Thanksgiving dinner conjures up Currier & Ives memories of rosy-cheeked grannies, aided by a phalanx of aunties, sisters and assorted female cousins mustering up a veritable groaning board of goodies while the menfolk chaw away the hours in the front parlor.
But in this 24/7 workaday world, T-Day reality can be quite different.
Don’t despair.
You don’t have to splurge on a fancy dinner to evoke the true spirit and foods of Thanksgiving past. You can still gather the family, however nuclear, around the table and give thanks for what you have and for being together and for pulling a wonderful meal together without getting crazed.
Just be prepared to cheat. A little.
Supermarkets, delis, caterers and restaurants all sell a variety of precooked, ready-to-cook and assemble-X-Y-Z-and-cook dishes you can place on your holiday table. That can lighten the load so you can concentrate on the Thanksgiving dish that really matters to you, be it the roast turkey, the mashed potatoes, the pumpkin pie or the chili-cheese nacho pie you serve up with the football game on TV.
My mother cooked like this for years. She would jazz up packets of frozen onions in white sauce, add her own vegetables to commercially prepared stuffing mixes and pour a can of chicken broth into pan juices to make a quick gravy. Only trouble is, she tended to do this all rather sneakily, as though she was vaguely ashamed not to have achieved the all-American meal the old-fashioned way.
That’s why it is so refreshing to hear Jacques Pepin come clean. The French-born, classically trained chef — once in the service of Charles de Gaulle — and author of more than two dozen cookbooks and host of 11 television cooking series, admits he uses frozen peas, canned peaches and rotisserie chicken in his kitchen.
“I use the supermarket as a prep cook,” Pepin said during an appearance in Chicago last month to promote his new public television series and cookbook, both named “Jacques Pepin: More Fast Food My Way.”
Pepin sees no contradiction in using ingredients like this. It’s a way of cooking that is easy, fast, economical and healthier, he told the lunch crowd.
“Using the supermarket the right way, you can buy good-quality partially cooked or prepared food and make that food personal with a few additions or changes,” he writes in the new cookbook. “It’s a gratifying way to cook and it makes you feel that you have created something.”
My mother, if she were living, would feel so vindicated — particularly since the message comes from Pepin.
The great chef, you see, lives and shops in my hometown of Madison, Conn. Back in the 1980s and ’90s, my mother would tail him through Stop & Shop, buying whatever he bought.
“Well, why not?” she would say. “Who would know better than he?”
Thanksgiving, by the way, is Pepin’s favorite holiday because it is not based solely on religion or ethnicity.
“It’s just for the pleasure of getting together,” he said.
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Tackling the turkey: 3 ways
Fresh turkey
*Remove a 12- to 14-pound turkey from its wrappings. Remove giblets from the bird’s cavity. Wash the bird inside and out, if you wish. Drain; pat dry.
*Season cavity with 1/2 teaspoon salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. (Loosely pack the bird with stuffing, if you like.)
*Place the turkey in a roasting pan, preferably on a rack; roast in a 325-degree oven until thermometer inserted in thickest part of inner thigh reaches 165 degrees, about 3 to 3 3/4 hours. (When cooking stuffing inside the bird, make sure the stuffing reaches 165 degrees. A stuffed bird will take 3 1/2 to 4 hours.)
*Brush the glaze over the bird about 1 hour before it is scheduled to be ready. Repeat glazing 30 minutes later and then 15 minutes later. Remove turkey to a cutting board; let rest at least 15 minutes before carving.
Frozen turkey
*Thaw the bird in its wrapping in the refrigerator. A 12- to 14-pound turkey will take three to four days. Place the turkey on a tray or pan to contain any liquid that may drip from the bird. For a faster thaw, submerge the bird in cold water and soak 6 to 8 hours, changing the water every 30 minutes.
*Roast and glaze the turkey according to the directions given for a fresh turkey.
Ready-to-eat turkey
*Place the turkey in a roasting pan.
*Heat in 250-degree oven until hot, for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Glaze the turkey according to the directions given for a fresh turkey.
— B.D.
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Punch up the sides
Gravy: Doctor up canned gravy with a dose of wine, fresh herbs and crumbled bacon. Pan juices are great too.
Creamed onions: Cook frozen creamed onions according to package directions. Gently stir in a pat of butter and top with a sprinkling of fresh-snipped chives.
Mashed potatoes: Boil or microwave peeled, packaged precut potatoes (found in the produce aisle) until cooked through. Mash with plenty of cream, butter and salt.
Butternut squash: Buy prepeeled, cut pieces if planning to roast the squash. Baste with melted butter and brown sugar before putting in the oven. For mashed squash, looked for canned varieties. Stir in maple syrup, butter and a little mace while heating.
Apple pie: If the pie is streusel-topped, drizzle calvados or other apple brandy over the apples. Or pass a flavored whipped cream or top with a scoop of high-quality cinnamon or butter pecan ice cream.
— Bill Daley
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3 easy glazes to boost the bird’s flavor
These glazes will work on any type of poultry, not just turkey. Brush it over the bird about 1 hour before it is scheduled to be done; repeat glazing 30 minutes later and then 15 minutes later.
Soy, mustard and orange glaze
Recipe key: Easy, Fast
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 1 minute
Makes: 2 cups
The soy sauce in this glaze may encourage the turkey to brown too much. If you see that’s about to happen, loosely tent aluminum foil over the bird.
3/4 cup each: soy sauce, orange juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, optional
2 teaspoons ground ginger
Combine the ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave on high until the glaze has thickened and the brown sugar has melted, 1-2 minutes.
Nutrition information
Per tablespoon: 21 calories, 1% of calories from fat, 0.03 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 5 g carbohydrates, 1 g protein, 509 mg sodium, 0 g fiber
Chipotle glaze
Recipe key: Easy, Fast
Prep: 10 minutes
Makes: 1 1/2 cups
Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo restaurants used this recipe on his television series, “Mexico: One Plate at a Time” to add verve to roasted peanuts. Buy a 7-ounce can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the Mexican food aisle. Refrigerate or freeze leftover chipotles and sauce for use in another recipe.
6 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon salt
Juice of 3 limes
Place chipotles in a blender or food processor. Add 3 tablespoons of the adobo sauce from the can, brown sugar, ketchup, salt and lime juice. Puree until smooth.
Nutrition information
Per tablespoon: 33 calories, 1% of calories from fat, 0.1 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 8 g carbohydrates, 0 g protein, 366 mg sodium, 0 g fiber
Maple-Bourbon glaze
Recipe key: Easy, Fast
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 2 minutes
Makes: 1 1/2 cups
Use pure maple syrup. If Bourbon seems too daunting, try dark rum instead. The optional butter gives a luxurious oomph to the flavor.
1 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup Bourbon
2 tablespoons butter
Place maple syrup, Bourbon and butter in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave on high to thicken the glaze slightly, 2 minutes.
Nutrition information
Per tablespoon: 44 calories, 20% of calories from fat, 1 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 2 mg cholesterol, 9 g carbohydrates, 0 g protein, 1 mg sodium, 0 g fiber
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Cranberry-currant sauce
Recipe key: Easy
Prep: 10 minutes
Stand: 45 minutes
Makes: 2 cups
1/2 cup each: brandy, currants
1 can (16 ounces) whole berry cranberry sauce
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
Zest of 1 each, minced: orange, lemon
Pour brandy over the currants in a medium bowl; let stand until the currants soften and plump up, about 45 minutes. Add the cranberry sauce, cardamom and zests; stir to mix. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Nutrition information
Per 1/4 cup serving: 111 calories, 0% of calories from fat, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 28 g carbohydrates, 0 g protein, 13 mg sodium, 2 g fiber
Glam pumpkin pie
Recipe key: Easy, Fast
Prep: 12 minutes
Makes: 8 servings
Admittedly, there’s little you can do to change a commercially prepared baked pumpkin pie on the inside. But you can play around with the outside, using a dark rum-flavored whipped cream you make yourself and a showering of smoked almonds. Decorate the pie with whipped cream any way you want — just make sure to cover up the edge of the crust so people don’t immediately recognize it as a purchased pie.
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 cup smoked almonds, chopped
1 (9-inch) pumpkin pie
Beat the whipping cream to soft peaks; stir in the rum. Spread the whipped cream evenly over the top of the pie or pipe in decorative swirls. Sprinkle chopped almonds over the pie.
Nutrition information
Per serving: 454 calories, 55% of calories from fat, 28 g fat, 12 g saturated fat, 106 mg cholesterol, 43 g carbohydrates, 9 g protein, 385 mg sodium, 5 g fiber
Jazzed-up stuffing
Recipe key: Easy
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Makes: 6 servings
You can toss just about anything into stuffing. Give your refrigerator a good look-through for easily cooked, already-cooked or no-cook items to stir in for extra flavor or texture. The day’s breakfast can be a source of inspiration: Fry up extra bacon or sausage patties to crumble into the stuffing mix.
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 package (12 ounces) herbed stuffing mix
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 cooked sausage patties or 4 strips cooked bacon, crumbled
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup chopped, fresh sage leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 can (14.5 ounces) low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup white wine
1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Melt the butter in a large skillet; add the celery, green onions and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.
2. Transfer vegetables to a large bowl. Stir in the stuffing mix, walnuts, sausage, eggs, sage, salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth and wine; toss to coat bread. Spoon stuffing into a buttered 13-by-9-inch pan; bake 30 minutes.
Nutrition information
Per serving: 449 calories, 44% of calories from fat, 22 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 102 mg cholesterol, 67 g carbohydrates, 20 g protein, 881 mg sodium, 5 g fiber
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wdaley@tribune.com
