Best Thanksgiving side dish recipes

[hungryabbey]

Im looking for:
-a baby carrot recipe
-a green bean recipe
-a sweet potato recipe (that does not contain marshmallows)
-and some type of interesting dinner roll/bread to serve

My family does not eat cheese, so please no recipes that contain any cheese or heavy creamy sauces. Thanks in advance!

[piccola]

This is one of my favourite roll recipes: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/recipe.jsp?recipe_id=R115 (You can skip the cheese butter - I always do

)

Indian-style green beans: http://recipes.tajonline.com/91/masaledar-sem--spicy-green-beans.html

Giant sweet potato latke: http://www.jewishtimes.com/scripts/ed... (I usually sub bread crumbs for the cookie crumbs)

[Antilope]

The October 2007 issue of Gourmet Magazine has a recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding. I made this tonight and it is so good. It will definitely be one of this years Thanksgiving side dishes:

Pumpkin Bread Pudding
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

[hungryabbey]

hm this is interesting.. is it more sweet or savory?

[Antilope]

It's sweet, like a traditional bread pudding, just pumpkin flavored.

[hungryabbey]

mm thanks everyone so much for your suggestions! I definety think Im going to do the sweet potatos with pecan crunch toping and Im still deciding between all of your veggies sugestions. thanks again!

[vorpal]

Please let us know what you go with and what you and your dining companions think about it! I love to hear food opinions on recommendations, be they mine or someone else's.

[sprmario]

i don't have real recipes for these because i just eyeball ingreedients. but here we go on two of them:

Mashed Sweet potatoes

Cut up the potatoes in large chunks. Boil in salted water. Mash. Separately warm up some half and half or whole milk (depends on how much fat is ok 1/4 cup per potato), some butter (about 1 tbs per potato), maple syrup (about 2 tbsp per potato), salt, pepper, and ground ginger to taste. The ginger, maple syrup and butter go great w/ the potatoes. You could add some toasted pecans too.

Green Beans

Blanche the green beans, pull them out when they are nice and bright green (just a few min in boiling salted water), and cool them in ice water fast to stop the cooking. Toast some walnuts. Cook up some shallots in some olive oil w/ salt and pepper. Cook up some high quality bacon till it is nice and crisp, drain between paper towls and cut up into small chunks. Toss green beans, shallots, walnuts and bacon together with a home made simple vinegrette (balsalmic vinegar, dijon mustard and good olive oil).

[coconutgoddess]

For sweet potatoes I did an orange cranberry pineapple mash.
Simply bake 4 sweet potatoes until they are soft. Peel and mash into a bowl.
Add 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple
1/4 cup cranberry chutney (i use a homemade one)
1 chopped orange
1 T orange zest
sweeten to taste with brown sugar.
pour into a small casserole. (I usually use a souffle dish)
I always like to dot with butter, then bake for 30 min at 325.

you can also scoop the mixture into orange halves. and then bake.

For the green beans, I always prefer a very simple preperation.
Saute in a little butter/ olive oil, sliced garlic, splash of a good balsamic, fresh cracked pepper.

coconutgoddess
http://www.coconutgoddess.typepad.com...

[goatfarm]

I fix something similar to this every year for my work Thanksgiving pitch-in. My recipe comes from the old HP Books "Cajun-Creole Cooking".

http://cheftami.blogspot.com/2006/09/...

[coconutgoddess]

i love the way the addition of those spices sounds. sadly.. i have a family of non-spice lovers...lol

coconutgoddess
http://www.coconutgoddess.typepad.com...

[daveena]

My go-to green bean recipe (really, more assembly instructions than a recipe, it's that simple) - it's really, really nice to have an acidic, nonfat vegetable at Thanksgiving -

Finely chop shallots, marinate in enough good red wine vinegar (the kind that actually tastes like wine) to cover, for at least an hour.

Blanch green beans until tender, shock in ice water.

10 minutes before serving, spoon marinated shallots and vinegar over beans (you can do it earlier, and they'll taste great, but they'll discolor). Season with coarse salt (I like Maldon sea salt) and black pepper.

[vorpal]

I'm a huge fan of Paula Deen's spicy green beans. I tend to go easy on the cayenne and a little heavier on the bacon, and they're delicious:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recip...

[JungMann]

I hate the sugary mess that too often passes for sweet potatoes at the Thanksgiving table, but I have to admit a certain love for my pureed sweet potatoes with pecan-maple crunch on top.

A couple of years ago I made a great green bean dish, stir fried in Thai red curry paste with miso and eggplant. Great flavor, though I'm not sure how well it would blend in with most Thanksgiving spreads.

[Siobhan]

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

Mashed sweet potatoes with Pecans and Brown Sugar

I cut out the vanilla and add OJ instead of maple syrup. Really good.

[JungMann]

Actually I use this one: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo....

You can cut out a third of the sugar in the yams for a little less sweetness but add vanilla. I still would sub a little bit of maple syrup for the brown sugar in the crunch topping.

[vorpal]

Just wanted to add that sweet potatoes are most definitely not the same thing as yams, in case anyone here is using the terms interchangeably. I believe that yams are difficult to find in North America, being a predominantly African starch and grocery stores usually pass sweet potatoes off as such. I can't imagine adding extra sweetness to sweet potatoes, which are already way too much so in my opinion, but that's just me.

[JungMann]

I've heard this explication on the difference between sweet potatoes and yams before. You're totally correct, though, like many Americans, I use yams colloquially as a synonym for sweet potato. I've got to train myself to stop!

[macca]

For an easy baby carrot recipe: blanch the carrots in salted, boiling water until almost tender. Into an ice bath to stop the cooking. You can actually do this ahead of time, even the day befroe if you like. Just before serving, melt butter in saute pan, add the carrots and some tarragon- you can add a bit of honey if you want sweet, or a squirt of lemon juice instead. season with S/P and you are good to go. This is one way I sometimes get picky kids to eat carrots.

[Nyleve]

This is what you want. Chipotle Sweet Potatoes.

http://www.chow.com/digest/1100

[Veggo]

Nyleve, that sounds very good, I wrote it down and will make it soon. Please clarify one point: Does it call for one (1) chipotle pepper out of, say, the usual 7 ounce can, or one (1) whole 7 ounce can of chipotle peppers? I'm thinking just one good sized pepper; those rascals go a long way. Thanks

[Nyleve]

Oh just ONE PEPPER - not one can! Yikes - even the just thought of a whole can is making me nervous. If you're really tolerant, I suppose you could add more, but I'd go gradually on this.

[Veggo]

Nyleve, I'm going to toast some pecan halves and add them to the four layers. I think the extra texture and one more flavor might work.

[Nyleve]

Good idea. I'd love to hear how it turns out.

[pescatarian]

No wonder it was SOO spicy when I made this last year! I have to say, I don't think it was too spicy, but some people did find it a tad piquant ;)

[coll]

I made the same mistake, even my BIL who loves painfully hot didn't eat much, so I froze the leftovers in small amounts and added it to my curry all winter. Didn't need much more spicing than that!

[Marion Morgenthal]

How brilliant of you to ask that question. I saw the recipe several years ago and interpreted it as a can of peppers. Even the hardiest soul at the table couldn't do more than one bite. I haven't had the courage to try it again--but I'm sure it's great if you follow the recipe correctly!

[Veggo]

Thanks, but I have more cowardice than brilliance.

[tartiflette]

No matter how many times I stray, I always come back to my favourite lemon-rosemary green bean recipe as my go-to.

Parboil the beans for about 4 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water. In a large skillet, saute some garlic in olive oil until soft. Add a generous pinch of dried rosemary and the parboiled beans; season with S&P to taste. Saute on high heat until the beans are cooked through and a bit browned, then immediately spritz with some lemon juice and honey. Toss to coat and serve.

[valerie]

I love this Barefoot Contessa recipe for string beans with shallots. And you can do most of it in advance.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recip...

[violabratsche]

I have a carrot "souffle" recipe that's somewhat cake-like, that I adapted by using rutabaga, for Thanksgiving. I may try sweet potatoes this year, instead of the carrots or rutabaga. I can post it if you'd like.

AnnieG

[danhole]

I second the carrot souffle! I did not use anything but baby carrots. It is really good and if someone doesn't like carrots, tell them they are sweet potatoes.

I also have a recipe for "Country style" greeen beans that you make with diced onions and ham.