Thanksgiving recipes that revitalize the classics with a bold style
We all have our Thanksgiving traditions. And even though it’s my job to bring readers new ideas for the biggest cooking holiday of the year, I know many people already have their standard dishes set in stone. Whether the recipe is passed down from grandma or you had it at a “friends-giving” a few years back and it made its way into your repertoire, we all have our reasons for sticking with our favorites when there’s so much at stake making a holiday meal, especially during an ongoing global pandemic.
But let me assure you, our newest Thanksgiving recipes are very much worth you taking a chance on them. Andy Baraghani — formerly a video host and editor at Bon Appetit and author of the forthcoming cookbook “The Cook You Want To Be” — has brought us a new slate of Thanksgiving dishes that are modern, bold and packed with vibrant flavors. They speak to his style of cooking, which started in the Bay Area where he grew up and was honed during stints at Chez Panisse and Bon Appetit.
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His recipes include Spiced and Juicy Roast Turkey, which is broken into quicker-cooking and more easily manageable parts, and rubbed with shawarma-inspired spices such as coriander, cumin and smoked paprika. It roasts all on one baking sheet and is so much easier to deal with than a whole bird.
An Extra Onion-y and Celery Stuffing is packed with so much celery and garlic that the flavor of these typical background players goes from subtle to boldly bright and spicy. Make sure to get a hearty sourdough loaf for this so it can stand up to the strong flavors.
Andy’s Leafy Greens Salad with Preserved Lemon and Crushed Pistachios is the light-and-healthy moment you need on the table, which is due mostly to the whole preserved lemon in the tart and effervescent vinaigrette. Use mature greens such as arugula and frisée or bitter lettuces such as radicchio so they can stand up to the assertive dressing.
Turmeric-Roasted Squash with Caramelized Dates and Spicy Nuts offers up tender-but-meaty winter squash laced with fragrant turmeric and drizzled with crunchy hazelnuts coated in gochugaru and honey. It’s the sleeper hit of the collection.
His Cranberry Relish with Citrus and Shallots updates the old-school raw treatment with plenty of bright grapefruit and orange zest and a savory hit of lightly-pickled shallots. If you’ve never been a fan of the traditional cooked-and-thickened cranberry sauce, you have to try this one.
Labneh Creamed Potatoes with Sizzled Garlic will ruin you for all other mashed potatoes. They’re lightened by the tang of the labneh, while the garlic-infused butter adds richness, and garlic chips add crunch.
And finally, instead of a heavy pie or cake, Andy opts for a sleek Apple Tart with Peanut Butter Frangipane, which adds a brown sugar-sweet, nutty note to the simple French apple tart. Served warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream? Heaven.
These dishes upend expectations about what the holiday table has to look like. Bright and beautiful colors and exciting flavors make the menu one you’ll want to make this year; and then, again, and again, and again for years to come.
Spiced and Juicy Roast Turkey with Easy, Breezy Gravy
Andy’s turkey is rubbed with a shawarma-inspired mix of black pepper, cumin, coriander and smoked paprika, which gives the turkey’s skin a burnished crispness. You’re going to butcher a whole turkey for this recipe, but if you don’t feel up to the task, ask your butcher to do it for you or buy the individual pieces, which can be found in some grocery stores.
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Cook time: 3 hours 30 minutes, plus 1 day, mostly unattended.
Extra Onion-y and Celery Stuffing
Tons of celery add a verdant brightness to this classic stuffing, while lots of garlic bumps up the intensely onion-y, allium kick. The bread you use here makes a difference, so look for a nice crusty loaf that can stand up to the aromatics. Save time by drying out the bread the day before you plan to make the stuffing. You can also cook the aromatics ahead of time as well and combine the components just before baking.
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Cook time: 3 hours.
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Leafy Greens Salad with Preserved Lemon and Pistachios
The tart preserved lemon in the dressing helps cut the pepperiness and bitterness of the mature greens and also the richness of the other dishes on the table. Use the best mature greens you can find, and know that escarole and radicchio also pair well with this dressing. Make the dressing up to a day ahead of time, and keep your washed and prepared greens in a roll of paper towels so they’re dry and ready to be mixed with the dressing just before serving.
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Cook time: 15 minutes.
Turmeric-Roasted Squash with Dates and Spicy Nuts
This deeply caramelized and warm squash dish is a modern update on the typical sweet potato/pumpkin dish. Here, tender but dense chunks of squash are roasted in spicy turmeric oil alongside sweet, chewy dates and bright slices of lemon. Red- or orange-fleshed squashes such as red kuri and kabocha work best here because their skin is edible, but you can also use peeled butternut squash or sugar pumpkin.
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Cook time: 1 hour 10 minutes.
Cranberry Relish with Citrus and Shallots
This update on a classic cranberry relish uses grapefruit zest and flesh for lots of brightness and a lot less sugar than the old-school recipes. Thinly sliced shallots add a hint of savoriness to balance the bittersweet berries wonderfully. This relish needs only 20 minutes to macerate before serving.
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Cook time: 35 minutes.
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Labneh Creamed Potatoes with Sizzled Garlic
Tangy labneh adds a sour freshness to traditional mashed potatoes, here served with a pool of fragrant garlic butter. The garlic slices used to infuse the butter crisp up when cooled and add a textural crunch against the silky smooth potatoes. You can make the garlic butter ahead of time, but strain out the garlic before storing so it stays crisp.
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Cook time: 45 minutes.
Apple Tart with Peanut Butter Frangipane
This sleek French-style apple tart gets a nutty depth from a layer of peanut butter frangipane, which grounds thin slices of sweet, crisp apples on a buttery puff pastry base. Dufour puff pastry is best for this tart; look for it in the freezer section of your local grocery store or Whole Foods or online. Use sweet-tart apples such as Pink Lady or Honeycrisp or any other variety you like that will hold its shape while baking.
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Cook time: 2 hours 30 minutes.
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