Halloween is over in a flurry of candy, and according to the malls, it's time for Christmas. But there's a big food holiday in between. It happens to be the holiday my family hosts for both sides of the family each year, too. But guess what? I don't cook the meal. That's right! After several years of getting up at dawn to deal with frozen turkeys and arguing with my husband all day, taking vacation days the week before to make things ahead of time, etc. we decided to get it catered. There is an Italian grocery chain near me that makes the entire meal - bread, sides, etc. - hot and ready Thanksgiving afternoon.
I may do a couple desserts and a few appetizers, but that's it. It's about the same price of the ingredients to make everything too. Now on Thanksgiving my family might do a bit of last minute cleaning and setting up, but basically we relax and enjoy the day.
This year, though, I mentioned to my mother that I feel like making something, but I don't know what. She suggested I look through some cookbooks. Oh yeah - not only do I have 300 cookbooks in various places in the house; I have at least 15 that are devoted to holidays. I cracked open the Complete Holiday Cookbook from Favorite Recipes Press, from the 70's, and found several Thanksgiving menus.
Here's Wilted Lettuce from the "Holiday Week-End Luncheon":
1 head lettuce
1 small onion, diced
5 to 6 slices bacon, diced
1/4 cup bacon grease
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup water
Break lettuce into small pieces; place in bowl with onion. Heat bacon until crisp; drain. Add to lettuce and onion. Combine in frying pan, bacon grease, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and water. Bring to boil, stirring. Pour over salad. Toss well.
OK - there are easier ways of producing wilted lettuce, not that you would want to eat it.
There are plenty of T-day recipes in here that I would never want to eat, let alone try to make. Stay tuned.
I've been reading a lot of mysteries for my next Crimespree column deadline, but I also read Last Dance at Frosty Queen by Uhlig. This is a good book, but it is an adult's memories of his teen years rather than a YA book. I can think of lots of adults who would like it, who were teens in the 80's especially.
1 comment:
Wilted lettuce sounds gross. However, I have a recipe that is so so similar and insanely delicious-Iceberg Lettuce with Creamy Pancetta Dressing. It's from Michael Ciarelli and it's ridiculously high in fat and calories. Awesome for a dinner party. And the iceberg lettuce wedge doesn't wilt under the warm and creamy bacony dressing.
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