While I love Thanksgiving and the glorious smells that emanate from the kitchen all day long, sometimes I get a little tired of having the same foods year after year after year. This year, my family and I decided that we would shake things up a little, putting a fun twist on one of my favorite holidays.
Thanksgiving has always held a special spot in my heart. I think it’s because it is the one of the few major holidays that hasn’t been pervaded by presents (if you completely ignore the whole Black Friday insanity). While giving and receiving presents is nice, I love the wholesomeness of Thanksgiving. It’s a day when we simply gather together to enjoy a great meal with loved ones; meanwhile, thinking about and voicing our thankfulness for all that we have in our lives. It just gives me a warm feeling inside, that’s all.
Yes, Thanksgiving started out as a remembrance of the Pilgrims and Native Americans having a feast together, but I believe that Thanksgiving is more than that (especially in today’s world when we are actually acknowledging how wrongly the Native Americans have been treated) and can be celebrated anywhere in the world (and it is. Some countries have different versions of it, like the West African republic of Liberia, who celebrate their version of Thanksgiving on the first Thursday of November). Thanksgiving is a holiday spotlighting our thankfulness, which is universal.
That being said, and the fact that the United States is one big medley of different and beautiful cultures, I thought it would be fun to have a Thanksgiving with food from across the globe. So, in the spirit of making this Thanksgiving highlight some of the best cuisines from around the world, I’m starting early (some might say extremely early considering it’s only the end of August). But if you think about it, there are only 93 days until Turkey Day 2020. It’s crunch time people.
The plan is that I’m going to have a lot of posts as the months go on with different ideas and recipes for this year’s Thanksgiving, so I hope you’re ready:) (we’ll see how this goes).
Feel free to chime in and comment your family’s special go-to Thanksgiving recipe!
Ideas so far:
Breakfast:
- Shakshuka with pita (Mediterranean) – A hybrid of the book, Modern Jewish Cooking‘s Spinach Shakshuka recipe, the NYTimes’ Shakshuka with Feta recipe, among others.
- Vatrushka with raspberries (Russian) – Ruby Tandoh’s recipe from Crumb.
Appetizers:
- Hummus, tzatziki, and baba ghanoush with falafel (Mediterranean)
- Vegetable samosas with raita (Indian)
- Pretzels with beer cheese (German)
Dinner (the big ‘un):
- Ricotta stuffed shells with burrata (Italian/American) – From Alison Roman’s book Dining In.
- Empanadas (Portuguese, Caribbean, Latin American, Filipino)
- Spicy corn with red onion and Queso Fresco (Mexican) – From Alison Roman’s book Dining In.
- Curry (saag, tikka masala, haven’t decided yet) (Indian)
- Brioche buns (French) – From Paul Hollywood’s How to Bake.
- Paneer bhatura or garlic naan (Indian)
- Fried Plantains (Ghanaian)
- Jollof rice (West African)
- Roasted turkey breasts (I guess turkey has to be incorporated) (American)
- Szechuan eggplant (Chinese)
- Colcannon (Irish)
Dessert (equally important): (needs to be seriously trimmed down)
- Sticky toffee pudding (English)
- Pumpkin spiced baklava (Turkish with a twist)
- Mochi ice cream or daifuku mochi (Japanese)
- Sachertorte (Austrian)
- Opera Cake (French)
- Prinsesstårta (Swedish)
- Churros (Spanish, Latin American, Mexican) – From Benjamina Ebuehi’s blog, Carrot & Crumb.
- Tiramisu (Italian)
- Black forest gâteau (German) – Steph Blackwell’s Black Forest Chocolate Cake recipe from the Great British Bake Off.
- Sfogliatella (Italian)
- Pumpkin pie (I hate pumpkin pie, honestly)
The Hippie Baker 