)

The Seattle PI tackles side dishes -- basic mashed potatoes, cranberry-pear salsa, chestnut stuffing, roasted cauliflower with apple and dill, braised fennel, browned brussels sprouts with pancetta, and honey-thyme carrots.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:50 AM | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: Karen Anne on November 17, 2005 2:21 PM