Thanksgiving Week Day 5 - Butternut Squash Gratin

For Day 5 of Thanksgiving Week I wanted to choose a side dish recipe that was a little more exciting than mashed potatoes (although I do love mashed potatoes) but still easy enough to manage as part of a big meal.

I initially chose a recipe for honey and herb roasted root vegetables from Cooking Light. I shopped, chopped, cooked, and photographed before tasting and deciding that the recipe just wasn't special enough to share for Thanksgiving Week. It was still good, just a little boring.

I then had a lot of pressure to choose a really good recipe to share instead, and decided to go with a Bon Appetit recipe for a butternut squash gratin, which got lots of really good reviews on Epicurious. One bite in, I knew I'd made a good choice this time - whereas I wouldn't care if I ever ate the root vegetables again, this gratin was definitely something I would (and did) go back for seconds of.

I was a bit worried about the type of cheese that the recipe called for, as I'd never paired squash and cheddar together, but the caramelized onions really brought everything together in an unexpected but delicious way. The only bad part about this recipe was that it was hard to photograph, and I hate when really tasty dishes don't come across that way in pictures. But trust me, underneath that pile of messy breadcrumbs is some of the most flavourful squash I've ever tasted! I think the chicken broth helped infuse a unique flavour to the squash that I really liked, but you could easily use vegetable broth to make this dish vegetarian.

There are only 2 days of Thanksgiving Week left and I've saved the best for last - the main dish and the dessert - so be sure to come back for the recipes!

Butternut Squash Gratin with Rosemary Breadcrumbs

Adapted from Bon Appetit, as seen on Epicurious

Serves 8 - 10

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cups thinly sliced onions
2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
1.5 to 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs made from soft white bread (I used storebought, panko would also work)
2 cups (packed) grated sharp white cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 13x9x2 glass baking dish with cooking spray.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft and golden, about 8 minutes. Add the chopped squash, stir and sauté another 4 minutes. Sprinkle the sugar, salt, and pepper over the vegetables and sauté until onions and squash begin to caramelize, stirring often, about 5 minutes.

Spread the squash-onion mixture in the prepared baking dish. Pour the chicken broth over the mixture, cover tightly with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.

*The above steps can all be done 1 day ahead. Just cool the mixture after baking, then cover and refrigerate. Reheat the next day in a 350°F oven until heated through, about 10 minutes, then proceed with the rest of the directions.

Increase oven temperature to 400°F. Mix the breadcrumbs, cheese, rosemary and thyme in a large bowl, then sprinkle evenly over gratin. Bake uncovered until top is golden brown and crisp, about 25-30 minutes.

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For other Thanksgiving side dish ideas, check out these links:

Cider glazed roots with cinnamon walnuts from Eating Well
Maple roasted sweet potatoes from Eating Well
Crispy potato roast from The Bitten Word
Potato gratin with rosemary crust from The Bitten Word
Oven roasted garlic brussel sprouts from Sweet Pea's Kitchen
Mashed sweet potatoes from All Recipes

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Thanksgiving Week Day 4 - Pumpkin, Cranberry & Goat Cheese Salad

The next component of my Thanksgiving Week recipes is the salad. This often seems to be the least exciting part of the meal, and I usually find myself skipping the salad because I don’t want to waste precious room in my stomach on boring greens when there are so many other delicious dishes to choose from. With that in mind, I wanted to choose a recipe that people would really want to make space for – both on their plates and in their stomachs! So when I came across a recipe for a pumpkin salad with maple vinaigrette in my favourite Cooking Light book (Cooking through the Seasons), I knew it would be a success.

I made quite a few changes to the recipe, drawing some inspiration from a similar Whole Living recipe, and adding in some ingredients that I thought would go well in this salad. The end result was fantastic! The roasted pumpkin, cranberries, and goat cheese all complemented each other really nicely and the addition of the maple vinaigrette just made this salad scream of Fall and Thanksgiving.

This was my first time roasting a pie pumpkin, since I usually stick to the canned stuff. If you’ve never bought one, they might also be called sugar pumpkins or sweet pumpkins, and they’re much smaller than the pumpkins you carve for Halloween. Just look for the cutest little pumpkins in the store and those should be them :) Pie pumpkins are usually cut in half then roasted whole when they’re being used for pie filling, but for this recipe you want to have cubes of pumpkin, so you’ll have to cut it up before roasting. They can be a little hard to cut through, and you’ll have to use a large sharp knife, so just be careful when you’re doing this!

It’s a little difficult to write ingredient amounts for a salad because they are so adaptable to your own taste, and I only tested an individual serving when I made this. I did my best with the amounts below, but just use your eyes as a guide and adjust any of the amounts based on what you think is appropriate. As long as you get the key ingredients in there, this is sure to be a salad that people will make room for this Thanksgiving!

And for another unique salad idea, be sure to check out the warm brussel sprouts toss recipe over at Vanilla & Spice for Day 4 of her Thanksgiving Week!

Pumpkin, Cranberry, and Goat Cheese Salad with Maple Vinaigrette

Adapted from Cooking Light and Whole Living

Serves 4-7

Ingredients:

1 pie pumpkin (also known as a sugar pumpkin or sweet pumpkin)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 (5-6 oz) container mixed greens

1/4 cup roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) – I bought these, but you could roast your own using the seeds of the pumpkin

1/2 to 1 cup dried cranberries

~5 oz goat cheese, crumbled

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450°F. Slice the pumpkin in half using a sharp knife (if it’s too difficult to cut through, try microwaving the pumpkin briefly to soften it up – just be sure to cut a few slits through the skin first to let moisture seep out). Scoop out the flesh and seeds with an ice cream scoop. Peel off the skin and cut the flesh into bite sized chunks. Toss chunks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, then roast on a baking sheet until tender, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

Assemble the salad by mixing together desired amounts of mixed greens, roasted pumpkin, pepitas, cranberries, and goat cheese, then toss with desired amount of dressing.

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For other Thanksgiving salad ideas, check out these links:

Thanksgiving Spinach Salad with Dried Cranberries, Almonds, and Goat Cheese from Kalyn’s Kitchen

Roasted sweet potato, apple, and spinach salad from Two Peas & Their Pod

Arugula with pomegranates, blue cheese, and pistachios from Skinny Taste

Winter salad with roasted squash and pomegranate vinaigrette from Eating Well

Apple, dried cherry, and walnut salad with maple dressing from Bon Appetit

Roasted Butternut Squash & Pear Salad with Spiced Pecan Vinaigrette from Fine Cooking

Roasted Squash, Chestnut, and Chicory Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette from Gourmet

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Thanksgiving Week Day 3 - Hearty Sweet Potato Braids

For Day 3 of Thanksgiving Week, I decided to share this recipe for hearty sweet potato braids. Bread is an essential part of any meal, but especially the Thanksgiving meal. I think there are two types of bread people – the first likes to eat their bread on the side of their meal, and the other uses it to construct a sandwich out of everything else on their plate. I used to be in the former category, until I discovered how amazing all the components of Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, cranberry sauce, potatoes, stuffing) taste when mixed together on top of a slice of thick bread. But either way you like to eat it, this sweet potato bread is delicious!

This is not a light and fluffy bread – it’s dense and moist, hence the word ‘hearty’ in the title. It’s also not a sweet bread as you might expect from having the sweet potato in there – the addition of the thyme makes it a savory bread, but you could always adjust any of the spices to your own taste! I really enjoyed this bread as is, and I think it would be a great addition to a Thanksgiving meal on its own. But it would also work really well as a base for the spicy pumpkin hummus appetizer I shared yesterday (I tried this and they paired really well together)!

The recipe makes two loaves, and while one would be enough to feed a crowd, you might as well make two loaves because it would be tricky to divide a package of yeast in half. This also means you get to keep a whole extra loaf all to yourself – just slice it, wrap it up well and pop it in the freezer after you bake it, then you can pull out a slice or two to thaw anytime you want! One of my favourite dinners last week consisted of a few slices of this bread topped with a ton of roasted garlic with salt and pepper – amazing!

As with any yeast bread, this does take a while to make, but most of it is “hands off” time, freeing you up to work on your other Thanksgiving dishes! This was my first time making a braided bread, and it was actually much easier than I thought! If you’ve ever braided hair, then it’s just like that (although a little heavier and doughier!) After dividing your dough into six equal portions, you roll each one into a 20” rope – if you have a pastry mat with measurements on it, then this part is really easy! Ryan’s mom gave me one and it makes rolling out pie dough and other dough so much easier than my old method of trying to line up a bunch of rulers on the counter. It also makes clean up much simpler too!

I tried two methods for braiding the dough. First I tried braiding from the centre of the ropes:

For my second loaf, I tried braiding from the end of the ropes:

Both worked, but as you can see from the pictures, the first method resulted in a slightly more even braid, so I think I’d recommend you try the braiding from the middle method.

If you don’t have time to make a yeasted bread on Thanksgiving, then check out the Thanksgiving Week recipe for rosemary sweet potato cornbread over at Vanilla & Spice!

Hearty Sweet Potato Braids

Adapted from Taste of Home

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:

1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (110° to 115°)

1/2 teaspoon sugar

~1.5 lbs sweet potato, peeled and cubed (from about 1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes)

1 cup warm skim milk (110° to 115°)

1/4 cup canola oil

3 tablespoons honey

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2-3/4 to 3-1/4 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the sweet potato cubes and simmer about 15 minutes, until tender. Drain and rinse with cold water, then transfer to a bowl and mash the sweet potatoes with a fork. Let cool to room temperature.

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast into the warm water. Add the sugar, stir, and leave for 10 minutes. Mixture should foam and double in size – if it doesn’t, the yeast is no longer active, and you’ll have to start again with a new pack.

Pour the yeast mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer, or a large bowl. Add the mashed sweet potatoes, milk, oil, honey, all-purpose flour, cornmeal, salt, thyme, nutmeg, and 2 cups of the whole-wheat flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining whole wheat flour to form a firm dough.

Attach the dough hook to the mixer and knead for 6-8 minutes until smooth and elastic. If you don’t have a dough hook, knead the dough by hand on a floured surface. Add more flour as you’re kneading if the dough is too sticky.

Transfer the ball of dough into a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough and divide into six equal portions (a scale is helpful here). Shape each portion into a 20-inch rope. Place three ropes side by side on a baking sheet that has been lightly greased or lined with parchment paper. Braid the three ropes and pinch each end to seal, tucking under the braid. Repeat with the remaining ropes to form two braids. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 35 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F.

Bake loaves together at 350°F for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. Slice diagonally.

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For other Thanksgiving bread ideas, check out these links:

Perfect dinner rolls from Mel’s Kitchen Café

Buttermilk cluster from The Fresh Loaf

Soft garlic knots from Annie’s Eats

Parmesan pull-apart rolls from Picky Cook

Cranberry walnut bread rolls from La Tartine Gourmande

Pumpkin garlic knots from Handle the Heat

Rosemary pumpkin crescent rolls from Heat Oven to 350

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