I take Thanksgiving pretty seriously. It's my favourite holiday of the year and the one time you can be guaranteed I'll be cooking a big meal for friends. Even in a country where people have no idea about Thanksgiving, let alone that Canadians celebrate this a whole month or so earlier than the neighbours to the south, I've kept up the tradition, having a big dinner on the Sunday (as we don't get Mondays off on this side of the pond).
This year, after many years of huge dinners (for which I've cooked everything) for up to twenty people, I went low-key. We had a just a handful of close friends and I focussed on relaxing a bit more. The menu was simple, standard: Brie baked with maple syrup and almonds, pumpkin gnocchi with sage butter, sage and chanterelle stuffing, roast veg, a roast bird for the meat eaters, and maple pumpkin pie. Here are the recipes for some of my favourites.
Sage and Chanterelle Stuffing
1/4 cup chopped rehydrated (or fresh) chanterelles, liquid reserved
1 cup field mushrooms, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 loaf of brown bread, cubed
1 cup vegetable stock
a handful of sage leaves, shredded
salt and pepper
1. Warm a few glugs of olive oil in a casserole dish (I use my oven proof Le Creuset) and saute your onion, celery, and carrot. Once the onions are translucent, toss in your garlic and mushrooms, and continue to cook until the mushrooms have cooked down in size. Stir in your chanterelles and sage, and deglaze the pan with the mushroom water. Season well.
2. Add in your cubed bread and mix well. Pour over your vegetable stock and continue to mix until all the bread is moist, season to taste, and then bake at 375 degrees F for 40 minutes.
Pumpkin and Potato Gnocchi (gluten-free)
150 grams cooked pumpkin, mashed well
150 grams boiled potato, mashed well
150 grams gluten-free flour blend (mine is rice, tapioca, and buckwheat)
1 egg
1 tbsp. butter, softened
salt and pepper
Combine your ingredients to get a smooth dough. Divide into 8 pieces, and roll each out into a long tube, about 1 inch in width. Cut off 1/2 inch pieces and gently roll these into small gnocchi. Repeat until done, then mark each piece with the tines of a fork. Refrigerate before cooking. Cook for 1-2 minutes in boiling salted water - they are done when they float. Best served with sage-laced brown butter and parmesan.
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