Starters and Nibbles

Spicy Crock-Pot Apple Butter – Serve with cheddar or brie (or any cheese that is cheddar-or-brie-like) and crackers. Can be made several days in advance. Uses the crock-pot, which frees up your stovetop and oven. Would also be a nice sauce with turkey. And a nice host(-ess) gift.

Spicy Crock-Pot Apple Butter

Chicken Liver Mousse – Quick and easy to make. Can be made several days in advance. Serve with toast squares, crackers, or sliced baguette.

Chicken Liver Mousse on a crunchy little toast square

Manchego Cheese, Quince, and Walnut Crostini – Make the quince jam (or buy it) in advance. Toast the bread in advance. Easy to assemble.

Manchego, Quince, and Walnut Crostini

First Course

Easy Golden Beet Soup with Buttery Croutons - Serve as a first course. Beets can be roasted several days in advance. Soup can be made and refrigerated 1-2 days in advance (without the croutons, of course). Swirl a bit of heavy cream or yogurt on top for an elegant little touch. When I make a large meal like Thanksgiving dinner, I serve creamy soups like this in teacups – it’s just the right amount of soup so your guests aren’t stuffed before the main course.

Golden Beet Soup with Buttery Croutons

Quick Breads

Bacon Muffins – quick and easy to bake. Can be made 1 day in advance.

Bacon Muffins

Irish Soda Bread with Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Black Pepper – Quickbread (no yeast) – takes only a few minutes to mix. Can be made 1-2 days in advance.

Irish Soda Bread with Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Black Pepper

Cheddar-Sage Biscuits – Can be made 1 day in advance and re-heated. Sage goes nicely with turkey.

Cheddar Sage Biscuits

Sides

Broccoli Raab with Pecans – can be made 1-2 day in advance and re-heated.

Broccoli Raab with Pecans

Mashed Potatoes - can be made several hours in advance. Hold in a metal bowl over simmering water. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Add more cream or milk before serving if the potatoes have dried out a bit.

Mashed Potatoes

Cranberry Sauce with Bourbon – can be made up to a week in advance. Made in the oven so it frees up your stovetop. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Cranberry Sauce with Bourbon

Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower – can be made several hours in advance. Pop back in the oven for a few minutes to re-heat. Grate some Parmesan over the cauliflower for a little more richness.

Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower

Kale and Ricotta Salata Salad – believe it or not, this salad can be made several days in advance. Unlike lettuce, the kale is hearty enough to not get slimy under the weight of the vinaigrette. Flavors actually get better if made a day in advance. Can be served cold or at room temperature.

Raw lacitano kale for Kale and Ricotta Salata Salad

Dessert

Apple Pie with Boiled Cider – pie can be made one day in advance. I usually serve apple pie with this Calvados Ice Cream (it’s heaven). You can omit the boiled cider to save time. Add a bit more sugar to compensate.

Apple Pie with Boiled Cider

Bourbon Milkshakes – can’t really be made in advance, but really easy to make using store-bought ingredients. And a perfect ending to your fabulous Thanksgiving meal. Give yourself a round of (bourbon-y) applause!

Bourbon Milkshake

Fresh Cranberry Beans

It took me a while to catch on to the beauty and deliciousness of fresh shelling beans. I think I had always been unsure of the best way to cook them, my primary bean experiences having been with the dried and canned varieties. Then I found fresh cranberry beans at my local farmer’s market. I don’t know about you guys, but sometimes I get a little emotional about my food – I mean, these beans were just so beautiful, both in the pod and out. I shed a little tear. (Unfortunately, the beautiful mottled cranberry color of the fresh, uncooked beans gets cooked out, leaving you with a rather boring-looking greyish-cream bean. But the memory of the raw bean lingers on.)

I made a super-simple salad with a bit of arugula, but think of this post as a fresh bean primer – you can alter this recipe in so many ways. Experiment with different types of greens (finely shredded kale would be nice, or chopped endive). Add a chopped fresh chile. Experiment with the types of herbs you use. Add a pinch of cumin and a squeeze of lime juice. Or a squashed anchovy. Pile up on toasted bread rubbed with a clove of garlic. Serve the salad while the beans are still a bit warm, or at room temperature. The possibilities, as they say, are endless.

If you can’t find fresh beans, dried or canned are an acceptable substitution, but I implore you to try to find fresh beans at least once this summer. There is a tremendous difference in texture and I think you’ll like it. Marcella Hazan taught me how to cook fresh beans in her awesome Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. This recipe is loosely based on several of her recipes.

Fresh Cranberry Bean and Arugula Salad

Ingredients:
(Serves 3-4 as an appetizer or side dish)

1 pound fresh cranberry or other fresh beans in the shell
1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
The juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime
1/2 to 1 teaspoon fresh herbs, finely chopped (either rosemary, sage, chives, parsley, or cilantro)
1 cup baby arugula leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Procedure:

1. Shell the fresh beans. Put the beans in a medium, heavy pot and cover with water by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and simmer gently for about an hour, or until the beans are tender. (Note: do not salt the water.)
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, olive oil, lemon or lime juice and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
3. Drain the beans and gently rinse under cold water to stop the cooking.
4. Toss the beans in the dressing. Taste and correct for salt – you will probably need to add quite a bit more salt at this point. Add the fresh herbs to taste and the baby arugula leaves. Toss very gently to combine. Add a few grindings of black pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I like to leave the skin on the jerusalem artichokes because I like it and it tastes good, but you could certainly remove it if you feel like it. If you opt to leave the skin on, remember to scrub the vegetable well.

Jerusalem Artichoke Salad

Ingredients:

5 small jerusalem artichokes, scrubbed well and very thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups sliced)
2 tablespoons shallot, very finely sliced
12-15 leaves flat-leaf parsley, washed and dried
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2-3 tablespoons good-quality extra virgin olive oil
A small Parmigiano-Reggiano piece (you will have leftovers!)
Fleur de sel or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Special Equipment: A mandoline or Japanese slicer, a swivel-style vegetable peeler

Procedure:

1. Pile the thinly sliced jerusalem artichokes on a serving platter. Squeeze some of the lemon over the slices.
2. Sprinkle the shallot slices over the jerusalem artichokes.
3. Using a swivel-style vegetable peeler, shave 10-15 good-sized pieces (or more, to taste) of Parmesan off of the block of cheese over the vegetables.
4. Top decoratively with the parsley leaves. Sprinkle with fleur de sel or kosher salt, and add a few grindings of pepper.
5. Drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil and a few more squeezes of your lemon half.

I use lacinato kale (also known as Tuscan kale or dinosaur kale) because I think it’s a bit more tender than regular kale, and hence better raw. If you can’t find ricotta salata (a kind of dried, pressed ricotta), you could always use a little Parmigiano-Reggiano or even feta. I think that a bit of dried red chili flakes would be a nice addition to this recipe. I have a friend who adds little bits of bacon to his version of this salad, which also sounds delectable. This recipe was originally published in Gourmet.

Serves 4.

Raw lacinato kale

Ingredients:
1 lb lacinato kale (also called Tuscan or dinosaur kale)
2 tablespoons very finely chopped shallot or 1 garlic clove, very finely minced
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 1/2 tablespoons very good quality extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces coarsely grated ricotta salata (about 1 cup)

Procedure:

1. Remove the tough stems from the kale (including the rib that runs up the center of the leaf, if very large). Cut the kale into thin ribbons (chiffonade) by stacking the leaves, rolling them up tightly, and slicing them horizontally into thin strips.
2. Combine the shallot or garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil in a thin stream and keep whisking until the oil is incorporated.
3. In a large serving bowl, pour the dressing over the kale and toss gently to coat. Add the grated ricotta salata and toss gently again. Taste and correct for salt and pepper if necessary.

Note: this can be made several hours in advance (the kale doesn’t wilt even after being tossed with the dressing)

For Renu.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the Vinaigrette
1/4 cup good-quality red or white wine vinegar
1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
Salt and pepper

For the Salad
3/4 pound small potatoes (about 6), such as Yukon golds
2 hard boiled eggs, quartered
1/2 pound grape or cherry tomatoes (assorted colors are nice), halved
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed
1 small head Boston lettuce, washed and separated (or substitute red leaf or young romaine)
1 six-ounce jar of tuna packed in olive oil
15-20 olives, pitted (preferably niçoise olives)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Procedure

Make the Vinaigrette

1. Place the smashed garlic cloves and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Set aside to steep while you prepare the other ingredients for the salad.
2. Remove the garlic cloves and discard. While whisking, slowly drizzle the olive oil into the vinegar, whisking until an emulsion has formed. Season with freshly ground pepper, and additional salt if necessary.

Prepare the Salad Ingredients and Assemble the Salad

1. Cook the potatoes in their skins: in a medium saucepan, cover the potatoes in cold water and simmer over medium heat until they are very tender when pierced with a paring knife. (This may take up to 30 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes.) Cool the potatoes and chop into large chunks, or quarter. Set aside to cool completely.
2. Cook the green beans by dropping them into boiled, salted water. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the beans are tender but still with a little bite. Plunge the beans into ice water to stop the cooking. Cut the beans in half on the bias if they are long. Set aside.
3. Drain the tuna and gently break up into chunks.
4. Dress the salad greens, green beans, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, and potatoes separately, gently tossing each ingredient in the prepared vinaigrette. Lightly salt the eggs, potatoes, and tomatoes.
5. Lay the dressed salad greens on a large platter. Put the drained tuna in the center of the platter, and arrange the other ingredients in pretty piles all around the tuna. Sprinkle with the olives.
6. Drizzle the salad with additional vinaigrette and finish with a grinding of black pepper.

Servings: 4

Ingredients
1/4 pound purslane, large stems discarded
1/3 pound baby arugula
1 small bunch watercress, large stems discarded
1/4 pound heirloom radishes (assorted colors and sizes are nice), very thinly sliced
1 garlic scape, very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Procedure

1. In a medium bowl, gently toss the purslane, arugula, and watercress leaves. Add radish slices to bowl.
2. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil onto salad and toss gently. Add salt, freshly ground pepper, and lemon juice and gently toss again.
3. Plate each salad and top with a small sprinkling of garlic scapes.