A Great Thanksgiving Needs a Great Plan

No need to look at the calendar. Where we live, the leaves are turning. There is a chill in the air. Thanksgiving is coming!

After the terrible Palisades Fire January 7, 2025, we needed a plan. We had lost our home, our beautiful 80-year old towering trees and everything inside our house. We had to start over again. 

Through an accident of good luck, we found a house that we loved. We didn't have a view of Santa Monica Bay any longer, but we moved into a lovely neighborhood with friendly neighbors. 

With Thanksgiving only a few weeks away, we returned to a post from a few years ago that gave us a time-line to prepare for my mother's favorite holiday. She loved the food, the gathering of friends and family and the positive outlook of a holiday that sought to bring everyone to the table. 

IT'S TIME TO PREPARE

If you are hosting the meal at your house, even before the vegetables are prepped and the turkey is brined, there is a lot you can do that will make the holiday go more smoothly.

Whether you are hosting a dinner of six or twenty-six, with so many dishes, planning is essential. And that means being prepared. Planning ahead ultimately means less stress and more fun on Thanksgiving. 

Make a Time Line of What Needs to Be Done

Step 1 - as soon as you decide who will host, invite the guests so you have a head-count and ask who will bring a favorite Thanksgiving dish

Step 2 - for the dishes you will prepare, pull out the recipes you want to make (either favorites or new dishes), make an ingredients list and a preparation time line (some dishes like pickles can be made the week before, some like an apple pie and the turkey are best made on Thanksgiving)

Step 3 - clean the house

Step 4 - do an inventory of your chairs, table cloths and flatware. If you have 10 guests and only 6 chairs and place settings, borrow what you need.

Step 5 - dust off that extra table you keep in the garage

Step 6 - shop for ingredients and any utensils you need

Step 7 - cook ahead what you can. Give Thanksgiving day assignments to family and friends. I like to keep the table and kitchen looking as clean as possible. Who will clear the table. Who will clean dishes. Who will take out the trash.

Step 8 - on Thanksgiving, wake up early, put the turkey in the oven and have a timeline for what needs to use the oven. After you have swept the floors and set the table, with 30 minutes before friends and family arrive, enjoy a quiet moment before you greet everyone and share the feast!

Step 9 - After the delicious meal has been enjoyed by all, glasses have been raised to thank you for hosting Thanksgiving , so you don't wake up in the morning with a kitchen cluttered with stacks of dirty dishes, get as much help as you can to help with clean up. 

Step 10 - After you have said goodbye to your last guest, now it's time to time to lie down and rest, happy that you have made this Thanksgiving a holiday to remember.

Make a List of What You Want to Serve 

The recipes we use are a mix of the ones we've perfected over the years and a couple that are new to us. We want to have the favorites and also to shake it up a bit, to have some surprises.

Among the favorites are kosher dill pickles, corn bread stuffing with Italian sausage and shiitake mushrooms, cranberry sauce with nuts and orange juice, shiitake mushroom-turkey liver pate and chocolate banana walnut cake.

I'll make the Moroccan style pickles that I learned to make on a trip to Marrakech. The kosher dill pickles only need 2-3 days to cure, so I'll make those on Monday of Thanksgiving week.

10 Delicious Holiday Recipes

To help prepare for Thanksgiving, I published an e-cookbook 10 Delicious Holiday Recipes.

The ten recipes are easy-to-make, festive and fun. With a recipe for roasting a perfect Thanksgiving turkey with stuffing.

Using the Kindle App you can read the recipes on any smart phone, computer or tablet. The app is free and downloads easily.

I hope you'll order my book and let me help you plan your holiday meals with recipes for special cocktails, appetizers, salads, sides, entrees and really delicious desserts.

Thanksgiving Appetizers Make a Statement - Deviled Eggs with Crab and Charred Corn Kernels

Say "Thanksgiving" and of course "turkey and sides" pop into your mind. But for me, when I think of the Thanksgiving feast, my brain says "appetizers." Turkey is great. Corn bread stuffing, roasted sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce are all great, but Thanksgiving is the time for lots of great appetizers.

To begin the feast, appetizers set the stage, whet the appetite and get the party going.

I'll make prosciutto with Hami melon, home-cured salmon on sourdough crisps with cream cheese, home-made tapenade with lavash crisps, hearts of palm rounds topped with a dab of mayo & a splash of Tabasco, an assortment of soft and hard cheeses, Castelvetrano Green olives and the pièce de résistance, deviled eggs with charred corn and Dungeness crab.

Easy to make, visually fun and delicious, deviled eggs get everyone talking because I add crab (or lobster or shrimp) which isn't what most people think of when they say "deviled eggs."

My mom introduced me to deviled eggs when she would take my sister and me to the beach. I didn't like the ocean because the cold dark water in Santa Monica Bay wasn't and still isn't very nice. But I loved the picnic lunch she would pack. Fried chicken, fresh fruit salad and deviled eggs. Hers were classic with the egg yolks mixed with Best Foods mayo, salt, pepper and a bit of paprika. Easy-peasy.

My version borrows the simplicity of her approach but adds fun with the crunch of charred corn and the luxuriousness of shell fish. I love crab if I can find it fresh, otherwise, shrimp is very available and lobster the most extravagant but all are delicious in their own way.

The filling can be made a day ahead and kept in a refrigerated piping or pastry bag. The easiest kind of bag to use is made out of plastic or choose a reusable cloth pastry bag.

DEVILED EGGS PERFECT FOR PICNICS AND SPECIAL OCCASIONS

Serves 4

Time to cook 20 minutes

Time to cool 5 minutes in ice cold water

Time to prepare 15 minutes

Total time 40 minutes

Ingredients

4 large or extra large eggs

1/2 cup cooked crab, shrimp or lobster, washed, finely chopped

1/4 cup mayo, preferably Best Foods 

1/4 cup corn kernels, off the cob, charred, cooled

Sea salt to taste and to salt the water

1/4 teaspoon dried dill (optional)

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pinch of finely ground pepper flakes, Italian or Korean

Directions

Place 4 eggs in a quart saucepan with enough water to cover the eggs. Add 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt to the water and bring to a gentle boil over a medium flame. After 20 minutes, transfer the hardboiled eggs to fresh, cold water. Add ice cubes to cool the water. Allow to rest 15 minutes, Remove from the water and peel. Discard the shells, wash and pat dry the eggs being careful to remove all bits of the shell.

Using a sharp pairing knife, slice each egg the long way so you have 4 quarters. Carefully remove the yolks so the white part doesn't tear. Place the yolks int a bowl and the white "triangles" into a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Using a folk, break up the cooked egg yolks.

Place a frying pan on the stove top. Turn the heat up to medium high. When hot, add the corn kernels. Toss gently until the kernels are toasted/browned. Remove and cool.

In the bowl with the egg yolks, add the toasted corn kernels, season with sea salt, dry dill (optional), freshly ground black pepper and pepper flakes. Using the folk, toss well to combine.

For the shellfish, if available, use raw crab, shrimp or lobster in the shell. Boil a pot of water large enough to hold the shellfish. Cook the crab or lobster 5 minutes. If using shrimp in the shell, boil in water 2 minutes. Remove and cool in cold water. Set aside to cool. Remove the shell and reserve 1/2 cup of cooked meat.

If using already cooked shellfish, all you need do is remove the shells and rinse to get rid of any packaging flavors.

Being careful to remove all shells, roughly chop a 1/2 cup of shellfish meat. Reserve the remainder to make soups, salads or cocktail appetizers.

Add 1/2 cup of shellfish meat to the seasoned egg yolks and stir well to mix.

Add mayo and combine well. Taste and if needed adjust the seasonings or add more mayo. The mixture should be creamy.

Spoon the filling into the pastry bag and reserve until just before serving.

To serve.

Cut 1" off the end of the plastic pastry bag. Line up the egg white quarters on a plate and squeeze out enough filling to make an attractive mound in the middle of each egg white quarter. Serve cold with ice cold beer or a crisp white wine.

Thanksgiving Essentials - Brined Roast Turkey, Corn Bread Stuffing and Mushroom Gravy

These are recipes I cherish. Developed over the years, with inspiration from my mom and shared work with my wife, we celebrate Thanksgiving in a year when there is such turmoil in the world. This Thanksgiving, as last year, we will celebrate Thanksgiving at the home of our son Franklin and his fiancée, Lauren. They generously set the table and cook most of the meal. We contribute dishes, to round out what's on the table. Enjoy being with friends and family. Enjoy what is good in your lives. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And, please, use the turkey bones to make the most-beautiful-stock-ever!

Thanksgiving was my mother's favorite holiday. She loved the chance to have her family and friends seated around the table, catching up, telling stories, and eating favorite treats.

Most of the time I do the cooking since I work at home and because we have a kitchen the size of a New York closet. Thanksgiving is my wife's day and I happily step to the side, working as a sous chef, assisting her in executing a meal that usually serves between 15-20.

Even though Thanksgiving is a lot of work, the key is organization. Writing up a menu is the first step, then a shopping list, and finally a time-line for the day before Thanksgiving and the day of the meal.

Along with those first steps, we cover the bottom of the oven with aluminum foil so clean up after the meal is easier. Cleaning out the refrigerator makes room for the turkey after we pick it up from the grocery store and so there's space for all those delicious left-overs after the meal.

Besides shopping at the grocery store we visit our local farmers' market to pick up fresh vegetables for the sides dishes: beets, sweet potatoes, lettuce, celery, carrots, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, corn, leeks, and onions.

But the most important part of the meal is the turkey and no turkey is complete without a great stuffing.

Corn Bread Stuffing with Sausages, Dried Apricots, and Pecans

Over the years my wife has developed a crowd-pleasing stuffing with a contrast of textures: soft (corn bread), spicy (sausage), chewy (dried apricots), and crunchy (pecans).

Yield: 15-20 servings

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 boxes corn bread mix
3 celery stalks, washed, ends trimmed, leaves discarded
1 pound mushrooms, brown, shiitake, or portabella, washed, pat dried, finely chopped
2 medium yellow onions, peeled, ends removed, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
1 stick sweet butter
1 1/2 cups turkey or chicken stock
4 Italian style sweet sausages
1 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Make the corn bread the night before and leave the pan on the counter so the corn bread dries out. Use any cornbread mix you like. My wife uses Jiffy. It's inexpensive and tastes great. The instructions are on the box.

Saute the sausages whole in a frying pan with a little olive oil until browned, remove, cut into bite-sized pieces, and set aside. Pour off the excess fat. Add the celery, mushrooms, onion, and garlic into the pan with the stick of butter and saute. Season with sea salt and pepper. Cook until lightly browned, then add stock and summer 15 minutes.

Cut the cornbread into chunks and crumble into a large mixing bowl. Add the apricots, pecans, and the saute. Stir well and set aside until you're ready to stuff the turkey.

Roast Turkey

The most difficult part about cooking a turkey is size. Even a 15 pound turkey is larger than any roast you'll ever cook, so it's important to have somebody around to help strong-arm the turkey.

The rule of thumb about cooking time is 15-20 minutes per pound at 325 degrees but there are so many variables, you can also use a roasting thermometer and, our preferred method, jiggle-the-leg and if it almost comes off, the turkey's done.

There's a lot of talk about whether to brine or not to brine. In the Los Angeles Times, Russ Parsons argued for what he calls a "dry" brine, which means salting the turkey inside and out, then wrapping it in a sealable bag and refrigerating it for one to two days.

To prepare your turkey, in addition to the roasting pan, you'll also need pliers. I'm amazed at the work it takes to remove the heavy plastic gizmo that holds the legs neatly in place. 

Yield: 20-25 servings

Time: 7-8 hours

Ingredients

1 turkey, 23-25 pounds
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Unwrap the turkey. Remove the packet with the liver, neck, heart, and giblet. Use a pair of pliers to remove the piece of wire that holds the legs. It can be a real pain to get the wire off. Wash the turkey inside and out. Pat dry on the outside.

Reserve the liver to make a turkey chopped liver. Put the neck, heart, and giblet into a large saucepan with a lot of water, at least five inches higher than the turkey pieces. Replenish whatever water boils off. Simmer for 2-3 hours or until the meat on the neck falls off if you touch it with a fork. Strain the stock and reserve to use for gravy. Pull the meat off the neck and save to make turkey soup. Use the giblets in the gravy.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

The next step is easier with a friend. Drizzle olive oil on the outside of the turkey. Using your hands spread the oil over the entire bird, front and back. Sprinkle sea salt and black pepper inside the cavity and on the outside.

To put in the stuffing, either my wife or I holds the turkey upright and steady while the other loosely packs the stuffing inside the large cavity, one handful at a time.

Use 8-12 metal skewers and kitchen string to close the large cavity. Carefully turn the turkey over so you can put stuffing into the top area. Use 6-8 skewers and string to close that cavity.

Use any kind of roasting pan. Whether you use a disposable aluminum foil pan or an expensive stainless steel roasting pan from William Sonoma, the result will be the same. The important thing to remember is the pan must be at least 2" wider than the turkey, otherwise as the bird cooks, its juices will drip onto the bottom of your stove and make a mess. To insure that the turkey browns evenly, you'll need a wire rack.

Place the turkey on the rack, breast down and put into the oven. After 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees.

After that, every 30 minutes, baste the turkey with the fat that drips down into the pan. If the skin starts to brown too quickly, put an aluminum tent over the top.

After 3 hours, turn the turkey over. With a large bird this is easier said than done because now the turkey is not only heavy, it's very hot.

Another set of hands is a big help here. My wife and I have choreographed this crucial moment. I lift the roasting pan with the turkey out of the oven, placing it on the cutting board. Michelle stands at the ready with a pot holder in each hand. As I lift the rack with the turkey, she removes the pan. I flip the rack with the turkey onto the cutting board, having first put a kitchen towel along the edge to prevent juices from falling to the floor.

We pour all the juices and fat from the pan into a basting bowl, scrapping off the flavor bits on the bottom of the pan to make gravy.

The rack goes back into the pan. The turkey goes onto the rack, breast side up. After a good basting, the turkey goes back in the oven, covered with an aluminum foil tent.

As the turkey continues to cook, if the wing tips and drumstick ends brown too quickly, wrap them in aluminum foil.

Continue basting every 30 minutes. When the turkey is finished, remove from the oven and let rest 5 minutes.

Carve the turkey on a cutting board, removing the wings first, then the legs, thighs, and the breasts. Either place the pieces on the platter whole, to be carved at the table, or sliced for easy serving. Open the cavities and spoon out the stuffing.

Mushroom-Giblet Gravy

While the turkey is cooking, start the gravy.

Yield: 15-20 servings

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 medium yellow onions, peeled, ends removed, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
1 turkey giblet, cooked, grizzle removed, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary, tarragon, or Italian parsley
1/2 pound mushrooms, brown, shiitake, or portabella, washed, finely chopped or sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups turkey stock
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Saute the giblet, onions, garlic, fresh herbs, and mushrooms until lightly browned. Add turkey stock and the flavor bits you scraped off the roasting pan, simmer and reduce by 1/3. Taste and adjust the flavors. If too salty, add more stock and a pat of sweet (unsalted) butter.

Reheat before serving.

Turkey Stock

When you're eating Thanksgiving dinner, odds are you aren't thinking about your next meal, but I am. Admittedly, it's a bit obsessive, but before I sit down to join the dinner, all the bones and scraps go into a large pot filled with water. By the time we're clearing the table, the stock is finished.

Turkey stock is rich and flavorful. Perfect for making soups, stews, and pasta sauce, and like chicken stock, freezes beautifully.

Yield: 15-20 servings

Time: 1 hour
Ingredients

1 turkey carcass, skin, scraps
Water

Method

Put the carcass into a large pot. If any of stuffing makes it into the pot, all the better for flavor and richness. Cover the bones with water. Simmer 1 hour. Strain and refrigerate. Pick the meat off the bones to use in a soup or stew.

The stock keeps in the freezer for six months.

Thanksgiving Essentials - Brined Roast Turkey, Corn Bread Stuffing and Mushroom Gravy

A post from several years ago with recipes for the way we prepare the turkey, stuffing and gravy. This year we bought a 20 pound organic turkey to serve 16 people. With all the appetizers, sides, salads and the salmon we're making, that should be the perfect size.

Thanksgiving was my mother's favorite holiday. She loved the chance to have her family and friends seated around the table, catching up, telling stories, and eating favorite treats.

Most of the time I do the cooking since I work at home and because we have a kitchen the size of a New York closet. Thanksgiving is my wife's day and I happily step to the side, working as a sous chef, assisting her in executing a meal that usually serves between 15-20.

Even though Thanksgiving is a lot of work, the key is organization. Writing up a menu is the first step, then a shopping list, and finally a time-line for the day before Thanksgiving and the day of the meal.

Along with those first steps, we cover the bottom of the oven with aluminum foil so clean up after the meal is easier. Cleaning out the refrigerator makes room for the turkey after we pick it up from the grocery store and so there's space for all those delicious left-overs after the meal.

Besides shopping at the grocery store we visit our local farmers' market to pick up fresh vegetables for the sides dishes: beets, sweet potatoes, lettuce, celery, carrots, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, corn, leeks, and onions.

But the most important part of the meal is the turkey and no turkey is complete without a great stuffing.

Corn Bread Stuffing with Sausages, Dried Apricots, and Pecans

Over the years my wife has developed a crowd-pleasing stuffing with a contrast of textures: soft (corn bread), spicy (sausage), chewy (dried apricots), and crunchy (pecans).

Yield: 15-20 servings

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 boxes corn bread mix
3 celery stalks, washed, ends trimmed, leaves discarded
1 pound mushrooms, brown, shiitake, or portabella, washed, pat dried, finely chopped
2 medium yellow onions, peeled, ends removed, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
1 stick sweet butter
1 1/2 cups turkey or chicken stock
4 Italian style sweet sausages
1 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Make the corn bread the night before and leave the pan on the counter so the corn bread dries out. Use any cornbread mix you like. My wife uses Jiffy. It's inexpensive and tastes great. The instructions are on the box.

Saute the sausages whole in a frying pan with a little olive oil until browned, remove, cut into bite-sized pieces, and set aside. Pour off the excess fat. Add the celery, mushrooms, onion, and garlic into the pan with the stick of butter and saute. Season with sea salt and pepper. Cook until lightly browned, then add stock and summer 15 minutes.

Cut the cornbread into chunks and crumble into a large mixing bowl. Add the apricots, pecans, and the saute. Stir well and set aside until you're ready to stuff the turkey.

Roast Turkey

The most difficult part about cooking a turkey is size. Even a 15 pound turkey is larger than any roast you'll ever cook, so it's important to have somebody around to help strong-arm the turkey.

The rule of thumb about cooking time is 15-20 minutes per pound at 325 degrees but there are so many variables, you can also use a roasting thermometer and, our preferred method, jiggle-the-leg and if it almost comes off, the turkey's done.

There's a lot of talk about whether to brine or not to brine. In the Los Angeles Times, Russ Parsons argued for what he calls a "dry" brine, which means salting the turkey inside and out, then wrapping it in a sealable bag and refrigerating it for one to two days.

To prepare your turkey, in addition to the roasting pan, you'll also need pliers. I'm amazed at the work it takes to remove the heavy plastic gizmo that holds the legs neatly in place. 

Yield: 20-25 servings

Time: 7-8 hours

Ingredients

1 turkey, 23-25 pounds
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Unwrap the turkey. Remove the packet with the liver, neck, heart, and giblet. Use a pair of pliers to remove the piece of wire that holds the legs. It can be a real pain to get the wire off. Wash the turkey inside and out. Pat dry on the outside.

Reserve the liver to make a turkey chopped liver. Put the neck, heart, and giblet into a large saucepan with a lot of water, at least five inches higher than the turkey pieces. Replenish whatever water boils off. Simmer for 2-3 hours or until the meat on the neck falls off if you touch it with a fork. Strain the stock and reserve to use for gravy. Pull the meat off the neck and save to make turkey soup. Use the giblets in the gravy.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

The next step is easier with a friend. Drizzle olive oil on the outside of the turkey. Using your hands spread the oil over the entire bird, front and back. Sprinkle sea salt and black pepper inside the cavity and on the outside.

To put in the stuffing, either my wife or I holds the turkey upright and steady while the other loosely packs the stuffing inside the large cavity, one handful at a time.

Use 8-12 metal skewers and kitchen string to close the large cavity. Carefully turn the turkey over so you can put stuffing into the top area. Use 6-8 skewers and string to close that cavity.

Use any kind of roasting pan. Whether you use a disposable aluminum foil pan or an expensive stainless steel roasting pan from William Sonoma, the result will be the same. The important thing to remember is the pan must be at least 2" wider than the turkey, otherwise as the bird cooks, its juices will drip onto the bottom of your stove and make a mess. To insure that the turkey browns evenly, you'll need a wire rack.

Place the turkey on the rack, breast down and put into the oven. After 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees.

After that, every 30 minutes, baste the turkey with the fat that drips down into the pan. If the skin starts to brown too quickly, put an aluminum tent over the top.

After 3 hours, turn the turkey over. With a large bird this is easier said than done because now the turkey is not only heavy, it's very hot.

Another set of hands is a big help here. My wife and I have choreographed this crucial moment. I lift the roasting pan with the turkey out of the oven, placing it on the cutting board. Michelle stands at the ready with a pot holder in each hand. As I lift the rack with the turkey, she removes the pan. I flip the rack with the turkey onto the cutting board, having first put a kitchen towel along the edge to prevent juices from falling to the floor.

We pour all the juices and fat from the pan into a basting bowl, scrapping off the flavor bits on the bottom of the pan to make gravy.

The rack goes back into the pan. The turkey goes onto the rack, breast side up. After a good basting, the turkey goes back in the oven, covered with an aluminum foil tent.

As the turkey continues to cook, if the wing tips and drumstick ends brown too quickly, wrap them in aluminum foil.

Continue basting every 30 minutes. When the turkey is finished, remove from the oven and let rest 5 minutes.

Carve the turkey on a cutting board, removing the wings first, then the legs, thighs, and the breasts. Either place the pieces on the platter whole, to be carved at the table, or sliced for easy serving. Open the cavities and spoon out the stuffing.

Mushroom-Giblet Gravy

While the turkey is cooking, start the gravy.

Yield: 15-20 servings

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 medium yellow onions, peeled, ends removed, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
1 turkey giblet, cooked, grizzle removed, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary, tarragon, or Italian parsley
1/2 pound mushrooms, brown, shiitake, or portabella, washed, finely chopped or sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups turkey stock
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Saute the giblet, onions, garlic, fresh herbs, and mushrooms until lightly browned. Add turkey stock and the flavor bits you scraped off the roasting pan, simmer and reduce by 1/3. Taste and adjust the flavors. If too salty, add more stock and a pat of sweet (unsalted) butter.

Reheat before serving.

Turkey Stock

When you're eating Thanksgiving dinner, odds are you aren't thinking about your next meal, but I am. Admittedly, it's a bit obsessive, but before I sit down to join the dinner, all the bones and scraps go into a large pot filled with water. By the time we're clearing the table, the stock is finished.

Turkey stock is rich and flavorful. Perfect for making soups, stews, and pasta sauce, and like chicken stock, freezes beautifully.

Yield: 15-20 servings

Time: 1 hour
Ingredients

1 turkey carcass, skin, scraps
Water

Method

Put the carcass into a large pot. If any of stuffing makes it into the pot, all the better for flavor and richness. Cover the bones with water. Simmer 1 hour. Strain and refrigerate. Pick the meat off the bones to use in a soup or stew.

The stock keeps in the freezer for six months.

Thanksgiving is Pickle Time

We planned a small Thanksgiving dinner for 2021. Then we added relatives and friends we wanted to join us. Now we have a large Thanksgiving dinner. We planned to eat indoors. Now we'll eat outside on the patio. We live in Pacific Palisades so "cold" here is 56-60 F enough to feel the chill, so we asked everyone to bring a coat and a sweater. 

We have much to be thankful for this 2021 Thanksgiving. We are thankful for our health, our family and our friends. We are thankful for the good things that have happened this year.

Along with these recipes, I send good thoughts and best wishes your way. For Thanksgiving and for the rest of 2021.

My mother loved Thanksgiving.

For her, Thanksgiving brought together friends and family in a celebration of life and food.  I came to share that love as my own family grew. 

The happy ritual for my wife and myself is everyone gathers early at 3PM so we can enjoy the light at the end of the day. Our small house fills with the musical rhythm of the front door opening and familiar voices greeting us as they add their dishes to the feast or flowers to brighten the dining room. 

While my wife keeps the group refreshed with beverages and appetizers, I am focused in the kitchen. Putting dishes in and out of the Wolf stove's large oven. Prepping salads and putting the finishing touches on the desserts. 

The main event is, of course, the turkey. Usually twenty-four pounds so I can send our sons to their homes with several days' worth of left-overs. 

All too often, I would have visitors in our closet-sized kitchen. I appreciated their desire to keep me company, but in such a small space and such a large menu, I'm best left to myself so I can pull baking trays from the hot oven without burning them or myself, sauté string beans with almonds in a giant carbon steel pan and stir the shiitake mushroom/pan drippings gravy. 

We loved how our home was filled with a friendly clamor as people caught up on the latest personal news, laughed and clinked glasses to celebrate what is best about our lives. That was what my mother loved and we did too.

This year the gathering will be outside on the patio, as it was in 2020, but this year, we will have many more family and friends. My mother would approve.

Homemade Pickles

Pickles are delicious anytime of the year. For Thanksgiving they are especially good. Their crunch and acidity counterbalances the deliciousness of gravy, mashed potatoes and roast turkey. 

For Thanksgiving I always make two kinds of pickles. Kosher dill pickles and Moroccan-style pickled vegetables. Kosher dills should be made a few days before served. Moroccan-style pickled vegetables should be made two weeks ahead. They will keep, sealed in a jar, refrigerated for as long as a year.

No doubt the people who made the first pickles thought they had made a mistake. Somebody accidentally forgot about some raw vegetables in a pot with an acid and salt. Surprise, surprise. A week later, the vegetables weren’t moldy, no bugs had eaten them and, deliciously, they had a nice crunch and tang. Thus was born, the pickle!

In the 1920s, my great-grandfather made pickles on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Grandmother Caroline used to tell stories about working in their little grocery store as a child. When customers would want pickles, she would hop off the counter and go out front to the pickle barrels and fish out the ones they wanted.

I never knew her parents. I never ate their pickles, but I must have brine in my veins because wherever I travel, I am always on the look out for pickles.

Moroccan pickled veggies

In Morocco at a cooking class in Marrakech at La Maison Arabe, Amaggie Wafa and Ayada Benijei taught us to make Berber bread, couscous with chicken and vegetables, chicken tagine with preserved lemons and clarified butter, tomato marmalade, eggplant-tomato salad and preserved vegetables.

The cooking class lasted four hours. The time it took to show us how to make preserved or pickled vegetables: five minutes.

To Wafa and Benijei, the process was so easy, there were no pickle recipes. A little of this, a little of that, throw the vegetables into a jar, shake it up, put it in a cupboard and in a week, voila, you have pickles.

Pickle recipes tip from Grandma

From my grandmother I learned that making kosher dill pickles was a little more complicated. In retrospect, I think that’s because pickling cukes are more prone to decay than are the carrots, parsnip, fennel and green beans used in Morocco.

Every Thanksgiving I make both.

Pickles are very personal. What one person loves might be too salty or vinegary to another. It may take you several tries before you settle on the mix of salt, vinegar and spices that suits your palate.

Garlic is usually added to brine. My grandmother didn't put garlic in hers and I don't put any in mine so I indicated garlic as optional.

Lower East Side Kosher Dill Pickles

When making kosher dill pickles keep in mind four very important steps:

1. Select pickling cukes, not salad cucumbers, and pick ones without blemishes or soft spots.

2. Taste the brine to confirm you like the balance of salt-to-vinegar. The flavor of the brine will approximate the flavor of the pickles.

3. Once the cukes are in the brine, they must be kept submerged in an open container.

4. When the pickles have achieved the degree of pickling you like, which could take three days to a week, store the pickles in the brine, seal and keep in a refrigerator where they will last for several weeks.

Ingredients

8 cups water

¼ cup kosher salt

1 cup white wine vinegar or yellow Iranian vinegar (my preference)

4 garlic cloves, skin removed, root end trimmed off, cut into thin strips (optional)

5 dried bay leaves

10 whole black peppercorns

10 whole mustard seeds

¼ teaspoon pepper flakes or 1 dried Sichuan pepper, split open

5 sprigs of fresh dill

5 pounds small pickling cucumbers, washed, stems removed, dried

Directions

1. In a non-reactive pot, heat the water and vinegar on a medium flame. When the water gently simmers, add the salt and stir to dissolve. Do not allow the water to boil.

2. Dip your finger in the brine, taste and adjust the flavor with a bit more salt, water or vinegar.

3. Place the garlic and spices in the bottom of a gallon glass or plastic container. Arrange the cucumbers inside.

4. Pour in the hot brine being careful to cover the cucumbers. Reserve 1 cup of brine.

5. To keep the cucumbers submerged in the brine, find a plastic cup that is not as wide as the mouth of the container. Place the reserved cup of brine into the plastic cup and put into the container to press down on the cucumbers.

6. Place the container in a dark, cool corner of the kitchen. Check daily to make sure the cucumbers are submerged. If the brine evaporates, use the reserved brine in the plastic cup, replenishing the liquid in the cup with water to weigh down the cukes.

7. After three days, remove one cucumber and sample. If you like your pickles crisp, that may be enough time. If they aren’t pickled enough for you, let them stay on the counter another few days.

8. When you like how they taste, remove the cup and seal the top. Refrigerate the container.

Moroccan Style Preserved Vegetables

In Morocco, virtually any vegetable can be preserved. In the class, we were shown green beans, fennel, parsnips and carrots. Experiment and see what you like, including asparagus, zucchini, beets, daikon, eggplant, daikon and broccoli.

For myself, over the years I have settled on onions, carrots, cauliflower florets and green cabbage. Recently I have been making celery hearts because every morning my wife juices a celery stalk to begin her day with a glass of healthy celery juice. That  makes me the beneficiary of a great many celery hearts, which I am making into delicious pickles. 

Whatever you try, prepare the vegetable by washing, peeling and cutting them into pieces similar in size, about a 1/4" except with the celery hearts. I leave the bottom of the hearts so they pickle as a stalk.

The fun thing about pickling is you can personalize your pickles, making them any way you like.

Save the pickling brine. It is delicious poured over warm Japanese rice or mixed with olive oil to make a salad dressing.

Ingredients

2 whole carrots, ends trimmed, washed, peeled, cut into rounds, ¼-inch thick

1 medium yellow onion, washed, root and stem ends removed, peeled, sliced lengthwise (root to stem) 1/4" slices

1 small whole green cabbage, washed, any brown outer leaves removed and discarded, cut in half, cut out core and reserve for soup, cut into 1/4" squares

1 small white cauliflower, washed, leaves removed (instructions below)

4 bay leaves

½ teaspoon black peppercorns

¼ teaspoon pepper flakes or 1 dried Sichuan pepper, split open, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 garlic clove, skin removed, root end trimmed off, cut into thin strips (optional)

3 tablespoons kosher salt

1½ cups white wine or yellow Iranian vinegar

2 cups water

1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1. Sterilize two quart-sized glass or plastic containers.

2. Finalize the prep on the cauliflower by using a sharp pairing knife to create 1" long florets about 1/4" thick. Use the remaining stems for a stir fry or soup.

3. Toss the vegetables together to mix well in a large bowl.

4. Place the mixed vegetables into the two jars.

5. Add equal amounts of the aromatics to each jar.

6. Combine the kosher salt, water and vinegar. Mix well. Taste. If you find the mixture too acidic, slowly add water until you like the flavor. If not salty enough, add a small amount of kosher salt

7. Pour the water-vinegar mixture into the jars, making sure the liquid covers the vegetables. If more liquid is needed, make more brine and reserve any left over.

8. Top off each jar with equal amounts of olive oil.

9. Seal the jars and shake well to dissolve the salt and mix the aromatics.

10. Refrigerate. Wait one week and taste. Wait longer if they aren’t pickled enough. They will keep in the refrigerator for months.

     

Fourth of July is Back! Time to Picnic. Time to Pickle

Rockets exploding overhead. Sparklers in the darkness. Time to celebrate Independence Day. Time to gather together.

Last year we couldn't. This year we can. An amazing triumph of human will and science over a deadly disease. Thank you to all those who labored to care for us and those who created a way forward.

This year for us in Pacific Palisades, we will celebrate the past and our future with a picnic on the grass facing the high school. We'll have a pot luck dinner, see one another in person and catch up.

I'll make fried chicken a chef taught me in his kitchen and potato salad I learned from my mother. And, I will bring pickles made not with cukes but with elegantly long Persian cucumbers. For me, this is a newly modified recipe, midway between a classic Jewish dill pickle and Moroccan pickled vegetables.

Ready to eat after a day for a crisp pickle or in a week or two for a more mellow pickle-experience.

Pickles

No doubt the people who made the first pickles thought they had made a mistake. Somebody accidentally forgot about some raw vegetables in a pot with an acid and salt. Surprise, surprise. A week later, the vegetables weren’t moldy, no bugs had eaten them and, deliciously, they had a nice crunch and tang. Thus was born, the pickle!

In the 1920s, my great-grandfather made pickles on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Grandmother Caroline used to tell stories about working in their little grocery store as a child. When customers would want pickles, she would hop off the counter and go out front to the pickle barrels and fish out the ones they wanted.

I never knew her parents. I never ate their pickles, but I must have brine in my veins because wherever I travel, I am always on the look out for pickles.

Persian Cucumber, Carrot, Onion and Daikon Pickles

As with with things in life, the better the ingredients, the better the result. Use the best vegetables, you'll make a better pickle. Choose Persian cucumbers that are firm, unblemished, without any soft areas. Use carrots that have a sweet taste, the better to contrast with the vinegar and salt. 

For pickled onions, slice yellow onions the long way (from root to stem) into thin strips or buy Mexican onions that look like mature scallions with fat bulbs. Whole onions take a week to pickle. Onion strips pickle in a day.

Daikon pickles are a delight. Crisp and clean tasting.

Vinegar makes a difference. White, red, yellow, there are many different types of vinegars with as many results. I use white wine vinegar I find in Persian and Armenian grocery stores that is less acidic than white vinegar and doesn't color the vegetables as would red wine vinegar. For these pickles I don't use Japanese rice wine vinegar, but I think it would work as well.

Choose a glass jar tall enough for the Persian cucumbers to stand up. Wash the glass jar in a dish washer or with hot water and soap before using.

How much brine you need depends on the size of the jar. All the vegetables must be submerged in brine to avoid spoiling. Make extra brine to keep in a separate container. As vegetables are removed, add brine to cover. 

Only use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt. Other kosher salts contain additives.

Before adding the brine to the vegetables, taste and adjust. You might like less salt or more vinegar than I do. 

Prep: 15 minutes

Serves: 6

Pickling Ingredients:

6 Persian cucumbers, washed, stems removed

2 large carrots, washed, ends trimmed, peeled, cut into 1 1/2" fat sticks

1 small daikon, washed, ends trimmed, peeled, cut into 1 1/2" fat sticks

1 small yellow onions, washed, ends trimmed, peeled, sliced thin from stem to root

Brine Ingredients - Adjust proportionally to the size of the glass jar

1 1/2 tablespoons Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt 

1/2 cup Yellow White Wine Persian Vinegar or Japanese Rice Wine Vinegar

2 cups water

1 teaspoon black pepper corns

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

A pinch hot pepper flakes

3 bay leaves

Directions:

Lay the glass jar on its side. 

Slide cucumbers into jar so they will stand up when the jar is placed upright. 

Add other vegetables.

Add aromatics.

Stir brine well and add until vegetables are completely submerged. Make certain you keep 1 cup of brine in a separate container to add later as the liquid level drops when you remove vegetables.