Food for fifty..or sixty…or seventy…or whatever

“What do you think about Thanksgiving?” my mom asked me the other day.

What do I think about it? I love Thanksgiving. It’s absolutely my favorite holiday: fall, food, family, friends, and football. Everything is wrapped up into one tidy package for our enjoyment and amusement.

“The reason is that Angie [my aunt] has decided that she’s not going to have Thanksgiving at her place this year, ” she continued.

“Well then, ” I said, “we can have it here, can’t we?”

Of course we can. And since I am continuing to slowly but surely return to health, how about a menu devised and prepared by yours truly with an assist from my sous chefs here? And how about making just about everything from scratch and telling people to bring no food, only ice and whatever they might want to drink beyond the normal things we generally have?

A fine idea.

So, for those of you joining us for Thanksgiving this year, here is your menu. If you have any special requests or dietary restrictions that aren’t covered (the latter is unlikely, looking over things), let us know so we can make arrangements for those needs.

Appetizers:

Mushroom turnovers
Four cheese phyllo puffs
Shrimp cocktail, traditional
Onion confit and brie crostini
Roasted butternut squash dip
Miscellaneous chips and dip
Cheese plate
Roasted vegetable dip
Pita triangles

Soups:

Roasted red pepper and sweet potato soup

Mains:

Roasted turkey, traditional
Apple-oak smoked turkey breasts
Glazed ham, traditional
Crabcakes (with 2-3 aiolis)
Shrimp, three ways (traditional cocktail, tequila-lime, asian saute)

Sides:

Roasted garlic and buttermilk mashed potatoes
Apricot-glazed carrots
Stuffing, traditional, two ways (with and without pork)
Creamy baked corn
Sweet potato casserole
Green peas with pearl onions
Broccoli gratin
Brussels sprouts
Chestnut-fig stuffing
Brown sugar glazed sweet potato wedges
Cranberry-apple compote
Gravy

Breads:

Whole grain dinner rolls
Garlic-herb focaccia
Fresh Italian bread
Cinnamon (and cinnamon-raisin) loaves

Desserts:

Carrot cake
Banana pudding
Pies: cherry, apple, pecan, pumpkin
Fresh, homemade whipped cream
Homemade ice creams (vanilla, praline, chocolate)
Cranberry-chocolate chip biscotti

We’ll be letting people know what time to appear with their appetites.