Across the internet (Instagram), people far and wide (dear friends, distant relatives and women I met once at parties in college) are soft-launching their Thanksgiving menus. With the Friendsgiving season in full swing, stuffings and green bean casseroles and all manner of potatoes clutter my feed, just as they’ll clutter the holiday table a week from today.
Do you know what you’re making? Perhaps you’d like to create a lively Sidesgiving spread. Or maybe you’d prefer to anchor your meal with a showstopping vegetarian main. (Alexa Weibel’s mushroom Wellington, anybody? How about a moment for Khushbu Shah’s new saag paneer lasagna?) The time to decide is now.
In my mind, body and soul, the true Thanksgiving centerpiece is actually stuffing. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re a minimalist (hello, Eric Kim’s buttery sage Thanksgiving stuffing) or a maximalist (Kay Chun’s French onion stuffing beckons).
Thanksgiving Stuffing
You can even modify stuffings you thought might not be for you. There’s bacon in the recipe title for Melissa Clark’s five-star stuffing with mushrooms and leeks — but wait! As she notes in the recipe description: “The mushrooms allow vegetarians to nix the bacon without sacrificing all the flavor.” Bingo.
Contrary to some beliefs, this holiday needn’t be a beige onslaught. Surround your stuffing with a rainbow of sides. Red cranberries, orange sweet potatoes, yellow corn, green brussels sprouts — you see the vision.
A red-wine cranberry sauce with honey or lemony cranberry relish can get you started, or you can incorporate cranberries in your spread elsewhere, as Sohla El-Waylly does with her crushed green bean salad or as Christian Reynoso does with his red cabbage salad with orange vinaigrette.
Andy Baraghani’s caramelized squash with cinnamon toasted nuts is a vibrant November sunset, as are Vivian Chan-Tam’s roasted beets with hazelnuts and honey, which feature both golden and red root vegetables. Sohla’s Cheddar-smothered sweet potatoes and Melissa’s maple roasted squash with charred lemon? Sunrises.
Onto greens, then. Hetty Lui McKinnon’s tamarind-maple brussels sprouts and Kay’s miso gravy-smothered green beans get the job done. And might I be so bold as to say your Thanksgiving table needs a salad? Your Thanksgiving table needs a salad.
Melissa’s fennel-apple salad with walnuts provides plenty of crunch, acid and verve, as does Sheela Prakash’s brussels sprouts salad with pomegranate and pistachios. Tabbouleh-esque, her recipe fuses the Levantine salad with more autumnal ingredients, but maintains the traditional bulgur to keep it hearty and vegan.
Or cover the color wheel with a single dish. Let Melissa’s giant roasted vegetable platter be your singular kaleidoscope lighthouse in a sea of taupes and browns, and have the happiest Thanksgiving.
Saag Paneer Lasagna
Caramelized Squash With Cinnamon Toasted Nuts
Brussels Sprout Salad With Pomegranate and Pistachios
One More Thing!
We’re bringing back Recipe Matchmaker next week! Send me your hyper-specific recipe needs and requests in an email with the subject line “Recipe Matchmaker,” and I’ll do my best to pair you with the perfect recipe.
Next week’s Veggie will come out on Thanksgiving Day, so reach out with requests for the December holidays or your everyday cooking, and steal away from the holiday table to see if your email made it into the newsletter.
Enjoy the holiday if you’re celebrating, and see you next week!
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