Classic Recipes for Your Thanksgiving Table

America is gearing up for the foodiest of all foodie days of the yearThanksgiving!! It is by far my favorite foodie holiday, too. The food is always good and real and seasonal, at least that’s the way I grew up experiencing it. It seems like the one time of year everyone puts in so much effort towards the quality of the food and the menu and the sourcing of ingredients. It’s also the holiday that taught me how to really cook. One year my mom just handed me the Williams-Sonoma Guide to Thanksgiving (it was a booklet) and I made just about every recipe in it. From then on, I was in charge of the food and it was magnificent!

I know what some people say about Thanksgiving…it’s loaded with historic context that makes it controversial and I know it’s not an Islamic holiday. I also know that some people just want to spend the day off with their families and eat some really great #halal turkey with other traditional and often times their own ethnic dishes and side dishes. I choose to enjoy the opportunity to celebrate time with my family and enjoy a holiday that is part of my American culture. 

When I was growing up, we always had a very Sicilian type of Thanksgiving. Of course there was turkey on the table, but you bet there were also a few trays of lasagna or mastociolli as a side dish and pumpkin pies were found among Sicilian cookies on the dessert table. 

That said, everyone has the dinner they want or like, and over the years I’ve come to really appreciate making things from scratch because they taste better and the entire feeling of the day and the dinner seems so much more special by putting in the work to make it both beautiful and delicious. 

Let’s start with soup…

Pumpkin Saffron Soup is silky and elegant- perfect for guests who are expecting something other than your run-of-the mill dinner soups. It makes Thanksgiving special. 

Pumpkin Saffron Soup

Fig, Pine Nut, Garlic & Herb Stuffing is one of the most flavorful stuffings I’ve ever made for the turkey. Figs are abundant now in the Fall and pine nuts are a bit of a splurge but their nuttiness makes it so worth the addition. Be sure to make your own croutons, too (recipe below). 

Fig, Pine Nut, Garlic & Herb Stuffing

Homemade Croutons. Thank me later. Yes, they are worth making homemade.

Homemade Croutons

Now for the turkey. Ah, the BIG bird. Do you really need to make such a huge amount of meat? Yes and no. Yes, if you’re having a large crowd and NO if you’re not- it’s as simple as that. For a small crowd you can go with one large turkey breast that you can roast and slice for 3-4 people.

This recipe below for roasting a chicken, but it’s one you can emulate with a turkey by following the cooking time and temperature for the size of the bird you’ve got on hand. Of course you can also make a chicken instead….but that would be veering way off the turkey day menu now, wouldn’t it?

Classic Roasted Chicken with Seasonal Vegetables

Creamy Mashed Potatoes are one side dish I simply cannot go without on Thanksgiving. And they have to be creamy. That’s why I love this recipe.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Homemade Gravy. Don’t skimp on the good stuff- and that means making it with your own turkey’s fat, seriously. 

How to Make Gravy

Cranberry Sauce with Apples & Pears. Do.not.skip.this.dish. If you’ve only ever had the canned stuff, you don’t know what the real stuff is supposed to taste like. Once I made it for the first time from scratch (reluctantly and not expecting to like it at all), it became my favorite side dish and one that I cannot fathom not having with the turkey and mashed potatoes. They just go so well together because they’re seasonally growing at the same time. 

https://myhalalkitchen.com//cranberry-sauce-apples-pears/

Winter Salad with Cranberries & Nuts. Yes, salad belongs on the Thanksgiving table, and when you add some fresh cranberries it makes all the sense in the world. 

https://myhalalkitchen.com//winter-salad-with-cranberries-nuts/

Pumpkin Pie. Just because…and not from the can, please. But if you have to that’s okay as well. Follow the same method. 

Pumpkin Pie Not From a Can

For a list of more recipes, check out this new post. 

 

Fig, Pine Nut, Garlic & Herb Stuffing

Fig, Pine Nut, Garlic & Herb Stuffing

Every good bird would love to have some stuffing alongside it, right? Well, there are tons of ways to make a great stuffing so you really can choose the ‘additions’ to the bread portions as you see fit (mostly dry goods) so in my case, I pulled from my Mediterranean heritage and decided to add dried figs, pine nuts, sage, thyme and plenty of garlic to mine. 

Mediterranean Ingredients

Start out any stuffing recipe with dried bread (i.e. croutons). I make mine with one whole loaf of Italian bread (make sure it has simple ingredients and it’s not a science experiment like some bread in the market is today). I cut it into thin slices then dice it up, place on baking sheets and toast for about 10 minutes in a 375° F oven. You can definitely do this part the night before, too, along with all of the chopping up of veggies.

bread croutons

figsGather up all your ingredients- in addition to the toasted bread (croutons) and figs/pine nuts/garlic I mentioned, you’ll need celery, onions and two very important ingredients I think should go into most stuffing: chicken broth and white or red grape juice, which is an alcohol-free alternative to wine or sherry that is often suggested in stuffing recipes. 

*NOTE ABOUT THE BROTH IN THIS RECIPE: It seems as though the Saffron Road halal chicken broth and other broths are not available, so you can replace it with an organic vegetarian broth like this one for this recipe. 

Once that’s all gathered, butter the dish you’re going to bake the mixture in- it turns out that is dish pictured here was a bit too tight so I transferred it all into a larger oven-safe bowl. Just be sure to: 1) butter the baking dish; and 2) butter the foil you’ll put on top of the dish- that way all the melted butter will drip down into the stuffing and make it extra delicious. 

buttered dish

So first you’re going to use a large sauté pan heat the butter and add the onions, cooking down for about a minute or two. 

butter in pan

Next, add the diced celery and garlic. Cook for an additional minute or two to soften. You can brown them slightly if you choose to, as well, which just requires a few more minutes of cooking. 

celery and onion

Now it’s time to add the juice and it’s an important step in that it adds sweetness to the dish. What you must do here is to evaporate most of the juice in this step- not all, just most, so leave about 2 tablespoons. I turn the pan on high and it goes faster that way.  

apple juice

*About the juice: I use a 100% white grape juice from Trader Joe’s that comes in a six pack and is intended for kids. I like it because it isn’t too sweet and doesn’t have anything extra in it and as in most juices it’s a good idea to look out for gelatin, which can be pork-derived, and is often added to juices to clarify their appearance.

Remove from heat immediately and set aside. let juice evaporate

Next we’re going to utilize another important product- chicken broth. If you know me as a food blogger, you know the Saffron Road brand is my favored brand for years, and not simply because it’s halal, but also because it’s a quality product- certified humane from 100% vegetarian fed birds free of antibiotics. It’s also a low-sodium product. This broth is a rich stock and I can tell it’s made carefully and produced with quality ingredients because I’ve made my own broth for years out of never wanting to purchase other stocks, broths and chicken bouillon cubes full of monosodium glutamate and who knows what other types of ingredients. I use the Traditional Chicken Broth for this one, but you might also want to try the Artisan Roasted Chicken Broth or go vegetarian and use their Classic Culinary Vegetable Broth

chicken brothPour the broth into the buttered baking dish (you can also add the broth at the end, but I like doing it this way, for some reason.

chicken broth for stuffing

 Now add all the pre-cut, dried and sautéed ingredients- pine nuts

pine nuts

Chop up the herbs, or leave them whole. 

sage and thyme One other thing- beat two eggs vigorously and pour onto the mixture, as well. 

eggs

Mix it all up. 

blend it allBake in the oven at 350° F for 20 minutes, covered. Remove the foil and then continue baking in the oven for 30 minutes. 

final stuffing pm

Enjoy with your favorite poultry- you can either serve on the side or serve stuffed into the bird after the stuffing is done.

[yumprint-recipe id=’53’]This post was sponsored by Saffron Road Food. All opinions expressed about Saffron Road products are solely that of My Halal Kitchen and its writers.