Home for the holidays

My big, Italian family isn't really that big and we're getting less and less Italian with each generation.  My grandma Rose is a first generation Italian-American - that is to say her parents took a boat ride - and one of seven siblings (or six, maybe even eight; the history gets lost in translation).  Once welcomed to the melting pot, a lot of them ended up marrying Protestants (or worse yet, Irish) but never lost the Catholic knack for pumping out babies.  In fact, my grandma's three kids made for a relatively sparse group compared to the crowded houses her sisters were in charge of.

Still Rose's kids were fruitful and multiplied - my mother's only son, despite being happily married, stubbornly refuses to grace her with a grandchild - and their kids were fruitful and multiplied (and they're not done yet).  Plus, we've picked up some new family through re-marriage, that most American of traditions.  Thanksgiving, for the family of the matriarchal Rose, has the potential to be a gathering of over 40 people.

A few years ago, I stumbled onto this Emeril Lagasse recipe for a pepper-stuffed turkey, tried it at home to tremendous results and ignited my culinary flame.  It was too late to volunteer to make turkey for my family's Thanksgiving celebration, but I was told that I could bring it for Christmas to serve alongside the ham and stuffed pork roast.  From the moment I set it out, it took 15 minutes for my family to pick the bird clean down to the carcass.  We've been serving that turkey at Thanksgiving ever since.

My mom hosts Thanksgiving now since she and my step-dad moved into a house big enough to accommodate the Italian army and feeding everyone is no small task.  It's officially a "pot luck," but Mom makes most of the basics herself: turkey (usually 2 or 3 birds), gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, scalloped corn, green bean casserole, dinner rolls and a bunch of finger foods.  I've offered to help every year and despite some prideful refusals in the early going, the "Sue & Justin Show" has become an annual tradition that I really look forward to.  We work together really well in the kitchen, if only because my bass-y voice is more formidable to hungry intruders and I have no moral qualms over threatening would-be turkey pickers with a knife.

To my surprise, Mom did most of the cooking ahead of time this year.  I was left with only a few tasks: "day-of" turkey preparation (to fill the house with that unmistakable Thanksgiving aroma), preparing my sides (maple-roasted brussels sprouts and an appetizer bratwurst dip), and warming all the previously prepared food for dinner service.  I won't bore you with tales of what an effective kitchen manager I am (résumé available by request), but I will share some pictures and quick recipes from my favorite gluttonous holiday.

This is bratwurst dip with some sliced toasted baguette.  I'd share the exact recipe with you, but I'm convinced that this will get me on the Food Network someday, so all you get is an ingredient list.  It starts with browning homemade bulk bratwurst, then adding caramelized onions, garlic, whole grain mustard to the pan with some beer.  Once that reduces, mix in cream cheese and you're all done.  You get a rich and complex dip with hints of sweetness from the onions and  bitterness from the mustard and beer to complement the savory punch of bratwurst and garlic.  Killer.  No, seriously, this might give you a heart attack.

My step-dad is a native Russian and this year he invited some of his family to break bread with ours at Thanksgiving.  In part to impress his relatives but also to share his culture with ours, he put out a small spread of delicacies and comfort foods.  On top, those are sardines on top of marble rye toast.  Those would later get a dusting of grated cheese before being warmed in the oven.  In the middle are black and red caviar spread on baguette.  The bottom is an assortment of pickled cabbage, garlic cloves, gherkins and tomatoes, all of which had been ripened to pungent perfection for months in the fridge, a testament to my mother's tolerance and patience.  (I should note, in case my step-dad reads this, that I really liked all of these dishes and that he should keep making this stuff and offering it to me whenever I visit, no matter what Mom says.)

The brussels sprout got a bad reputation for a long time (I remember them as disgusting, bitter, little cabbages when I was a kid), but have attacked the culinary world with a vengeance of late.  I gave these a coating of equal parts olive oil and maple syrup with salt, pepper and white balsamic vinegar (to taste) before I roasted them in the oven.  I was a little disappointed that I didn't get a better color out of these, but I had to hide them under the turkey in the crowded oven so they never got a chance to brown up.  Delicious nonetheless and I even had to give out the recipe to a few people who had never experienced a brussels sprout they could stomach before.

I should probably elaborate on the pepper-stuffed turkey in case you didn't click through to the recipe above.  That's not a traditional stuffing packed into the cavity: you actually cut into the meat and jam a mixture of bell peppers, hot peppers, onions and garlic into the muscle itself (along with a couple sticks of seasoned butter that bastes the meat as it cooks).  The result is a spicy, richly flavored bird that maintains moist tenderness even without being brined.  No, the real result is the mostly empty plate pictured at the bottom.

The rest of the spread was literally too big to fit in the frame without knocking out a wall behind me.  That's three turkeys, for real.  Two spicy and one traditional.  Despite all these strongly flavored dishes, there are still a few people in our family who weren't blessed with an iron-clad constitution.

My wife loves this pile of banana bread on the dessert table, but has to physically restrain herself from eating any more.  Watch out for that knife, sweetie pie.  Oh, and that pie.  Watch out for that too.

Now that my long-winded retelling of the epic tale of Thanksgiving is over, what's your favorite food from your family's holiday banquet?