By Sidonie Maroon , The Food Co-op’s Culinary Educator , abluedotkitchen

Follow Sidonie on The Food Co-op’s Facebook group Cooking with the Co-op

Thanksgiving will show an unfamiliar face this season — loved ones at a distance, friend groups unable to meet in person, shopping complicated…. Our most elaborate traditional feast will need our patience and creativity this year. We must use our ingenuity to bring the spirit of the day to the table.

Gratitude is a good place to start, because it lifts us out of our self concerns and towards what we already have, and how little we need. Gratitude pairs well with giving. What’s best about giving is that it looks different for each of us, for some it’s sharing money, time and food, but for others adding their light to the room is enough.

My way is to give from the heart with cooking. I like to use my culinary talents to ease the burden of food sensitivities for people. I’ve never met you, yet it brings me joy that one of my recipes might allow you to enjoy a pie or eat bread when you’d given up hope.

In these unprecedented times, we may want to rework the holiday itself instead of a few recipes. We can’t do it like we used to. We need our celebrations and traditional foods; they bind and bring us together in community, yet like going gluten-free or without sugar we must completely rethink our favorites and design an alternative approach.

Are you the tradition keeper of your home? If so, here are a few ideas that may spark a holiday revolution.

Instead of one big sit down meal, how about a series of small sequential celebrations? Scatter them throughout the day, or over several days. Do what feels good, not stressful.

• Appetizers with games. Set out the holiday appetizers, enough for a brief meal and a board game.

• Have a pie party. Create a pie event. Make and bake it together and when it’s done set a funky-fancy table with tea and live it up. All alone? One friend makes treats for the birds, or rings the doorbell at a friend’s house and leaves a slice of pie.

• Cuddle up and crafts is a wonderful way to celebrate. Make hot drinks, spiced or spiked, and set out a craft to work on together.

• How about a Thanksgiving breakfast? Pumpkin custards, turkey sausages, biscuits and gravy, cranberry muffins… Fill it with gratitude, sharing, reading aloud and telling stories….

Instead of the usual Thanksgiving menu, how about

• Baked potatoes and sweet potatoes. Lay out all the fixings with lots of traditional ingredients like — pecans, cranberries, roast sliced turkey…

• Make a savory bread pudding with the traditional stuffing ingredients. Add a gravy and some turkey.

• Cook turkey dark meat in the Instant Pot. It makes it juicy and tender. Buy turkey backs and wings and make stock. Make turkey soup with noodles with the stock and meat.

• Lay out a fabulous turkey sandwich spread. A charcuterie board of delights. Let everyone make their own sandwiches and nosh together.

• Make pot pies with mashed potato tops.

The take-away? Keep some old, while making the new work for the current situation. Keep things simple yet fun. Ask for help and take pleasure in the company. Delight in the ordinary because with the right attitude it’s always extraordinary.

Thanksgiving Recipes With A Twist

I’m sharing recipes highlighting traditional ingredients used in unique ways.

• sweet potatoes in a traditional Greek skordalia

• Indian inspired sweet potato salad

• savory parsnip pie with gluten free crust

• a cranberry and orange relish that you won’t forget

• celebration Spiced Kale with Dried Cherries and Pecans

  
  

Sweet Potato Skordalia

Instant Pot

Makes 3 cups

45 minutes

Sweet, sour, mildly hot, smooth and crunchy. This simple side dish is a flavor sensation.

Ingredients

1.5 lb white sweet potatoes (about 2 medium)

1 head white garlic

1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

1 teaspoon coriander seed

¼ teaspoon black peppercorns

¼ teaspoon red chili powder

1 teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon Maldon flaked salt

½ cup olive oil

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

Extra salt and chili powder to sprinkle over the skordalia before serving

Directions

Using the Instant Pot, set the whole pierced sweet potatoes and head of garlic with its top cut off, into a steamer basket, with 1 cup of water below. Cook at high pressure for 15 minutes with a natural release.

While the sweet potatoes and garlic cook, grind the coriander, black peppercorns, red chili powder, sage and salt together into a coarse spice powder.

When done, cool the sweet potatoes enough to take the peels off. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins into a food processor; add the spice powder, olive oil and lemon juice. Process until it emulsifies the sauce. Add the sweet potatoes, cut into chunks, and pulse into a smooth puree, but not long enough to create any gumminess. Scrape the skordalia into a serving bowl and fold in the toasted and chopped walnuts. Taste and sprinkle with a pinch more salt and red chili.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Lime and Ginger Dressing

Shakarkand Salaad

Serves 6

1 hour

Ingredients

3 lbs Jewel or Red Garnet sweet potatoes peeled and cut into a medium dice (⅜ inch square cubes)

Dressing

¼ cup avocado oil

1 ½ teaspoons coarse sea salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 tablespoons ginger finely minced

2 teaspoons toasted and crushed coriander seed

2 teaspoons toasted and crushed cumin seeds

For serving

3 or 4 tablespoons coconut sugar (look at instructions)

¼ cup fresh lime juice, plus 1 tablespoon lime zest

1 cup chopped cilantro

1 cup toasted and chopped cashews

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Prepare the parchment lined large baking sheet. Make the dressing. Cut up the sweet potatoes

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, massage the sweet potato with the dressing and roast at 425 F for 20 minutes. Stir, bringing the side sweet potato pieces to the middle and roast for another 15-20 minutes, or until done. Sprinkle the sugar over, return to the oven and allow the sugar to caramelize on the sweet potatoes for 2-3 minutes, watching closely so that nothing burns.

Toss with the lime, taste for salt and sugar and correct the flavors as needed. Sprinkle the cilantro and cashews over the top before serving. Taste and add sea salt if needed.

Notes: If there’s time, marinate the salad for 1-2 hours before serving

Savory Parsnip Pie

Makes one 9-inch pie

A light, creamy, fluffy pie, with earthy parsnip flavor. It’s complemented by thyme, quatre epices and a sharp cheddar bottom. And, all set off in a buttery flaky gluten free crust.

Filling Ingredients

1 lb 4 oz./560g sliced in rounds and boiled until fork tender small parsnips

1 large onion chopped and sauteed in 2 tablespoons butter until caramelized

3 large eggs

1 ¼cups/286 ml whole milk

4oz/113g grated sharp cheddar cheese

½teaspoon quatre epices

1 teaspoon dried thyme

½teaspoon powdered ginger

1 teaspoon freshly ground caraway

½teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

½teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons dark whole cane sugar

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

Instructions for pie filling

Preheat oven to 425 F/318C

Blind bake the crust, add cheese and filling while it’s still hot

Boil until fork tender with skins on parsnip rounds and drain

In a mixer, vitamix or food processor add parsnips, eggs, milk, all spices, salt and sugar. Mix until completely smooth and fluffy.

Add cheese to the bottom of the hot, blind baked crust

Pour in filling, it will pile high, smooth in an attractive way

Bake for 35 minutes, serve warm.

Master Recipe for Quatre Epices

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons black peppercorns

1 whole nutmeg broken up with mortar and pestle

2 teaspoons dried ginger (powder or root) root will give you more umph

1 teaspoon whole allspice berries

Break up nutmeg, measure and grind all spices together. It’ll keep awhile but I think you’ll find yourself using it in all kinds of dishes and baking.

Gluten Free Pastry Flour

Enough to make eight single bottomed 9-inch pies

4 ½cups/520g sorghum flour

2 ¼ cups/325g potato starch

2 ¼ cups/ 270g tapioca starch

Mix well and label for pastry making. You can use it in a one for one substitution for wheat flour

Flaky Pie Dough

Makes enough for one double layer pie or two single layer pies

2 ⅓ cups gluten free pastry flour

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup/ 226g/ 2 sticks cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes

2 large eggs lightly beaten

3 tablespoon flax meal

In a food processor

Measure out all dry ingredients

Cut in butter by pulsing 10 times

Add beaten eggs, pulsing briefly

Bring dough together with your hands in a mixing bowl

Shape into two even disks and chill for 2 hours before rolling

This dough rolls nicely, using a little sorghum flour on parchment paper, but it’s still not as sturdy as wheat dough, and must be patched as needed. Use the parchment to lift the rolled out dough and turn into a pie plate. Prick the bottom of the crust and chill before blind baking. Have Fun!

Cranberry Relish with Orange and Ginger

Instant Pot

Makes 8 cups, enough to can, freeze or use in baked goods.

Quick

This is my favorite cranberry relish ever. It’s lip puckering sour, but with a rush of sweet to follow. The orange flavors come through with a hint of heat from the ginger. The Spanish sherry adds complexity and lifts it beyond the commonplace. Best of all it’s easy to make in the Instant Pot and makes enough to gift or add to the larder.

Ingredients

16 cups fresh cranberries

12 fluid ounces frozen organic orange juice concentrate

4 cups coconut sugar

2 tablespoons fresh ginger paste

1 cup Oloroso sherry

1 cup water

Directions

In the Instant Pot, add all the ingredients and stir to combine. Set the I.P. to high pressure for 3 minutes with a 10 minute natural release. After opening the pot, set it to high saute and allow the relish to reduce and thicken, this should take 3 to 5 minutes. Stay with it, stirring often. It will thicken further as it cools. The sauce is wonderful warm.

Celebration Spiced Kale with Dried Cherries and Pecans

Serves 4 as a side dish

45 minutes preparation and cooking time

Nothing ho hum here! Tender kale with holiday spices, onions, ginger and garlic; sweet and sour hits of apple and pie cherries— this side dish makes the perfect counterpoint for turkey, potatoes, winter squash or sweet potatoes.

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil, (unsalted butter, ghee, or sustainable red palm oil are good substitutes)

1 large yellow onion, cut into a medium dice

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced

⅓ cup dried pie cherries, (dried cranberries can be substituted)

1 medium baking apple, unpeeled, cut into a medium dice

1 large bunch Russian red, curly or collards, remove stems, chiffonade and then chop across the thin ribbons into smaller pieces

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

½ cup water

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Spices

¼ teaspoon whole cardamom seeds, release from pods

¼ teaspoon whole allspice berries

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 star anise pod

¼ teaspoon peppercorns

¼ teaspoon szechuan peppercorns (optional)

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Directions

1) Ensemble and prep all ingredients. Using a spice or coffee grinder, grind whole spices and salt together into a coarse powder. Toast and chop pecans and set aside.

2) Preheat a large saute pan with oil on a medium heat. Adjust heat up as necessary. Add chopped onions and saute for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and continue to saute for another 3 minutes. Add the dried cherries, ground spices, salt and apple and continue to saute for another 7 to 8 minutes.

3) Add the chopped kale and fold in. Saute for several minutes. Add the apple cider vinegar to the water and pour into the saute pan. Cover with a lid, turn to a simmer for 5 minutes or until the kale has softened. Take the lid off, return the heat to medium high and cook off the remaining liquid.

4) Stir in the maple syrup. Taste. It will take several minutes for the flavors to settle.

5) Place in a serving bowl and garnish with pecans. Serve warm. This dish can be made in advance and reheated.