After a long stretch of unseasonably warm weather, the temperature has finally cooled. Leaves are changing color and creating beautiful carpets across lawns. It’s time to think about Thanksgiving, especially if you are hosting.
This is my fifth Thanksgiving column for the Israelite. I try to talk about different aspects of the holiday’s food every year, but I always worry that I won’t be able to come up with anything new. And then it comes to me.
Dietary lifestyles that seemed trendy just a couple of years ago are looking like they’re here to stay. We all have friends and family members who follow various specialty diets. As a host, you are bound to be faced with at least one guest who is gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, allergic, diabetic, or simply watching their weight. And of course, if you or some of your guests are kosher, there’s a whole extra layer of restrictions.
It’s important to me to make everyone feel welcome and special in my home. These dietary lifestyles are no longer weird or uncommon. In my opinion, it’s not okay to offer a vegetarian guest only side dishes, especially if some might include bits of meat or chicken broth for flavor, or to make someone who is gluten-free ask about ingredients or guess whether a dish is safe.
You can prepare a full meal that accommodates everyone without compromising on variety, tradition, or flavor. Everyone might not be able to eat everything, but there will be something for everyone.
Appetizers & snacks: If your company will be with you most of the day, watching the parade or football before the main meal, you’re going to want some snacks.
The pumpkin hummus recipe from last month’s column is a good start. It ticks all the boxes: gluten-free, vegan, nut free, and sugar-free. Serve it with fresh raw veggies, pita chips (in a separate bowl), and some gluten-free rice crackers.
A relish tray loaded with a colorful array of olives, pickles and pickled things (like beets and cauliflower), peppers, and onions isn’t 100% gluten-free because of the vinegar but meets all the other requirements.
Corn chips with salsa and guacamole are always a hit. The trick is getting avocados that will be ripe at the right time. Shop ahead and keep an eye on them. Once they are ripe on the counter, put them in the refrigerator where they will stay nice for a day, maybe two, before you mash them.
For meat eaters, a baked salami or simple charcuterie board does the trick. For a kosher board, fill it out with a couple flavors of turkey deli slices folded into triangles, salami, and maybe a couple of cooked sausages, sliced and served with mustard. Mix a whole seed mustard with some canned cranberry sauce for a festive twist.
Big bowls of fresh popcorn smell great and can be made all day long.
Soup is another way to satisfy everybody. Any kind of smooth vegetable soup: butternut squash, pea, creamy broccoli, or cauliflower can be kept warm in a slow cooker all day. Put out mugs for self-service. To keep any soup parve and vegan, use vegetable broth and some variation of nut milk for creaminess.
Main meal and sides: You’re probably serving turkey as the main course. But if no one in your family really loves it, why go to all the bother? Go ahead and make a roast, brisket, lamb, chicken, or even salmon. Let the sides bring the traditional flavors.
Wild rice and beans can be made with all the traditional ingredients and the combination creates a complete protein. So it serves as a side to your main, but can also be the main dish for vegetarians and vegans. In a pot large enough for the rice, sauté some onion and garlic, before adding the rice blend and a flavorful vegetable stock. Toss the cooked rice with dried or fresh cranberries, toasted nuts (or seeds as explained below), tiny cubes of roasted sweet potatoes or squash, small white beans, extra virgin olive oil, and plenty of seasoning. You can heat it up in the oven at the last minute or serve it at room temperature. Right before serving, stir in a handful of fresh herbs and a generous squeeze of lime or orange juice.
If you have any guests or family members with nut allergies, ask if they can tolerate pine nuts, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds (pepitas). Most nut allergies are to tree nuts or peanuts, and these seeds add the same crunch without triggering an epi pen disaster at your celebration. If there’s any question, simply toast them in a little neutral oil until they smell toasty, toss with salt, and serve them on the side.
Everybody loves stuffing and we rarely think about making it the rest of the year. Use cornbread to keep it both traditional and gluten free. Make your own dairy and egg-free version a few days before Thanksgiving so you can cut it into cubes and let it dry out. Then use your favorite recipe to make the stuffing. I add plenty of celery and onion, cooked down until very soft and translucent, plus diced pieces of apple for a little sweetness. Don’t skimp on the vegetable broth; the bread cubes will soak it up. Some folks add crumbled sausage; there are tasty kosher and vegetarian substitutes. And my mom always added an egg to hold it all together. Bake until cooked through and crispy on top.
Nothing adds more color to your table than a big platter of roasted vegetables. Keep them separate for roasting for two reasons. First, each type of veggie can be roasted to its own perfection. Second, the platter is stunning when you lay the various types and colors of veggies side by side or in a pie shape. Serve with a Roasted Garlic Aioli and a Cranberry Vinaigrette, both on the side. Like rice, roasted veggies can be served hot or at room temperature. To heat them up, make sure your platter is oven safe. Put it in the oven at 400 degrees while your turkey or other main is resting and being plated.
No Thanksgiving table is complete without the ubiquitous cranberry. The canned jellied version is contentious; people either love it or hate it. I’ll just say that we always have it on the table, but I prefer cranberry relish. What’s the difference between sauce and relish? Sauce is cooked, and always ends up with a little of that jellied texture from the natural pectin in the cranberries. Relish is made from simple raw ingredients. It brings that classic sweet tart flavor, but also a bit of crunch from the raw cranberries and apples. A recipe is included at the end of this column.
It’s simple to keep dessert friendly for everyone except diabetics. You can purchase dairy-free and gluten-free pie crusts and fill them with any fruity pie filling you like. Follow the recipe on the back of the pumpkin can, substituting nut or coconut milk for the dairy. Or keep it gluten-free by baking the pumpkin filling as a custard in a small, oiled ramekin. Other fruit fillings are naturally egg-free, such as apple, pear, peach, or berry.
If you have an ice cream maker, cranberry sorbet is simple to make from a bottle of cranberry juice and sugar. For your diabetic friends, toss some fresh apple slices with a little bit of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice and let them sit in the fridge overnight, so they develop a bit of juice.
Fresh Cranberry Relish
Serves about 8-12, depending on the rest of the menu.
Recipe adapted from dinneratthezoo.com
This Cranberry Relish is very easy to make. You can make it a couple days in advance and it freezes well. This is a great recipe to hand off to a friend who asks what they can bring, especially if that friend isn’t confident in the kitchen or you’re not confident in your friend.
The key to this recipe is to chop the ingredients separately in the food processor. Use the pulse feature to chop everything coarsely — you don’t want it to be a puree.
You can also adapt the recipe by adding 2 tsp chopped crystallized ginger, a drained, small can of crushed pineapple, or a pinch of cinnamon. To make it a little more diabetic friendly, you can use powdered sugar substitute, such as stevia or monkfruit, but start with ½ C and add as needed to avoid making it too sweet.
Ingredients:
12 oz fresh cranberries, picked through, rinsed, and dried
1 apple, cored & cut into quarters, but not peeled
1 small orange, seeds and ends removed, but not peeled
1 C sugar
Directions:
- In the bowl of a food processor, chop the cranberries until coarsely chopped. Transfer cranberries to a bowl.
- Do the same with the apple and the orange, separately.
- Add the sugar (or sugar substitute) to the bowl; stir to combine.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to 3 days.