Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas

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Traditional Thanksgiving dinners are a good stand-by and a great idea if you are cooking for a large group of people, but for a tasty change of pace you might want to explore some alternative Thanksgiving dinner ideas.

Steal a Bit From the Past

The first Thanksgiving celebrated by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians was a big feast for over a hundred people. The menu consisted of quite a large number of different kinds of foods, including wild birds like swans, ducks, partridge, geese, and turkeys. Other foods served included lobsters, venison, various fish, fruits, corn, and cranberry sauce. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but is a good representation of the foods that were available.

When trying to come up with some new Thanksgiving dinner ideas, taking a look at the menu of the first Thanksgiving is a great place to start.

Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas

Venison was familiar meat that was in large and ready supply in 1621, but it is generally harder to find today. If you want to keep pace with the original menu but with a modern twist, venison medallions are a great starter.

Venison Medallions in Portobello Port Wine Sauce

Ingredients

8 3-ounce venison medallions
3 tablespoons of butter
2 large Portobello mushrooms
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups of chicken stock
1 cup of port
3 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Salt and pepper the venison medallions.
Clean the mushrooms and slice them thinly into strips.
Melt the butter in a large pan.
Sauté the medallions for 2 minutes per side.
Place the medallions on a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
Add the garlic and mushrooms to the pan.
Sautee the mushrooms until the liquid becomes Au Sec (rather thick).
Add the chicken stock, wine, and Worcestershire sauce.
Simmer until the liquid is reduced by a third.
Add the balsamic vinegar and taste for salt and pepper.
Place two medallions per plate and pour the sauce over them.

Partridge Family Meal

Of all the birds that were served on that first Thanksgiving Day, partridge is one that is flavorful and sure to be unexpected at your table, making your Thanksgiving dinner a memorable one. Partridge is a mild flavored game bird, so if your guests are not used to the richer flavors of wild game this is a great option. Since the appetizer recipe uses Portobello mushrooms, you can also use them in this partridge recipe as well so your courses have a unifying ingredient.

Partridges are rather small birds, so you will want to get one partridge per person. This recipe serves four.

Ingredients

4 partridges
8 ounces of butter
8 strips of bacon
Fresh thyme
1 ounce of vegetable oil
1 large Portobello mushroom cleaned and diced

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Melt four ounces of butter in a small saucepan over a medium flame.
Once the butter has melted, remove from the heat.
Rinse and pat dry the partridges.
Season the cavity of the partridge with salt and pepper.
Place on sprig of thyme in the cavity of each bird.
Rub the outside of each bird with the remaining butter.
Place two strips of bacon over the breast of each bird.
Place the partridges into a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes.
Baste each bird occasionally with the melted butter.
Once the birds are done, remove them from the oven and let them rest.
Place the oil and mushrooms in a pan and sauté them with a little salt and pepper.
Let the liquid from the mushrooms reduce by half.
Place one bird on a plate and serve with the mushrooms and some of the cooking liquid from the roasting pan.

This goes well with scalloped potatoes and broccoli. Some dressing would probably be welcomed as well.

For dessert, I would suggest a sweet potato pie or even a cheesecake.

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