This sauce is a vibrant addition to your Thanksgiving spread and is the simplest side to throw together. By using marmalade instead of zest you not only produce an utterly delicious dish but you also save yourself the time of zesting all that citrus. This sauce also makes a killer sandwich spread for post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches.

 

Cranberry Marmalade Sauce

Ingredients:

1 apple (Honey Crisp, Fuji or Gala all work great)

12 oz bag fresh cranberries

1 orange, juiced (makes about 1/2 cup juice)

1 jar English Breakfast Marmalade

1 cup water

3 cinnamon sticks

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons brown sugar

 

Method:

1. Chop the apple into 1/4 inch chunks and combine with fresh cranberries in a medium-sized saucepan.

2. Squeeze the orange juice into pan and add marmalade and remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.

3. Reduce to a simmer and partially cover for 10 minutes, stirring from once or twice while cooking.

4. Remove lid and heat for 10 minutes on medium-low, stirring with a wooden spoon and mashing the apple and cranberry pieces as the sauce thickens.

5. Remove the saucepan from heat and allow to cool. Serve at room temperature and be sure to remove the cinnamon sticks before placing on the table. You can make this sauce in advance.

 

I have been fighting a losing battle since moving to America 14 years ago. Every year at Thanksgiving, I insist on making what I consider to be stuffing. It’s completely different from stuffing in America in that it’s mainly meat based with very little bread at all – just a few breadcrumbs for binding. I try to convert someone each year and I actually caught a few young’uns early before they were corrupted to the ways of American stuffing. My first American Thanksgiving, I even tried to introduce bread sauce to the table but as I looked at it through new eyes, I realized that, like marmite, unless you grew up with it, you were never going to be convinced it was anything other than disgusting. My stubborness has kept me from trying all the myriads of American stuffing that are laid out each year at the annual banquet that I’m lucky enough to attend.

 

Aurora convinced me to put aside my pig headedness and create a stuffing with Nashoba Bakery’s Harvest Bread which screams Thanksgiving with its cranberries and pecans. We added just enough of Schaller & Weber’s Chorizo to satisfy my meat cravings and out of the oven came a stuffing that was so delicious that I ate it on its own for dinner. It still has a gentle nod to my roots across the pond but has its feet firmly placed in America and may very well have finally converted me.

 

Harvest Stuffing with Chorizo

8 Servings

Ingredients:

1 loaf of Harvest Bread (crust removed, cut to small cubes)

1 stick unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering baking dish

1 large onion, diced

3 leeks, thoroughly cleaned (sliced into half moons)

3 celery stalks, diced

1 large fennel bulb, diced

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons minced fresh sage

2 chorizo sausages, casing removed and sliced

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

2 eggs

3/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a baking pan or casserole dish. Toast bread in the oven for 10 minutes until just crisp. Allow to cool.

2. In a large cast iron pan, melt butter and add in onion, leeks, celery and fennel. Season with salt and pepper and cook until slightly golden (about 12-14 minutes).

3. Stir the fresh rosemary and sage into the onion mixture.

4. Remove the onion mixture to the side in a large bowl and add the chorizo to the cast iron pan. Cook the chorizo until browned (about 5 minutes).

5. Add the chorizo to the bowl with the onion mixture and then add in toasted bread. Toss together until well mixed.

6. Add chicken stock, beaten eggs and parsley to the bowl and mix well. Season once more with salt and pepper.

7. Dish stuffing mixture into prepared baking dish and bake until browned at the top (about 40-45 minutes).  Serve warm.

 

 

What better way to find out how to use products in cooking than asking the producers themselves? We spoke to siblings Ken and Toan about their sauces and glazes and loved how they merged East and West in inventive ways. Since I’m a sucker for all roasted squash, I was excited to try their suggestion of basting the squash with their brown sugar glaze. I decided to add some texture with some fried sage leaves as a hark back to my Italian grandmother who always threw a bunch into the pan no matter what she was frying. The slight crunch and nutty flavor balanced perfectly with the sweetness and soft texture of the squash.

 

Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar Glaze

Ingredients:

1 acorn squash

1 bottle Brown Sugar Ginger Glaze

Butter

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Sage leaves (optional)

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.

2. Deseed squash, slice in half and then into long slices.
3. Lay slices flat on a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil.
4. Add a pat of butter on each piece
5. Brush on Sweet Ginger Glaze and season with salt and pepper.
6. Roast for 30 minutes, check for doneness by color or poke with fork for softness.

7. Brush once more with ginger glaze and return to oven for another 10 minutes.

8. In a frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of butter until it begins to foam. Add a handful of sage leaves and fry til crispy.
6) Remove squash from oven and sprinkle with fried sage leaves. Serve warm.

 

Easter is a big deal in England. The whole country pretty much shuts down on Good Friday and Easter Monday and it’s still strange for me, after 14 years in America, to see that most people work on those days. For the non religious, Easter in England is a bit like Thanksgiving. It’s about family and food without all the stress of buying gifts.

 

I’m very lucky to have an adopted family in America who always include me in their Easter Sunday lunch. The same large, generous family that I spend Thanksgiving with and it’s one of the days I look forward to most in the year. I remember one Easter Lolly bought kits for us all to make Ukrainian Easter eggs (Pysanky). You use wax to create designs a bit like batik. I still have mine displayed in my bedroom as the only thing I’ve ever made that I’m not utterly ashamed of. I really recommend giving them a try and supporting Ukraine in the process – I wish we were selling the kits on Many Kitchens. A thought for next year! For now, you can find the kits here.

 

 

Though I’m not going to be doing the cooking this Easter, I wanted to suggest a recipe that is my go-to for large parties and the perfect side dish to an Easter Ham. Pair those two with a simple salad mixed with an all natural vinaigrette and you have a delicious meal which can be made completely ahead of time so you can join in the Easter egg hunt.

 

 

Easter Menu:

The Perfect Glazed Ham
Potato, Pancetta and Leek Gratin (recipe below)
Mixed Leaf and Greens Salad
Praline Filled Eggs

 

Potato, Pancetta and Leek Gratin

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of olive oil

8 oz of cubed pancetta

3 large leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

3 cups of heavy cream

2 tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves

3 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and sliced as thin as possible – ideally with a mandolin

Salt and freshly ground pepper

 

Method:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil and sauté the pancetta until golden brown – about 8 minutes.

3. With a slotted spoon, remove and drain on paper towels.

4. Add the leeks and garlic to the frying pan and sweat until soft – about 10 minutes.

5. Add the cream and simmer for 5 minutes until fully heated through.

6. Stir in the pancetta, thyme and add salt and pepper to taste.

7. Butter a large ovenproof dish – I used a 10” casserole dish.

8. Arrange a layer of potatoes on the bottom of the dish.

9. Season lightly and then spoon over some of the leek cream mixture and spread evenly.

10. Repeat with remaining potatoes and sauce until all are used – remembering to season the potatoes as you go and finishing the last layer with the sauce.

11. Press down firmly on the potatoes so that the sauce fully covers the potatoes – if it doesn’t, you can add more cream or some milk.

12. Bake until the gratin is golden on top – approximately 1 hour.

Serve with Easter Ham and a Mixed Leaf and Herb Salad (perfect when dressed with Jacqueline and Jerome’s Citron vinaigrette)

 

I have spent every Thanksgiving in America with the same wonderful family and their extended family in Cape Cod. One of my favorite emails of the year has the subject matter “Gobble Gobble” and is sent to find out who is bringing what. This from a family that my father describes as “having built homes that are essentially kitchens with rooms attached”. Suffice to say, every single dish is always amazing and with over 20 people round the table, plates are piled very high even before we’ve attacked the sea of pies waiting in the wings.

 

A creature of habit, I tend to make the same dishes every year mainly because I know my godson, Henry, is a fan. No Thanksgiving dinner should be without Brussels sprouts and when you add pancetta, chestnuts and Marsala, even the naysayers, like my godmother, will put a spoonful on their plate. So, Gobble Gobble to you all- wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts and Pancetta

(Adapted from Nigella Lawson)

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2lbs of Brussels sprouts (bottoms trimmed and sliced in half)

½ lb of pancetta (cubed)

1 onion (quartered and sliced)

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of butter

1 jar of precooked chestnuts

¼ cup of Marsala

Bunch of flat leaf parsley (chopped)

 

Method:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spread the Brussels sprouts and onion out on a cookie tray and toss well with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and a good pinch of salt.

3. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes (turning halfway through) until the sprouts are crunchy and the onions are caramelized and soft.

4. In a large pan, fry the pancetta cubes until brown and crispy in the remaining oil.

5. Add the chestnuts and crush with the back of a wooden spoon.

6. Raise the heat and add the butter. When it starts to sizzle, add the Marsala.

7. Cook for a few minutes until it becomes syrupy, stirring constantly.

8. Add the Brussels sprouts to the pan and mix well.

9. Serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsley on top.