A Vegetarian Thanksgiving
In the absence of a turkey, the first thing to decide on is your central dish—ideally an attractive main course that elicits plenty of ‘oohs and aahs.’
Thanksgiving is more than food.
It’s a holiday for friends and family to share a special meal together. While a big turkey in the middle of the table is the traditional magazine photo, it is certainly not required.
In fact, plenty of people have told me that the accompaniments are their main interest anyway whether they’re vegetarians or not. In the spirit of this, I thought it would be fun to dedicate a column to a purely vegetarian Thanksgiving spread.
In the absence of a turkey, the first thing to decide on is your central dish — ideally an attractive main course that elicits plenty of ‘oohs and aahs.’ Having established your centerpiece, you then build complementary sides around it. Done right, the dishes stand on their own and create a satisfying and elegant presentation.
My recommendation for the star of the show is beautiful acorn squash filled with an aromatic wild rice pilaf. Brush the squash with butter and brown sugar and place in a baking pan.
While it’s roasting in the oven, you use the time to sauté the onions and celery. Toss with pre-cooked, delicate wild rice. Dried cranberries and chopped toasted pecans add the distinctive holiday touch to the filling.
When the squash is done to tender perfection, spoon in the filling. Stuffed squash is hearty and tasty, with all the classic flavors of the season represented, and it’s a significant main course. Reheating is easy before serving if you choose to make it ahead.
I have paired the squash with a fragrant roasted root vegetable stratta. While a stratta usually includes eggs, this divine autumn version is made of layers of sweet potatoes,, fennel, onions and baby turnips. Accented with olive oil, garlic and thyme, and garnished with pitted Kalamata olives, it is a dish that is both handsome and substantial. I recommend roasting each vegetable separately for a caramelized
accent (and none of them will be overcooked.) Then you layer them in a glass baking dish for a tasty melange. Cover and refrigerate if making ahead and return to the oven to reheat and finish browning before serving.
The cornerstone to any Thanksgiving is a great stuffing. While prepackaged bread cubes are readily available and a time-saver, I prefer to bake homemade cornbread and cube it in advance myself. Not only do you end up with a tastier stuffing, your stuffing is bound to be more moist. In this case, in addition to savory onion, celery and sage, I recommend adding diced roasted green chile for a Taos twist. Subtle, but it’s the kind of ingredient that gives a traditional dish a little bite, in a good way.
Another staple on most Thanksgiving tables is excellent buttery mashed potatoes. And gravy to go along with them.
While, by definition, the potatoes are a vegetarian item, the challenge is creating a good gravy without pan drippings. I offer a rich satisfying variation of mushroom sauce as a gravy substitute. Slowly sauté baby portobello mushrooms until their essence is concentrated, add herbs and other ingredients, and finish with red wine and a cornstarch slurry to thicken it into the perfect and delicious gravy. An optional dash of truffle oil provides an extraordinary boost.
Finally, for dessert, pumpkin pie is always a favorite. But try a fig tart with an orange custard as a second, more memorable dessert addition. It offers a lovely presentation and still captures the essence of holiday flavors.
All of these recipes (portioned for 6 people) would fit right in for any Thanksgiving menu. You can easily expand them to feed more guests. And most of the cooking can be done ahead, a real boon if you want to enjoy your guests and not get stuck in the kitchen. Or, for a more communal effort, pass out the recipes in advance and have your guests bring one of them already prepared. They might even offer to bring something special from their own repertoire.
That’s Thanksgiving, in my mind.