Anyone else doing a non-traditional Thanksgiving meal?

[bpdougd]

This year our son and his family are doing Thanksgiving with the other grandparents. Since it's just Kim 'n me, we are grilling a couple of steaks. Salad, home made cornbread, steamed asparagus, sauteed mushrooms and baked sweet potatoes (our one surrender to tradition) complete the meal. Will retrieve a bottle of sangiovese from the pantry downstairs to join with the food. No dessert. I am trying to regain my girlish figure.

After that it is movie night.

 

[Palouse]

Meeting at our daughter's place in Boise, which is half way between us, and our son in Salt Lake: We always do a non-traditional meal.
Homemade Gravlax and pumpernickel bread -- Either a Troon Vermentino (Oregon) or a Stria (Italy)
Roasted chicken hind quarters with coriander and sumac, on a bed of roasted fennel and leeks; Spätzle with Emmentaler cheese and caramelized red onion; sautéed Brussels spouts with pickled onions and pomegranate seeds -- Drouhin Cote de Beaune and Brooks Crannell Pinot (Oregon).
Roasted pear, arugula and blue cheese salad.
Pecan pie -- Quady Orange Muscat.

And in case of any mishaps we will have a slew of reds and whites to tide us over.

 

[Mike Buckley]

Sheesh! You guys are making me decide on my Thanksgiving meals just to be able to participate in the thread. Our actual Thanksgiving Day will be just for my wife and me (and we always cherish the ease and quiet of that).

Air-fried wontons in pumpkin soup with a dollop of sour creme and a mint leaf paired with Alsatian Pinot Gris
Guinea fowl (my nod to a Thanksgiving bird) with demi-glace sauce
Long grain and wild rice with dried cherries and herbs
Baked tomato topped with french herbs and garlic
Carrots in a butter glaze
High-end Pinot Noir from Burgundy or California yet to be decided

My wife's sister's family including their three young children will come over the day after Thanksgiving. They will have already gone to at least two households on Thanksgiving day and those households will have served traditional meals. So, I'm breaking with tradition again for our follow-up Thanksgiving.

Beef and cheese enchiladas, though the sauce will be only for the adults because the children are still at the stage of preferring everything as plain as possible
Yellow rice (rather than Spanish rice because yellow rice is more plain)
Cabernet Sauvignon from Lucas Winery (because our youngest nephew's name is Lucas and we bought the wine at the winery while on vacation last year)
Four-layer carrot cake with cream cheese icing

 

[Terri French]

Traditional all the way here! Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, yams, rolls, cranberries, pumpkin pie. I love it all!

 

[Jonathan F/2]

For the past several years, we have a friend who makes us a non-traditional turkey, marinated for several days in a mix of Mediterranean and Central Asian flavors and spices. It comes out super moist and juicy! She cooks, we host! I also made homemade cheesecake this weekend, and threw them in the freezer!

 

[nuclearjock]

Laura and I are visiting old friends in Santa Fe NM for Thanksgiving. I'm told Thanksgiving dinner will be seafood paella. I've had my friend's wife's (also Laura) paella before. Pavlovian drooling has already begun.

 

[Palouse]

Laura and I are visiting old friends in Santa Fe NM for Thanksgiving. I'm told Thanksgiving dinner will be seafood paella. I've had my friend's wife's (also Laura) paella before. Pavlovian drooling has already begun.

That sounds fabulous, besides paella is friends to such a wide array of wine.

 

[Mike Buckley]

seafood paella

There's nothing better.

 

[nuclearjock]

That sounds fabulous, besides paella is friends to such a wide array of wine.

Yep and my friend Bill and I usually attempt to consume as many as possible ???

 

[Mike Buckley]

paella is friends to such a wide array of wine

People often speak of food-friendly wine. Why not wine-friendly food?

 

[nuclearjock]

People often speak of food-friendly wine. Why not wine-friendly food?

You philosophise Mike, I'll open the wine. Happy turkey day buddy.

 

[Palouse]

People often speak of food-friendly wine. Why not wine-friendly food?

I agree. I like to think of wines in 3 layers of a triangle.

• On top are wines that need special conditions--the right food, the right people/person, sufficient aging, aeration, and so on.
• At the bottom, lots of wine--drinking wine I call it. Not many restrictions other than some very fundamental "rules". Often drunk without food.
• In the middle are the better than average, affordable wines, that I enjoy a lot and that usually make an appearance when I want to enhance the meal, and there are diverse but substantial dishes on the table ( a small pot luck or a shared meal with others).

What would a food pyramid look like?

 

[Mike Buckley]

I agree. I like to think of wines in 3 layers of a triangle.

• On top are wines that need special conditions--the right food, the right people/person, sufficient aging, aeration, and so on.
• At the bottom, lots of wine--drinking wine I call it. Not many restrictions other than some very fundamental "rules". Often drunk without food.
• In the middle are the better than average, affordable wines, that I enjoy a lot and that usually make an appearance when I want to enhance the meal, and there are diverse but substantial dishes on the table ( a small pot luck or a shared meal with others).

What would a food pyramid look like?

Yet Rick thinks I'm the guy that philosophizes.

I hate to admit it, but I agree with Nick (though I have no idea what his pyramid would look like).

 

[Palouse]

Wine friendly foods should have a variety of textures, should have interesting (multi-dimensional) flavors but with no extremes in taste (sour, heat, salt, sweet), . . .

Well, that's a start.

 

[nuclearjock]

Wine friendly foods should have a variety of textures, should have interesting (multi-dimensional) flavors but with no extremes in taste (sour, heat, salt, sweet), . . .

Well, that's a start.

AND they should taste like grilled steak or roasted prime rib of beef.

 

[Pa]

We'll be traditional here since my daughter and her family are coming. That means turkey and dressing (organic local farm-raised turkey), rice, steamed broccoli, squash casserole, asparagus casserole, and cranberry salad. Our daughter and granddaughter will make pumpkin pie and my wife will probably also make a pecan or apple pie.

Everyone but me wants white wine so we'll have a bottle of Kendall Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay and a bottle of Macon Villages.

My wife and I have been married for 54 years and we tried a non-traditional meal a couple of times when it was just the two of us, and it just didn't seem right.

 

[Mike Buckley]

AND they should taste like grilled steak or roasted prime rib of beef.

Way too funny!

 

[vinman]

Not this year. The last time we hosted, I did an entire meal based on Central American inspired flavors. I’ll get to do it again in a few years, once the trauma experienced by the extended family subsides.

 

[SRHEdD]

Typical turkey dinner here but with 6 racks of baby backs.

 

[atlanta_man]

Trying another 'de-constructed' turkey like last year. Going to get it right this time. I hope.