November Letter

WHAT CAN I BRING?

This year I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner. There will be no groaning board at my house. I get a little lightheaded when I think about it, because for years the family and friends have gathered at my table. Over those years I've evolved a favorite menu, accomodating the tastes of adults and children, vegetarians and carnivores.

Now, I get to try something else. This year, I'll be travelling to my sister's house to visit more distant family. My teenaged son will get some driving practice, my kids will spend time with their young cousin, and I will be one of those people who says, "what can I bring?"

At least as many people face this question on Thanksgiving as the number who play host. Sometimes it's easy. You might be told: "bring two pecan pies and whipped cream" or "yams with pineapple - I'll fax you the recipe." But sometimes it's "bring whatever you like" and you have to figure it out.

Potluck is a wonderful American tradition, and Thanksgiving, for many, is the the big mama potluck of the year. I love the spirit of a potluck dinner. Sharing food is something that binds us together, as family and as a culture. It's very satisfying to feed others, and equally fine to be fed. In a potluck everyone gets to do both.

I love the informality, and also the surprises. My favorite potluck is the kind where you say "it's a potluck - bring something," and no further guidance is given. Amazingly, it almost always works out well. I haven't seen one yet where there were fifteen potato salads.

Thanksgiving traditions, fortunately, fit well with the usual potluck rules. The food has to be prepared ahead, has to travel, should have a fighting chance of fitting in with other folks' foods, and can't be too weird. Save the cold curried Singapore noodles for Friday.

I decided on a variation of the Polenta Torta that became the centerpiece of my 'Thanksgiving for Everyone' menu in The New Vegetarian Epicure. It's a thick polenta, mixed with roasted kabocha squash and caramelized onions, then molded into a dome-like cake, brushed with olive oil and baked. I serve it on a big platter, surrounded by sautéd spinach and garlic.

This is a fabulous autumn dish, great with a good red wine, and makes a fine meal in itself. It's an even finer meal at Thanksgiving when it's surrounded by various other roasted and sautéd vegetables, and it has the useful quality of fitting in with just about anything else you might find on that Thanksgiving table.

This year I wanted to try the polenta with a different squash, and serve it with roasted mushrooms instead of spinach.

I made a version with roasted butternut squash, and stirred in just a bit of mascarpone. It was a simple and utterly delicious flavor. The butternut squash is juicier than the dense kabocha, so the resulting dish is softer and I decided to bake it in a gratin dish, lightly drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. This is a real plus in the potluck sweepstakes, for what can be easier to transport than a casserole?

For the oven roasted wild mushrooms, I combined easy to find portobellos, shiitakes and Italian browns with some porcini. Polenta and mushrooms is a classic combination, and when the mushrooms are porcini - if even some of the mushrooms are porcini - it's heavenly. The recipe you'll find in this month's "new recipes" is simple. The mushrooms are tossed with olive oil, garlic, onions and Marsala, and roasted in a covered pan for about an hour, then uncovered and finished as the wine and juices reduce to a glaze. What an aroma! And the last step can be saved for the last minute.

If you are the mastermind in charge of dinner, instead of the casserole-bearing guest, you can build a festive meal around this polenta with mushrooms. Here are some dishes you can assign to your guests: the sautéd spinach or other greens (with garlic, of course), a cranberry relish or chutney, roasted yams with green tomatoes, glazed pearl onions, roasted green beans, beet salad.... and so on.

And if you're the one who is bringing something, you'll be sure of these two things: you'll eat very well, and there won't be three other people showing up with Gratin of Polenta with Butternut Squash and Mascarpone, and Roasted Wild Mushrooms. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

November 2000 recipe