I traditionally roast a turkey for Thanksgiving. This year, we’re getting away right after the holiday, so turkey and all of the trimmings isn’t going to work. Mrs. L.A. has requested escargots, which of course I can do. But what else? I thought I could make lasagna, and the leftovers can be frozen until we get back. Chiles relleno and tacos would be good, too.
So what’s a small TG meal I can make in a few months?
My non-traditional family holiday go-to recipes (used generally at Thanksgiving, Xmas, and Easter) are Hot and Sour soup, along with barbequed pork fried rice. Sometimes I’ll do won tons using italian sausage and chinese spices/veggies as filler. The kids love it.
Threads like this should require recipes of suggested dishes. I’m lookin’ at you, QtM.
Been there, done that. At least for the hot and sour soup.
the BBQ pork fried rice is a bit more freestyle. Slice up some pork real fine, marinate in a mix of hoisin sauce, 5 spice powder, sherry, and soy sauce. Roast until done. Then stir fry it with rice, egg, mushrooms, green onions, soy sauce, and whatever other veggies you want. Finish with some smoked sesame oil.
You have already named my 2 favorite non-traditions.
Umpteen years ago, when my mom, brother, sister, and I were all working in various food service jobs, we were all sick to death of turkey and dressing by Thanksgiving day. Lasagne was a nice change of pace.
And several years later, my second husband and I had a quiet Thanksgiving for 2 planned. We had reservations at a restaurant with good reviews, for their buffet. About 20 minutes after we were seated, we still didn’t even have drinks, flatware, or a bleached rag to wipe our dirty table. I decided I’d rather eat at Waffle House, but we found a slightly nicer place, and enjoyed good service and escargot and and a lot of other French food and very nice wine.
If I were staying away from the traditional this Thanksgiving, I might go with really good versions of bar food - cheese sticks and wings and hot artichoke dip and whatnot. Those would suit my own preference for a day watching the Macy’s parade and football!
Since Mrs. L.A. has requested escargots (she likes mine better than any of the restaurants), maybe we’ll do snails, Trader Joe’s French Onion Soup, rib-eyes, baked potatoes, and corn.
My homemade French onion soup of the gods recipe for your consideration.
Thanks for that. I understand FOS is not that difficult to make, but The Missus would get tired of it in the quantity necessary to make it from scratch. BTW: No Vegemite?
Not quite the same, but I used to hang out with all of the international students, back in grad school. They all knew that Thanksgiving was basically a harvest festival and was thus celebrated with a really big meal, and they knew that turkey was the traditional centerpiece of that meal, but that was all they knew. So the turkey could end up prepared in any way imaginable (I was fond of the curried one), and the side dishes could be anything from anywhere on the globe.
Me, I always made pies, because I knew that there wouldn’t be enough pies (this is always true, no matter how many pies there actually are). But there was also rice with gravy in place of mashed potatoes, fried tofu salad, tamales, egg rolls, many variants on rice and beans, flan, a Russian drink that was like a cross between fruit juice and gravy, baklava, you name it.
I like to do beef stew, lasagna, or chili for non-traditional family holiday gatherings. Julia Child’s beef bourguignon is what I’ve made for the last few Christmases and it tends to get rave reviews - it doesn’t really need a side other than bread and butter and/or broiled potatoes.
My chili and lasagna recipes are my own and haven’t been posted online anywhere aside from on this board, though I’ll share them if asked.
An Italian Sunday Gravy is also good for a holiday family meal - basically, a big pot of tomato sauce into which you throw some meatballs, sausages, porkchops, steaks, whatever red meat you’ve got lying around, let it simmer for a few hours, and then serve it up with some pasta and parmesan and a loaf of bread on the side.
I understand completely. And vegemite, while an ingredient of the gods, doesn’t get into everything I make. I don’t think it’s a good fit for my Hot and Sour soup.
But now that you’ve mentioned it, I may need to revisit the Onion soup recipe. 
How about the Thanksgiving dinner from Charlie Brown’s house, popcorn, toast, pretzels and jelly beans.
My brother’s birthday occasionally falls on Thanksgiving, and on those years we had his favorite food – lasagne. So another vote for lasagne. Delicious stuff. I rarely make it because it’s just me and I have piles and piles of it left.
This is what my office’s Thanksgiving pot luck is like. Turkey momos, BTW, are really really good.
(I also often take pies – sweet potato pie was an unexpected big hit with the folks from India and Nepal.)
It seems like a natural.
I’d still keep the turkey tradition going myself, but if you wanted to mix it up, try pavo en mole. No need to use a whole turkey–just enough for you two.
Since neither of us are big turkey fans, I always fix a rack of lamb. It’s a nice small roast and there are little to no leftovers to deal with.
I apply a mustardy/garlicky/bread crumb crust to the outside, like so:
1 minced garlic clove
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, minced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons olive oil
Mix all together well and shmear it liberally on the top/fat side of the lamb rack. Roast the rack at 350 until it’s about five minutes away from your desired degree of doneness, then remove it and press onto the mustard mixture a couple of handfuls of fresh bread crumbs and then drizzle them with a bit more olive oil. Turn the oven to 420, and put the rack back in for a couple of minutes or until the crumbs are nicely browned.
Let it sit for a bit (if you can restrain yourself) before carving it up to serve.
I like it with a potato gratin casserole and maybe some string beans in a bit of tomato and onion sauce.
When our son was 4 and attending pre-school for the first time, we were living in Chicago away from all family. We thought a turkey was much too much for the three of us, and we couldn’t find just a turkey breast as you can now, so we decided we’d do take-out Chinese. The restaurant was just about a block away and open.
Kid goes back to school on Monday and the teacher asks all of them what they had for Thanksgiving dinner. There were 19 (or whatever) replies of turkey and one Chinese food. He came home and asked, “When are we going to be like NORMAL people.” Since then he has become quite happy to be not normal, I’ll add.
On that note, I do Cornish hens for The Druidess and I. Told her they were personal pan turkeys. Served with traditional sides, mashed potatoes, peas, etc.
Now that it’s just me (I know, sad) I use one of our local and very nice restaurants that provides a “traditional” Thanksgiving meal. If I want leftovers I order two dinners. If I don’t I just order one. Perhaps you have a restaurant in your area that provides something like this?
We always go to a local steak house for Thanksgiving dinner. They serve a special traditional meal for those who want it, otherwise you can order steak or seafood.