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Thanksgiving is, thankfully, always the same

The traditional Thanksgiving dinner in our family hasn’t changed in so many years that I can’t remember when it started. When I’m cooking — and some years I haven’t — there are few, if any, changes.

And, I have to admit that for all of my passion for trying new foods in new ways and re-thinking the classics, I have no inclination to mettle with the Thanksgiving menu.

So, here it is as it has been for years. What I give you new this year are a few tips and hints that may add just a wee bit of change to some of your family’s traditional favorites.

And, if you don’t have a traditional Thanksgiving menu, feel welcome to copy this one:

Traditional Thanksgiving Menu

•Roast Turkey, Gravy

•Sage Stuffing

•Mashed Potatoes

•Baked Sweet Potatoes

•Carrots, Broccoli and Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce

•Cranberry Sauce

•Pickles, Olives, Salted Nuts

•Pumpkin Flan, Pecan Pie, Apple Pie

Stuffing for Turkey

8 cups cubed day-old bread

1 box seasoned stuffing mix

¾ cup chopped parsley

3 cups chopped celery

1 ½ tsp. salt

2 tsp. poultry seasoning

1 cup butter

3 medium onions, chopped

1½ cups chicken broth

Remove crusts from bread and cut into cubes. Place in large mixing bowl and toss with dry stuffing mix. Add parsley, celery, salt and poultry seasoning mix.

Melt butter in skillet. Sauté onion until soft. Add to bread mixture. Drizzle chicken broth over mixture and toss well. The more broth you use, the more moist the stuffing will be. Butter a shallow casserole and fill with stuffing. Cover well with foil. (May be refrigerated at this point.)

Bake in a 350-degree oven about 1½ hours.

Variations: Add one or more of the following: 3 cups sliced sautéed mushrooms; 1½ cups coarsely chopped pecans, walnuts or sliced cooked giblets.

Cranberry sauce is simple… give it a try. This version is from the most recent edition (the 12th edition, to be exact) of “The Fanny Farmer Cookbook.” My friend Marion Cunningham was the book’s editor and I would trust every recipe in her book.

Fanny Farmer Cranberry Sauce

1 pound fresh cranberries

1½ cups sugar

Wash cranberries. Bring 2 cups water to a boil, then add cranberries and sugar. Cook for 10 minutes or until skins pop. Skim off white froth and cool. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 8-10.

I loved making pies and certainly a pumpkin pie is one of the easiest of pies. However, many years ago I discovered this Spiced Pumpkin Flan and it very quickly became our family’s substitute for the “standard” pumpkin pie. The key technique is an easy-to-make praline or caramel that coats the baking pan, which might be a charlotte mold or simply a stainless steel mixing bowl of the proper capacity. The praline coating allows you to unmold the flan easily. The filling is almost exactly the same flavor and texture as a pumpkin pie.

Spiced Pumpkin Flan

½ tsp. soft butter

1 cup sugar

½ cup water

2 tbsp. soft butter

4 eggs

½ cup sugar

¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 (15 oz.) can cooked pumpkin (for pie)

12/3 cup evaporated milk

Thinly coat a pie tin with ½ tsp. soft butter. Set aside.

Place 1 cup sugar with ½ cup water in a heavy skillet. Cook until sugar has melted and turns golden, stirring while sugar dissolves. When mixture is a pale caramel, pour immediately into buttered pie tin. Cool until firm. Turn cooled mixture into a heavy plastic bag and bread into uniform pieces with a mallet.

Using 2 tbsp. soft butter, thin coat a 4-6 cup charlotte mold or stainless steel bowl. Turn caramel pieces into bowl and turn bowl to coat inside evenly with caramel pies. Let excess remain in bottom of charlotte mold or bowl.

Beat eggs, ½ cup sugar, salt, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice with whisk to just combine. Add canned pumpkin and evaporated milk and blend.

Pour into prepared mold or bowl. Place in a water bath (shallow pan filled with very hot or simmering water). Bake in a 350-degree oven about 1½ hours or until flan tests done (like a custard) and has risen in the center. Take from oven and from water bath. Cool slightly. Then turn out onto serving platter. Flan may be served warm or cold but must be turned from the mold while warm. Serves 6-8.

FLAVOR TIPS

•Freshly grated orange rind adds a zesty flavor to cranberry sauce. Use about 1 tsp. grated orange rind to 2 cups of cranberry sauce.

•For a special flavor to coffee, sprinkle ground cinnamon into the ground coffee prior to brewing. Use about 1/8 tsp. for 8-10 cups coffee.

•A bit of curry powder adds a special taste to a cheese sauce. Use about ½ tsp. curry powder to 3 cups cheese sauce.

•Carrots can be highlighted by fresh grated ginger or fresh chopped mint or dill. For 1 lb. carrots flavor with ½ tsp. freshly grated ginger. For chopped mint or dill, use 1 tbsp. per 1 lb. carrots.

•Whipped sweet potatoes can be garnished with fresh chopped toasted nuts, including pecans, walnuts and filberts. To toast nuts, place in a pie tin. Roast in a 350- to 375-degree oven about 5 minutes, or just until beginning to brown. Remove from heat. Cool, then chop coarsely.

•Pumpkin pie spice can be used in the crust of a pumpkin or custard pie. Use about ½ tsp for an 8-inch piecrust.

As one of my favorite songs begins, “Give thanks with a grateful heart...”

 

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