When it comes to planning Thanksgiving dinner, why bite off more than you can chew?
Instead of trying some new super fancy dish (read: guests as guinea pigs), stick to what you know, but add a little pizzazz. To help, executive chef Michael Bertozzi of TWO urban licks offers six easy tips for elevating classic Thanksgiving dishes.
- Stuffing. "Instead of just cornbread, try mixing brioche and cornbread with dried cherries, chorizo and pecans. Let it all soak in a homemade chicken or turkey stock, which [you] pour over the top. [Sprinkle] with sage, parsley and chives, let it sit for a few hours then bake. The biggest thing about stuffing is not to make it dry. When you add these extra components, it makes the stuffing a heartier dish."
- Mac and cheese. "There's always the option of adding pork or a dried Spanish chorizo to the mac and cheese mix. When you gratinée the top with [something like] garlic breadcrumbs, add cilantro to give it more of a Latin twist. Or, just add bacon."
- Gravy. "Instead of the traditional brown gravy, do something different like salsa verde."
- Greens. "Sautéed collards with miso compound butter and a little bit of lemon juice makes it terrific. It brightens up greens."
- Jiffy cornbread mix. "It's all about what you add into it. Smoked oysters or dried currents will make it different. Give it texture with toasted pecan or walnuts."
- Potatoes. "You have to have potatoes whether they are mashed, pomme rosti or fingerling potatoes with great herbs. Pomme rosti is basically hash browns baked in a cast iron skillet. Get your cast iron hot with a lot of butter, add shaved potatoes that look like hash browns and once it starts getting crispy, pop it into the oven. Let it bake all the way through then add shaved garlic and rich cheese like brie or taleggio so it's more like cheesy hash browns than traditional mash potatoes."
Should you decide to forgo these tips, fork over a few bucks and head to TWO urban licks' sister restaurant, Parish , which is offering to-go sides like mac and cheese, cornbread sage and sausage stuffing, rolls, relish and sweet potato puree. Orders must be placed by 3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23 and must be picked up by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 25.
For more information on Thanksgiving to-go dishes, click here .
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Read the AJC Fall Dining Guide, Atlanta Around the Clock, here.
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