The Second Annual Huffington Post "Tell Us What You're Cooking For Thanksgiving This Year That You Didn't Cook Last Year"

Update: The results are in! We've selected our second annual Top 10 Thanksgiving Recipes By Huffington Post Commenters. But, please, keep the recipes coming.

I know, I know, you've all been wondering if the first annual Huffington Post "Tell Us What You're Cooking for Thanksgiving Dinner This Year That You Didn't Cook Last Year" (and the resulting HuffPost Commenters' Top Ten Thanksgiving Recipes) was actually going to make a return appearance, and guess what? Here it is.

Welcome to the second annual HuffPost recipe exchange - based, as always, on our profound belief that Thanksgiving dinner - your Thanksgiving dinner - is a lot like ours: you've got things you make year in and year out, things that remind you of your mother (like the scalloped oysters that no one but you eats), things that remind you of your friends (like the green jello mold recipe I got from Rita), and the things that came to you through outside written material (like the way we cook our turkey now, courtesy of the Gourmet Magazine November 2005 issue: we salt and pepper it, stick it unstuffed into the oven at 450 and drain it every so often; no brining, no basting; it's absolutely remarkable; trust me). (And by the way, it takes only 2 1/2 hours to cook a 14-16 pound bird to a divine dark crispiness.)

And then there are the things you make for the very first time in order to prove that you're neither your mother nor a hopeless prisoner of your own hidebound traditions and your grown children's irrational demands for sweet potatoes with marshmallows. We want to know about those things, the things you're making this year that you've never made before. Of course, you can send us an old recipe instead, we don't care. We just want you to send a Thanksgiving recipe. Then we'll select and post our ten favorites next week. (And please be sure to type out fractions--1/2 cup, for example--because symbols won't display correctly.)

This year, in keeping with the tenor of the times, I am making a recipe I got from the Internet, or, to be more exact, from the monthly email newsletter I get from the great Seattle chef Tom Douglas. It's for dip. I have been looking for a good dip recipe my entire life, and this is it -- Tom Douglas' mother's crab dip. It's not just easy and delicious, but it's loaded with crab, so it gives you the illusion that because it contains protein, it's good for you. In a large bowl mix 3 TB tomato paste with 1 TB honey. Then whisk in 3/4 cup mayonnaise, 2 TB chopped chives, 1 TB lemon juice, 1 seeded and minced sweet red cherry pepper (from a jar of sweet cherry peppers in vinegar), 2 TB lemon zest, 1 TB prepared horseradish and a dash of Tabasco. Then fold in 3/4 pound crabmeat and one chopped-up hard-boiled egg. Add salt and pepper and a little lemon to taste. Serve with really good potato chips.

Happy Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Comments

[TomInJax]

Tom's Chips for Norah's Dip

1 to 2 pounds of small white potatoes, scrubbed clean, skin on, and sliced very thin. Slice them wafer thin. I use a food processor.
About 2 inches of cooking oil in a 12 inch skillet at medium-high heat.
1 to 2 beers.

Pre-heat oil. It's hot enough if you drop a potato in the oil, it sinks to the bottom, then almost immediately dances to the surface in a sizzling sound and fury. Add chips individually until you have a single layer. Now open a beer and sip while you watch the chips. Once they start to turn slightly brown, a few minutes, turn them using a strainer or slotted spoon. Sip more beer and then listen. Sure you can remove them when you think they are brown enough, but let them talk to you and you won't be disappointed. Once they start to quiet from being pissed off at the hot oil bath, remove them to a large bowl lined with paper towels. For really brown, extra crispy chips, leave them until almost silent. Let as much oil drain as possible before putting them in the bowl.

Repeat the above until all of your potatoes are cooked. Add sea salt and cracked pepper (optional) to taste.

Sure you can use a fryer at about 350, but it's not as satisfying.

By the way, I usually go through a beer per pound of potatoes.

[TomInJax]

I ran out of room, but these keep well and stay crisp for several days in an air tight container.

[elwood08]

I do not have a recipe to offer but I did get a tremendous amount of milage by sharing with my adult daughters the line about the irrational desire of adult children to have marshmellow covered sweet potatoes...it so shocked them that they have removed that item from the planned menu...at least for this year...thanks for making my Thanksgiving even better....

[rankola]

Last year, I made Filet en Croute (Grass Fed Freerange beef), pommes anna, fennel & mushroom salad, cider vinegar caramelized brussels sprouts with pearl onions and pine nuts, and organic Michigan HoneyCrisp apple pie.

All from scratch. It was my maiden voyage making puff pastry--i've never made it before. But I did let it rest and tested some scraps and it puffed, was flakey and melted in the mouth. That was really the difficult part. After the puff pastry was made, everything else was easy. I never use store bought pie crusts--they are just horrible, and full of junk, and only use organic butter.

After searing the filet in clarified butter, it gets wrapped in the puff pastry with duxelles (finely chopped mushrooms sauteed and reduced with white wine), then roasted to rare/med rare (the best way to have freerange filet). Sauce was made by deglazing the searing pan with red wine, reduce by 1/2, adding beef stock, simmer, add crushed garlic, sea salt & pepper, swirl with butter to fortify, and add fresh thyme at the end to release the fragrant herbs, then strain.

Pommes anna: use mandoline to thinly slice peeled potatoes. Layer in concentric circles in a round casserole with clarified butter between layers, sea salt, and fresh thyme. Bake until golden. Tasty.

[Steve Ettlinger - Huffpost Blogger]

I''m wondering if we will still be eating the potoato bread as an appetizer now that the woman we made it for/because of has passed away (of old age).

It is a heavy, filling item that is unlike any other appetizer and has no link to Thanksgiving. We'll see!

[AgathaX]

I just made my first cranberry relish. I know its the simplest thing in the world, but still. And my food processor got too close the the stove a few months ago and melted so I did it sans benefit of food processor.

12 oz fresh cranberries chopped
3/4 c. sugar
1 small can crushed pineapple sans juice
the zest of an orange
the flesh of the orange (none of the connecting tissue bits)

I put it in a bowl and mashed on it with my potato masher. Its eye openingly tart, but very yummy. Some recipes call for nuts. I like nuts by I don't like them standing in liquid for a couple of days. Perhaps just a bowl of toasted nuts on the table as an additional condiment.

[LateeLady]

I am still cooking the traditional turkey and homemade cornbread stuffing, but added this year is a rack of lamb.

I'm going to slightly sear it after seasoning with a bit of kosher salt, pepper and bread crumbs, then use a dry rub of rosemary, thyme, greek seasoning, garlic, shallots, parsley, pepper and dijon mustard. I haven't decided if I'll use the rotisserie or the oven rack to cook it (medium done). To accompany it, I'll probably have red bliss potatoes and possibly asparagus.

Desserts this year will include individual pastries of homemade cheesecake (plain, strawberry, pumpkin, chocolate), sweet potato tarts, mango tarts, banana pudding and a butter pound cake.

Unfortunately, at Thanksgiving, we don't calorie count... but we diet from Nov 28-Dec 24 to make up for it! :-)

[momofsonofwar]

Corn bread pudding

1 box jiffy corn bread mix
1 can whole corn with its juices
1 can creamed corn
1 stick butter (melted)

in large bowl mix corn bread mix (throw away box with the instructions)
add whole corn with its juices (do not drain juice), creamed corn and melted butter

Bake at 350* until bubbly and lightly brown on top.

[MrsHaskell]

Central Market Love Dip (h/t homesick texan)

1/2 to 1/3 cups tomato salsa
1 1/2 tsps minced garlic
1 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp crumbled dried tarragon or 2 leaves fresh tarragon
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsps finely chopped cilantro

Strain salsa through a sieve to remove most of the liquid. This should yield about 1/4 cup of strained salsa. Combine all ingredients. Fold in some of the salsa "juice" to loosen the dip, if desired. Serve with good quality tortilla chips. Mmmmm.

Smoked Oyster Slather
2 3-oz tins of smoked oysters
1 8-oz pkg cream cheese, softened
White pepper and salt

Combine oysters and cheese with a fork. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with crusty bread or hearty crackers.

[theaterdoc]

Thanks to all for these divine recipes and ideas! My daughter and I are alone and stretching dollars (we know many, many are in this predicament), so we have decided to spend the day together cooking economical versions of the various side dishes and side-stepping the turkey for reasons cited above (having said that, I respect everyone's epicurean choices on this day). Lemon ricotta cheescake is our big indulgence. On Friday we will do an extra shift at our local animal shelter (we volunteer once a week) to care for the cats and dogs - many of the regular volunteers are out of town or hosting guests for the holidays. If I could afford it, I would be interested in Whole Foods' vegan turkey special, which sounds like a nice medley of flavors without the meat.

[kcphobo]

Much agony this year because I've been given sweet potatoes as my assignment and the hostess sent me a marshmallow recipe and I swore I'd never go that route. I'm also bringing creamed onions, a dish my mother made every year. She's 85 now, and the last time she made it she forgot the blue cheese. So I've taken over and I think it will become my signature Thanksgiving dish (because it's so easy):

Echo's Creamed Onions

1 16 ounce jar small whole onions (not pickled)
2 T flour
2 T blue cheese
1 T margarine
1/2 cup liquid from onions
1/2 cup milk

Make white sauce with margarine, flour and liquid ingredients. Add drained onions and blue cheese. Heat and serve.

[RevSpaminator]

Here is the easiest sweet potato recipe ever. (Yams work too) No marshmallows to get in the way of this one.

Peel then boil sweet potatoes until the are not quite done. (Peeling is optional)

Drain, cut into cylindrical chunks about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick.

Arrange in baking dish flat side up. Add chunks of butter and a small heap of brown sugar to the top each potato. Sprinkle a little salt if desired.

Bake until the brown sugar is caramelized and the potatoes are done.

These go great with turkey gravy!

[Hillbilly4Peace]

lobster.

[TakLoufer]

This is a nice alternative to standard potato salad:

Root Salad

4-5 medium sized white or red potatoes, diced
2-3 carrots, sliced into chunks (or use 1 cup baby-cuts)
2 pickled Greek peppers, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsps red vinegar
1 heaping tsp Mrs Dash Garlic & Herb

Cook potatoes and carrots until tender. Dress with remaining ingredients. Serve hot or cold. I suppose you could add sliced beets to the mix to make it 'rootier'.

[Picture]

To the post I just submitted
Spelling correction "fowl" -not foul.

[Picture]

What I'm cooking this year that I didn't cook last year?

Between watching the Sarah Palin turkey slaughter video, and reading the
NY Times article, "About a Bird," I think it
will be vegetarian--perhaps a falafel on pita bread with cucumbers and
some kind of creamy white salad dressing.
My appetite for foul is completely ruined. . .

My mother, who became a vegetarian in her later years, passed away this
year and this Thanksgiving is very hard. So I won't eat turkey as she
wouldn't.
My kids have been begging me to make chocolate chip cookies. (I make really good
choc. chip cookies, though it's
not a Thanksgiving tradition.

Here's my recipe which I offer in honor of all the wonderful reporting
Huffington Post provided this past election season.

Melissa's Chewy Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup sugar
1 and 1/4 cup brown sugar (dark preferably)
1 Cup butter
2 tsps. vanilla (Nelson Massey brand)
2 eggs

1 and 1/2 cups plus six level T flour
1 Cup plus 2 T Oat Flour
6 level T oat bran
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
semisweet chips (nestle)
walnuts (optional)

They come out really good--well shaped and presentable--when I use the cookie scoop.
But now my kindergartener shapes them into tiny little balls and that works, too.

The warm cookies are really good over vanilla haagen daz ice cream.

Oat Flour: Process Oatmeal in a food processor; then measure out.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

[SheilaSays]

This is something I serve every Christmas but now we're adding to the Thanksgiving table because it's such a hit.

Roasted Shallots in Madeira Wine Cream Sauce

2 lbs. shallots, peeled
2 Cups cream
1-1/2 Tsp. Tarragon
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 Tbsps. Madeira Wine

Boil shallots 2 minutes, set aside. In mixing bowl combine cream, wine, tarragon. Pour mixture over shallots in baking dish. Dot with butter. Roast 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees. Salt/pepper to taste.