What’s in your oven for the holidays?

So we made it through Thanksgiving. I love turkey and the house-filling aroma of roasting turkey. Then there’s turkey soup and all of its steamy flavors. It’s a sure sign of the Thanksgiving weekend. My dear wife enjoys all the traditional Thanksgiving trimmings including turkey gravy, but, alas, not turkey. The chef and menu writer must be flexible.

My response is that turkey and gallons of turkey soup occur just once a year. We’ll have ham for Christmas. We have a vegan in the family and a vegetarian friend or two. My vegan daughter brought food for Thanksgiving that she made, and was it great. Admittedly, it was better than the turkey and the traditional sides. I didn’t cook that much and was talked down from preparing a full turkey dinner. My dear wife and our good friend Mary of Imperial had better sense. Mary brought us two “turkey and dressing dinner packs” from Denny’s. My expectations were low, yet, the dinner packs were delicious. The big surprise was that the white turkey meat was moist and tasty. I recommend Denny’s prepared dinner as a tasty alternative to a lot of cooking time away from guests.

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I roasted a backup turkey. Hey, I wanted to insure leftovers. Yes, we have plenty and little space remaining in the fridge, aka, the horn of plenty. Would you like to stop by and I’ll make you a sandwich? I also made fresh cranberry sauce. It’s the basic recipe on the back of any fresh cranberry package. I’ve been playing with the recipe for years. This year may have been the best. The secret is to cut the sugar by as much as half. Cook the cranberries longer than recommended and be sure to add the orange zest. I’ve tried other citrus zest and it doesn’t have the sort of symbiotic relationship that orange has with cranberry. The sauce is tart and fruity. Goes well with vanilla yogurt if there’s any left over.

So what were those vegan sides? Samosas with mushroom filling, a modified Indian culinary treat. And cauliflower dishes that were delicious. The samosas, a staple of Indian cuisine, made me think about my unanswered prayers for an Indian restaurant in the Valley. In a non-COVID year, we’d be looking forward to Pioneers’ Museum’s annual Holiday Tour Around the World probably this coming weekend. One of the galleries showcasing its food is the Indian gallery. I drink as much chai tea as is legal and eat whatever the wonderful cooks will allow. I always ask them to open a restaurant and the answer is a resounding no. It’s too much work. I find Indian food so diverse and delicious that I could become a semi-vegetarian if I had guaranteed access to samosas, tandoori garlic roti, and naan.

So how did we manage a COVIDera Thanksgiving? Well two of our sons could not attend given that one had workplace exposure to positive co-workers. It’s no fun to disinvite family members. My daughter’s test was negative so she came in.

We had dinner in our plant and tree filled backyard. It’s a beautiful setting this time of year when the sun is not our enemy. There were only four of us and we wore masks when not chowing down. Plus, we had plenty of space. Was our behavior CDC perfect? Not at all, but we were careful. Our biggest problem was mosquitoes. And we were prepared with spay, mosquito coils, cones and citronella candles. The mosquitoes were outgunned.

I love reading newspapers, a lost art, and I saw a joyous article in the Financial Times. Tim Hayward wrote, “This Christmas demands a blowout celebration.” He insists that home cooks should really make this year’s celebration special. Blow out the stops. Lots of candles, a wide variety of dishes, everyone dressing up, no dismissing certain food groups (like meat or rich desserts), and no regrets about the aftereffects of overindulgence. Hayward says that after such an awful year, we deserve a Henry VIII type feast.

Bring on the roast duck and the jugglers.