BETTY KAISER
Thanksgiving side dishes
Thanksgiving dinner and tradition go together like love and marriage. As the song says, “you can’t have one without the other.” So right about now, households all across the country are doling out traditional recipes for their family’s Thanksgiving feast.
Every region of this country has its own delicious specialties. Most of us are buying turkeys for Thanksgiving but it’s a sure bet that your side dishes and mine will differ. What we each serve will usually have a connection with what we ate in childhood.
My parents and grandparents appreciated good food. They had lived through the Great Depression and two world wars. They knew what it was to have food rationed and to depend on Grandpa’s Victory Garden. Thanksgiving was a time to celebrate abundant blessings.
Although I grew up in California, my grandparents were from Texas and my parents were Missouri born and bred. Almost everything we ate was homemade and grown locally. The turkey was ordered from the butcher at the bottom of the hill and the vegetables (if not home-grown) were fresh from the green grocer who drove his produce truck down our street twice a week.
The Thanksgiving dinners I remember were pretty elaborate feasts: Relish plates of stuffed celery and olives, fancy cheeses and crackers; butternut squash soup; roast turkey with cornbread stuffing; mashed potatoes with giblet gravy; candied yams (NO marshmallows); green beans with bacon; buttered parsnips, gelatin salad and homemade yeast rolls. Desserts always included pumpkin and fresh apple pie.
It was only when I was older that I realized not everyone ate the same dinner. I read one cookbook that suggested that a Shaker family feast might also be eating roast turkey but their side dishes could include creamed oysters on toasted corn bread. Instead of pumpkin pie, dessert might be an Ohio Shaker Lemon Pie.
Looking back, I notice a distinct difference food preparation of the between then and now. There may have been many choices on the dinner table but they were relatively simple foods served without sauces. Vegetables were seasoned with butter, salt and pepper. Stuffing was cornbread, onions and celery. The yeast rolls were served with Grandma’s homemade jam. And the pies crusts were made with lard, flaky and light as a feather to enhance the filling.
In 1957 Campbell Soup Company introduced a green bean casserole that still is the most popular recipe ever to come out of their corporate kitchen. Recently, that fabulous southern cook, Paula Deen, updated the recipe. It’s basically the same as Campbell’s but she cooks fresh beans in chicken broth, adds sautéed onions and mushrooms and tops it all off with some grated cheese. It kicks the recipe up a notch.
I’m also updating two potato casseroles today. They’re both tasty and if you like to plan ahead, you can prepare the sweet potato and mashed potato dishes the day before. Refrigerate and re-heat just before dinner. Enjoy!
PAULA DEEN’S GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE
1/3 stick butter
1/2 cup diced onions
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 -3 cups sliced green beans
3 cups chicken broth
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (2.8-ounce) can French-fried onion rings
Pinch House Seasoning, recipe follows
1 cup grated Cheddar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a large skillet. Sauté the onions and mushrooms in the butter. Boil green beans in chicken broth for 10 minutes and drain. Add the green beans, mushroom soup, onion rings, and House Seasoning, to taste, to the onion mixture. Stir well. Pour into a greased 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes, then top the casserole with the Cheddar and bake for 10 minutes longer, or until the casserole is hot and cheese is melted. Serves 6
House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
STREUSEL-TOPPED SWEET POTATOES
14 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled sweet potato (about 5 pounds)
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 375°.
Place potato in a Dutch oven, and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 12 minutes or until tender. Drain.
Combine the half-and-half and next 4 ingredients (half-and-half through egg) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add potato to egg mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Spoon potato mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Combine flour and sugar in a food processor; pulse to combine. Add chilled butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in pecans; sprinkle over potato mixture.
Cover and bake at 375° for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 25 minutes or until the topping is browned and the potatoes are thoroughly heated. Serves 18
OVERNIGHT MASHED POTATO CASSEROLE
Seattle Times
4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, quartered
1-½ cups sour cream
6 tablespoons butter, divided
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup dry breadcrumbs
Cook potatoes until tender in boiling, salted water. Drain and place cooked potatoes in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Add sour cream, 5 tablespoons butter, salt and pepper.
Beat potato mixture until light and fluffy on low speed of an electric beater. Pile lightly into a buttered 2-quart casserole dish. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Bring casserole out of refrigerator 1/2 hour before cooking. Bake, covered, in a preheated 325-degree oven about 1 hour or until heated through.
Toss breadcrumbs with remaining 1 tablespoon butter, which has been melted, and sprinkle buttered crumbs over potatoes. Continue baking, uncovered, about 30 minutes longer. Serves 8-10
Keep it simple and keep it seasonal!
Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner is dedicated to sharing a variety of recipes
that are delicious, family oriented and easy to prepare.
No comments:
Post a Comment