Cooking
Thanksgiving rehearsals are underway, and they’re delicious.
Good morning. We’re sliding into dress rehearsals for the Thanksgiving feast, and I’m still adding songs and bits, cutting lines, rethinking the ending. It’s tempting to fall back on the old favorites because they’re favored, because they’re familiar, because I know they’ll kill. I’m a traditionalist, after all.
But there’s something thrilling about the introduction of new dishes to the Thanksgiving table, something novel, something sly. There’s the promise of a great payoff, a new authentic truth revealed.
This year, I’m thinking I might add Andy Baraghani’s recipe for caramelized squash with cinnamon toasted nuts (above) to my menu, alongside the turkey, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce and gravy. It’s a dead-simple preparation: Roast wedges of squash with shallots in a hot oven until they’re caramelized and sweet, then top with buttery toasted pecans tossed in maple syrup and cinnamon. I’ll try it out this weekend to accompany a roast chicken and see how it lands.
Featured Recipe
Caramelized Squash With Cinnamon Toasted Nuts
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To go with, another newcomer: these scalloped potatoes with horseradish from Vivian Chan-Tam. I like the idea of a horseradish kick against the sweetness of the potatoes and cheese, and I think that’ll be true of the squash and the luscious chicken, too. We’ll see. Rehearsal’s important. It’s not the show, but it suggests what the show might become.
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