Reader, you should know that we consider Thanksgiving the penultimate holiday. Not because we think the idyllic picture of Native Americans + pilgrims sitting down to a big hokey dinner holds any historical water, mind you. No, the primary appeal for us has always been three-fold: First, we love cooking a lot of food and entertaining guests—I mean, our default is to prepare so many elaborate dishes that we could feed a small vegan army, so it’s nice to have an actual real-world demand for vast spreads of food from time to time; second, we really enjoy just hanging out with friends and just gabbing it up, especially when we can play host and do it in the comfort of our own home—bring the party to us, as it were!; thirdly, we totally love not traveling on a holiday and enjoying the bizarre ghost metropolis of New York City as half of its gargantuan populace leaves us contentedly in the dust…it’s kinda like that persistent childhoof fantasy of being locked in a toy store at night. But with more pigeons + booze.
This year we teamed up with friends to create a truly coma-inducing menu, which you can see pictured above, but we’ve also detailed herein. Behold!
appetizer
herb roasted nuts
avocado salsa
butternut squash handpies
chipotle cream sauce
salad
arugula + shaved fennel salad
roasted pecans, dried cranberries, lemon vinaigrette
protein
hazelnut cranberry celebration roast en croute
orange glaze, carrot & red pepper coulis
vegetable
roasted brussels sprouts
smoked shiitakes, roasted pecans
crispy fried potato skins
vegan cheese, smoked tempeh, house made sour cream
curry kale & potato galette
candied yams
dessert
pistachio olive oil cake
fig compote filling + cream cheese icing
oven roasted banana rum cheesecake
I know. I’m full again just reading through that.
Our friends Stacy + Keith documented the extravaganza with the photos below and many more over on their blog, Vegan Fatty Boomblatty. We’ve linked to the handpie + olive oil cake recipes above and Stacy + Keith have written up basic instructions on how to do the potato skins (which were really good) and provided a recipe for the tartlets (ditto) over at VFB.
Oh, and for the record—ultimate holiday: the day before Thanksgiving, when you’ve four days of awesomeness ahead of you and a world of possibilities, most of which revolve around eating, drinking, and/or watching The Cosby Show. Best.
Photos below by Stacy + Keith De-lin.
