My mother does most of the cooking for our Thanksgiving. Even though she is Venezuelan, she serves a traditional Thanksgiving meal. We typically eat turkey with golden-crisp skin, raisin-flecked stuffing, Portobello mushrooms sautéed in butter and garlic, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. My aunt adds spinach casserole or arroz con leche. This year I’m contributing some of the green beans I wrote about in my previous post, as well as the Florida avocado salsa that my brother loves.
My favorite part of the meal is my mom’s cranberry sauce. In addition to the usual orange rind, she adds the tropical touch of small pineapple chunks. It’s mouth-puckeringly tart at first bite, but with enough sweetness to make it taste like dessert to me. I could eat it by the spoonful and often do. Here’s Mom’s recipe:
As Thanksgiving approaches, I crave the rich flavors of the classic dishes. I welcome variations to the meal and additions to the already sagging table, but I will always embrace the traditional foods.
When my husband and I were in Spain in 2001, we sought out our meal at an Irish pub in Sevilla. Sevilla has many universities with large foreign exchange programs, so there are a lot of Americans around at Thanksgiving time. I savored gazpacho, pulpo, and caldo gallego the other 49 days we were in Spain, but on that day, I was grateful for my turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. We were served by a no-nonsense Spanish woman and a friendly Irish bartender. I was thankful there– sitting at the bar in that dark pub, listening to Dark Side of the Moon blast out of the speakers — for a taste of home.
Thank you to everyone who has helped or encouraged me with Miami Dish this year. I’m grateful for all of the people I’ve met, the stories I’ve savored, and the delicious food I’ve tasted.
Great post! Happy Thanksgiving!
Spain sounds amazing.
Even though I am Asian, I look forward to a traditional turkey dinner once a year too. It’s good not many people like dark meat, we get the pick.
Back in Key West days, my sisters and I marinaded turkey with tamari and lemon juice. Instead of making one tray of stuffing, I put the stuffing in lots of different small baking pans so they crisped up. Everyone loved that the flavors were so different. When my sisters and I get together, we put our Asian spin on everything and anything.
Wow, that sounds good, especially the crispy stuffing!