T-Day with The83k: Side Dishes, Pt. 2 — crowd pleasers and weird stuff your guests will love.
Don't worry, we're getting to stuffing and cranberry sauce and gravy next week
Apologies for the technical difficulties earlier this week, friends — but today, I hope to make it up to you with a lot — a lot a lot — of Thanksgiving sides. Deliver new takes on old favorites or introduce dishes that may just become a new tradition.
And don’t forget to watch your inboxes next week for dispatches on the holy grail of Thanksgiving sides — stuffing — and a quiet, civil discussion on cranberry sauce.*
— Theo
GET SQUASHED
Hasselback Butternut Squash with Bay Leaves — This staple of Pinterest and Instagram is a bit of a production, but with careful application of a stupendous glaze, it’ll wow everyone in the room. Make sure to have a pair of disposable wooden chopsticks, or something similar, to put on either side of the squash to keep your knife from going all the way through when making those distinctive slices. On T-Day, this recipe is best executed with the first brief roast done before the bird goes in, then finished up while the bird is resting — though if you’re lucky enough to have more than one oven, go nuts, friends.
Make-Ahead Roasted Squash and Kale Salad With Spiced Nuts, Cranberries, and Maple Vinaigrette — This is one of those hearty, seasoned “salads” that lures you in for one bite with its promise of sweet roasted squash, tart cranberries and crunchy pecans, and before you know it, you’ve ceded tum-tum real estate you were saving for the potatoes. A perfect make-ahead dish, and a potluck winner.
Spicy Caramelized Squash With Lemon and Hazelnuts — like a lot of Alison Roman dishes, this dish takes a lot of the ideas you’ve seen in other recipes, reduces the frippery and shows you the cleanest, straightest line to flavor. (You can also choose to finish the dish with chili oil, store bought or homemade, if you really wanna go big.)
Mashed Winter Squash with Indian Spices — if you’re cooking Indian food semi-regularly, you probably have most of this stuff on hand already. You can definitely choose to dial up the spice level here if your friends/family can take it — just make sure to tell everyone it’s not insipid, treacly sweet potato mash — it’s something more interesting.
Grilled Butternut Squash with Shallot Vinaigrette — a super simple side for those of you with access to a grill. You can get a little squash on the table with some char and zing AND free up oven/burner space. Most of this can be done well in advance.
GREEN GOODNESS
Broccolini With Sesame Sauce and Lemon — why the FORK don’t we cook with more broccolini? I’m yelling at both of us. Some toothsome vegetal zing with a bright, acidic note will shine right through all the gravy and butter. Don’t forget to salt the cooking water properly.
Haricots Verts Amandine (French-Style Green Beans With Almonds) — my family’s never maintained a green bean casserole tradition, and given some of the things I’ve seen on the internet, I’m not sad about that. Sometimes, just let a vegetable be a vegetable. Don’t turn it into something goopy and loathsome just because you always do.
HOWEVER. If you’re determined to do so ANYWAY —
BA's Best Green Bean Casserole — I am not going to shame anyone for using, enjoying and relishing in the flavors and time-savings of convenience food. But if you have the time and resources — and you’re still choosing to use canned cream of mushroom instead of building a base of flavor from scratch — friend’s, that’s a little embarrassing. I mean, I won’t judge you — but you’ll look at yourself in the mirror and know what you did, and have to live with that forever.
FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRRoasted Cabbage with Walnuts and Parmesan — this lacks much of the ceremony and pomp of a holiday vegetable side, but who the fork cares, it’s easy and can be fired during bird-resting time and will add some unexpected sweet and crunchy notes. Serve warm.
Brussels Sprout Kimchi — the idea of composing a bite of juicy turkey, warm sausage dressing/stuffing, a dab of cranberry sauce and a bright, spicy half round of Brussels sprout kimchi is already making my mouth water.
MISCELLALLIUMNEOUS (and a carrot recipe)
This is a very, very simple recipe for roasted leeks. But while you’re roasting them, make some fried shallots. You can do both of those things ahead of time. And when it’s time to serve, chop up some bacon (or even SPAM), fry it up until crispy, pour the hot fat over the leeks, then toss with the crispy shallots, AND THEN GRATE FRESH GARLIC OVER EVERYTHING. Should we call it the Allihammer?
Roasted Garlic Heads — a friend suggested giving every Thanksgiving dinner guest their own fist of roasted garlic, salted and drizzled in olive oil, and it’s such a good idea I plan on doing a bunch extra — a few heads in circulation for the inevitable snacking beforehand, and a head each for the meal proper.
Roasted Onions Stuffed with Wild Rice and Kale — this make-ahead side won’t just look pretty — the roasted onion and rice will be a light yet palate-refreshing savory note.
Chipotle-Roasted Baby Carrots — are gorgeous roasted heirloom baby carrots played out as a side dish? Only if you don’t like colorful, slightly smoky, sweet and sticky perfection.
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OH AND THERE'S A BUNCH OF PERKS, TOO.
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Again: thank you, friends!
That’s it for this edition of The83K newsletter. If you have any tips or suggestions for things you’d like to see here, please drop me a line at the83k@gmail.com.
*it won’t be civil.