Thanksgiving Side Dishes

Thanksgiving dinner might focus on the turkey but since the turkey alone does not make a complete dinner, you need Thanksgiving side dishes to complement the turkey.

Side dishes can be a source of frantic frustration. Usually, a weekday dinner is a quick fix affair, which rarely gives the cook time to contemplate the side dish not to mention actual time to cook the sides. While an everyday dinner might do well with a quickly sautéed side dish, Thanksgiving dinner calls for something a bit more substantial.

One of the best parts of Thanksgiving is that the main dish, turkey, takes at least two hours to cook. This can give you plenty of time to pull together a delicious Thanksgiving side dish or two. The other wonderful thing about Thanksgiving is that it is perfectly acceptable to ask your guests to bring a side dish to dinner. In fact, there is a very good chance that you have an aunt who makes a broccoli casserole that absolutely needs to be served or it just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving dinner.

Other Thanksgiving side dishes can include sweet potatoes, stuffing, or green beans, but when you consider that you could make your Thanksgiving side dishes up to five days ahead of time, you have plenty of time to make fun side dishes for your turkey.

A successful Thanksgiving dinner involves a bit of planning. Trying to get everything done in one day can be a bit of a trial. The best way to approach a big meal is to get as much prepared before hand as possible.

This dish serves 12 and can be made up to five days ahead of time.

• 1 ½ pounds of butternut squash
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 quarts and 1 pint of water
• 2 cups instant polenta
• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 4 ounces of grated Parmesan
• 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for drizzling
• Salt and pepper

1. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray.
2. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
3. Cut the bulb off the end of the squash and reserve.
4. Cut the squash in half and drizzle olive oil on both halves.
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
6. Place the squash on a cookie sheet, cut side down.
7. Bake for 30 minutes until soft.
8. Scrape the cooked squash into a bowl.
9. Peel the skin off the saved bulb.
10. Slice the squash bulb thinly, about 1/8 inch thick.
11. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and spray with non-stick spray.
12. Arrange the sliced squash on the cookie sheets.
13. Drizzle with oil and salt and pepper.
14. Cover the cookie sheets with foil.
15. Bake for 12 minutes.
16. To make the polenta, bring water to a boil.
17. Add two tablespoons of butter.
18. Once the butter has melted slowly, add the polenta to the water while whisking constantly until smooth.
19. Reduce the heat to a simmer and whisk until thick.
20. Whisk in the mashed squash.
21. Add the melted butter and one cup of the grated Parmesan.
22. Add salt and pepper to taste.
23. Spread the polenta in the 9x13 baking dish.
24. Place the baked squash slices on top of the polenta in an overlapping pattern.
25. At this point, you can cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for four days.
26. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
27. Cut the two tablespoons of butter into cubes and dot the top of the gratin.
28. Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese over the gratin.
29. Bake for one hour.
30. Let cool for 15 minutes.

You can make this one on Thanksgiving Day since it cooks fast and is delicious.

• 3 large leeks
• 6 slices of thick cut bacon
• 4 sprigs of thyme
• 1 cup of turkey or chicken stock
• 3/4 cup of cream
• 30 ounces of baby peas
• 1 teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with one teaspoon of very cold water to make a slurry
• Salt and pepper
• Vegetable oil, enough for frying

1. Slice the leeks into 1/4 inch rings, white part only, and soak them in cold water for ten minutes.
2. Drain the leeks and let them dry.
3. In a large pan, heat 1/2 inch of oil over medium heat until very hot.
4. Save 1/2 cup of the leeks and quick fry the rest of the leeks until golden brown.
5. Remove from the oil and let cool.
6. Lightly salt and pepper the cooling leeks.
7. Using a 2” deep skillet, cook the bacon until golden (medium crispy).
8. Remove the bacon from the skillet but keep the fat in the skillet.
9. Let the bacon cool and then crumble it.
10. While the bacon cools, add the saved leeks and the thyme to the bacon fat.
11. Cook over a medium low heat until the leeks are softened.
12. Add 1/2 cup of the stock and cook until the stock has reduced by half.
13. Add the cream and cook until reduced by half.
14. Stir the peas into the liquid; add the crumbled bacon and the rest of the stock.
15. Bring to a boil.
16. Remove the thyme sprigs.
17. Add the slurry and cook until thick.
18. Pour the peas into a bowl and top with the crispy leeks.

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