Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and I can’t wait!! I love Thanksgiving; a day of cooking, eating, chilling in front of the TV, eating, playing board games, eating, hanging with family and/or friends, and eating. This year we are making the 5 hour trek to my parent’s house in Indiana which means I won’t have to do much of the cooking (a wonderful break, as any chef will tell you). I’ll still be involved and will gladly help out as part of the joy of Thanksgiving is having the whole family in the kitchen helping out, but I’ll also have a chance to chill in front of the TV watching the Macy’s T-Day parade, yes, cheesy I know, but it’s tradition although I can only handle about 30 minutes at a time, with breaks for helping out in the kitchen.

If you’ve followed this blog over the last couple of years you’ll know that I don’t really do much for Thanksgiving. Many bloggers I know will do “fake” Thanksgiving at the beginning of November so that they have fodder for blogging. Sorry, but for me, that just seems to lessen the excitement of the actual holiday. But I’m trying to get into the spirit of things a bit and hope to have, at least, a couple of Thanksgiving inspired posts.

Our family, probably like most families serve our meal family style with large platters of food gracing our table. But I have been involved (mostly in restaurants) with plated Thanksgiving meals. This recipe is perfect for doing plated meals although you could easily platter these and have people serve themselves.

Corn Bread Stuffing Stuffed Squash
serves 8

8 Acorn Squash (or similar squash)
9 cups corn bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes and dried
3 ribs celery, diced
1 large onion, peeled and diced
4 Tbl. butter
2 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 1/2-4 cups turkey broth
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries, chopped
3/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced

Preheat oven to 375°F. Slice a small bit off of the bottom of each squash so that it stands upright. Remove about 1/4 of the squash from the stem end and scoop out all the seeds and membrane. Place in 2 baking dishes with 1/4 cup of water in each. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Meanwhile heat turkey broth to a simmer. In a skillet melt butter and saute onion and celery until tender, about 5-6 minutes. Place remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Add the onion and celery mixture and finally 3 1/2 cups of the turkey broth. Mix until well combined and the bread is moistened. If stuffing is not moist enough add the remaining broth. Stuff the cavity of each squash, mounding it up above the squash. If you have extra stuffing place in a greased pan and bake along side the stuff squash. Recover the squash and bake for 20 minutes longer. Remove foil and continue to bake until squash is tender and stuffing is nicely browned. Serve 1 squash to each person.

When it comes to Thanksgiving, I am very much a “traditionalist.” I like my roasted or grilled turkey, the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc. I don’t have nearly that same feeling about Christmas dinner. Sure, I am happy with a repeat of Thanksgiving, which often happens in my family, but I am also very happy to change it up. My wife’s family often follows a more European tradition and serves goose, with all the trimmings. Since her father is from Hungary that usually means an Eastern European flair to the meal with lots of sweet and sour dishes, plenty of starches, the giblets showing up in numerous recipes, and wonderful, earthy rye bread.

In my family, when we move away from turkey, we sometimes do a standing rib roast (aka Prime Rib), one of my favorites, but in recent years we have done a lot of pork, usually in the form of a Crown Roast. It usually gets filled with a stuffing of cornbread, sausage, dried cherries and pecans. This has become a favorite of ours and looks quite festive and elegant gracing our holiday table. Unfortunately, if you want to do a crown roast you either need to be feeding an army or be prepared for plenty of leftovers as these things are quite large. Luckily pork is very versatile and there are numerous, smaller cuts that can be turned into an elegant centerpiece for your Christmas dinner.

Pork loin is an obvious choice for a holiday dinner. Roasted, it makes a beautiful looking focal point to the holiday groaning board. It can be purchased is any size from 1 pound to about 8 or 9 pounds, making it a great choice for just about any size get together. Pork also goes well with many of the dishes people serve at Christmas time, many of which mirror people’s Thanksgiving spreads. To make it even more of a standout, I like to stuff it “pinwheel” style. Sliced and laid out on a platter, surrounded by Rosemary Roasted Potatoes and a few sprigs of fresh herbs, you have a dish that will wow friends and family alike. (continue reading…)