Thanksgiving Sides

This is part af a multi post about Thanksgiving:
I
II
III
Breakfast
Lunch
Seattle Brown Out Turkey
Tukey Timing Redux
Sides
Afters

Here we have a plethora of sides among which you may pick and choose as pleases you and yours.

Brussels Sprouts With Chestnuts
2 cups Brussels sprouts
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup chestnuts
2 tbl butter
Steam sprouts. Blanch and shell chestnuts. Sauté in sugar and butter. Mix.

It may be that Dorothy's straight forward presentation had a lot to do with my early rejection of turnips.

Dorothy's Turnips
Peel and dice a cup of turnips. Cover with water. Salt and bring to a boil. Simmer 'til done. Add salt, pepper and butter and serve. Treat rutabagas the same way.

As I said, Dorothy liked turnips and rutabagas.
One of my versions:

Turnip Yer Nose
3 lbs turnips
3 tbl cilantro
3 cloves garlic
3 tbl rice vinegar
1 tbl sesame oil
1 tbl sugar
1 tbl sesame seeds
2 tbl Canadian bacon
Peel and dice turnips. Simmer 'til just cooked. Drain.
Mix remaining ingredients. Add to turnips and toss to coat.
Var: use fresh tarragon instead of cilantro and omit garlic.

Another possibility:

Baked Turnips And Cream
(with apologies to whoever I stole this from and forgot to note down.)
½ cup cubed bacon
6 medium turnips, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch
3 leeks (white portion only) cleaned and sliced
3 cups whipping cream
3 tbl Dijon mustard
2 tsp nutmeg
salt & pepper
Fry bacon until almost crisp; drain. Layer raw turnips with bacon and leaks in baking pan. Combine whipping cream, Dijon mustard and nutmeg in a small bowl; season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour over turnips. Bake at 350º for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until tender. Serves 6 to 8.

Here is this year's new addition which probably has appeared at many other tables unbeknownst to me.

Crustless Leak Quiche
2 tbl ham cubed
3 or 4 leaks, cleaned and sliced.
1 lb Gruyeres cheese cubed.
1 cup whipping cream
3 eggs
nutmeg
celery seed
cayenne pepper
salt and pepper.
Butter a baking dish and fill with the first three ingredients.
Whisk remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over leaks.
Bake in 350º f. for ½ hour or until done.

This is straight off the Ocean Spray package:

Cranberry Sauce
1 cup water
1 bag (12 oz) cranberries
1 cup Sugar
Rinse and pick over cranberries.
In a saucepan bring sugar and water to a boil.
Add cranberries and return to boil. Stir.
Reduce heat to a slow boil for 10 minutes. Stir. Cool and refrigerate.

Ann does this which we very much prefer:

Cranberry Chutney
Gourmet Magazine Nov 2000
Makes about 2 cups
5 shallots (6 oz) coarsely chopped
1½ tbl vegetable oil
12 oz cranberries
2/3 cup sugar
¼ cup cider vinegar
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced peeled fresh ginger
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
Cook shallots in oil in a 3 qt heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened. Stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until berries pop, about 10 to 12 minutes, then cool.
Note: may be made 1 wk ahead and chilled, covered

Ann comments: It keeps for quite awhile in fridge, though is so good it can be eaten by the spoonful from the jar and thus doesn't stay around long.

Now for the carbs. Hooray!

Potatoes With A Butter Mine
-ml (Stolen from Phyllis)
8 medium red potatoes, peeled
6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
3/4 cup butter
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 cup milk
salt & pepper
Cook potatoes. Drain. Reserve water. Add ¼ cup butter, ½ cup milk, garlic, cayenne, salt & pepper. Whip in electric mixer until smooth. Add reserved potato water if needed. Put in serving bowl. Push remaining stick of butter into the middle. Mold potatoes to hide the butter.

Melissa prefers Yukon golds. Oh well. Works.

Rice Ring
-ml- From Phyllis who used all wild rice. I sometimes mix wild and pearl (short grain.) Long grain also works.
Wild rice calls for simmering about 40 minutes to cook. 1 cup of rice to 3 cups of water. Or use dilute (1 can stock to 2 cans water) chicken stock. A rice cooker, which is my preferred method for cooking long and short grain rice, doesn't do it. Shitakes are wonderful in this. Any mushroom you like would be.
2 cups rice
21/4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup butter
6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 medium onions
8 oz brown mushrooms, sliced
salt & pepper
Cook rice in stock. Add ¼ stick butter. Set aside. Sauté garlic, onions and mushrooms in remaining butter. Add to rice. mix. Pour into a buttered mold or covered casserole. Bake in 350°f. oven for 30 minutes (or more) Unmold onto platter to serve.

Onion & Sage Stuffing
-ml- loosely based on Dorothy
1 loaf bread
1/4 lb butter, melted
2 tsp celery seed
3 medium onions, chopped
1 celery with leaves
1 tbl thyme, fresh chopped
2 tbl sage, fresh chopped
pepper
1 can (10.5 oz) chicken stock
2 cans (10.5 oz) water
Leave the bread out for a day or two to dry out. Dice into ½" cubes. Place in a large bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Mix Thoroughly. Pour into 2 buttered casseroles. Cover (with foil if no lid.) Bake in 325°f. (or more whatever °) for a minimum of 30 minutes. After that hold at the cook's pleasure.
-n.b. Stuffing in the bird's cavity spends too long at the proper temperature to grow unwelcome critters.

Turkey Stuffing
-ml- experiment #1 of 11/98. If you make bread often this may interest you.
¹/₃ cup water, lukewarm
1 tsp salt
1½ tbl yeast
½ cup butter
2 tbl honey
1 cup celery with leaves, chopped
1 cup regular rolled oatmeal
2 cups onion, chopped
4 cups bread flour
1 can (10.5 oz) chicken stock
1 can (10.5 oz) water
2 tbl olive oil
2 tbl sage
1 tbl thyme
¼ tsp cayenne
1 tbl celery seed
Three or four days ahead:
Proof yeast in lukewarm water and honey.
In a bowl combine yeast with oatmeal, oil, sage, thyme, salt and 2 cups flour. Mix. Add rest of flour. Knead. Rise. Form into a long loaf. Rise.
Preheat oven to 400°f. Bake loaf 25 to 30 minutes. Spritz well to make heat moist.
Let loaf dry at room temperature until ready to make dressing.
Cut bread into ¾" cubes.
Sauté onions and celery in butter until translucent.
Mix with bread. Add stock and water. Season with pepper and cayenne.
Pour into 2 buttered casserole and cover.
Bake above 325°f. for at least 30 minutes.
- n.b.: Heating stuffing in the bird's cavity makes a very good growing media for nasty critters because it takes so long to get the stuffing above 120°f. This method reduces the chance of ruining a fine holiday.

So that does it for side recipes. What about the main event: the turkey? Oh that's here and here.
And then there are afters.
--ml
tags: Feast of Holidays, Thanksgiving, side dishes