Michael Symon's Heartland Thanksgiving Dinner
Shaved-Vegetable Salad
Michael Symon begins Thanksgiving with this tangle of multicolored vegetables—radishes, golden beet and carrots—tossed with a lemon-dill dressing. Because they’re served raw, the vegetables should be sliced very thin, in a food processor or preferably on a mandoline. Symon recommends using a Greek feta for the salad’s cheese garnish, because he likes that Greek feta is saltier than some others.
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Cider-Glazed Turkey with Lager Gravy
Lots of people brine their turkeys. Not Symon, who thinks brining makes the bird a little rubbery. He salts his bird well and refrigerates it overnight to season it. Before roasting, he covers the breast and legs with cheesecloth that's been soaked in a cider-infused butter. For his beer-spiked gravy, Symon recommends the German-style Dortmunder Gold, made by Great Lakes Brewing Company, from his home state of Ohio.
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Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes
Symon’s four-ingredient potatoes get plenty of flavor from browned butter and crème fraîche. Reserve a little browned butter to drizzle on the potatoes just before serving.
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Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Capers, Walnuts and Anchovies
The key to Symon’s deeply savory side dish is a dressing that includes anchovies, capers, mustard and a little honey.
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Lemony Mushroom-and-Pine-Nut Stuffing Muffins
A mix of sautéed wild mushrooms adds lots of texture to this stuffing; lemon juice and zest make it tangy. The mushroom stuffing can be made vegetarian-friendly simply by replacing the chicken stock with vegetable stock.
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Swiss Chard and Leek Gratin
This gratin combines blanched chard and sautéed leeks, cooked until just tender in a creamy two-cheese sauce made with both Gruyére and Parmigiano-Reggiano.
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Apple Brown Betty
Symon usually doesn’t make dessert for holidays. Still, his version of this classic is great after a big meal because it isn’t too sweet or too heavy. He layers brioche bread crumbs with sliced apples and a cinnamon-citrus sugar, baking everything together so it becomes wonderfully soft.