Recipes from Sam Sifton's 'Thanksgiving' (2024)

Looking to dress up your holiday meal? Try these three recipes excerpted from Thanksgiving: How to Cook It Well by Sam Sifton.*

THREE- PEPPER SAUSAGE CORN-BREAD DRESSING

Here is a recipe I adapted from the cooking of Kurt Gardner, a New York theater man of great culinary passions who has been contributing the dish to our home for years, usually in proportions large enough to feed boroughs. Rare is the month where there is not a frozen bag of this stuff in our freezer, ready to be deployed.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1½ pounds andouille sausage, or fresh chorizo or hot Italian sausage
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, cleaned and diced
2 red or orange bell peppers, cored, seeded and diced
2 poblano or Anaheim peppers, seeded and diced
2 serrano or jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, cleaned and roughly chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cups chicken stock (if using store-bought, use low-sodium variety)
1 pan corn bread, cut into cubes (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat olive oil in large, flat-bottomed sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add sausage and sauté until browned, approximately 10 minutes. Remove to a large bowl and set aside.
3. Add onion to the pan and reduce heat to medium, then sauté until onion begins to turn clear and soften, approximately 5 minutes. Add celery and peppers and continue cooking until peppers begin to soften, approximately 10 minutes.
4. Pour vegetable mixture into bowl with sausage, add chopped cilantro, salt and pepper to taste, and toss to mix.
5. Return pan to heat and deglaze with a splash of chicken stock, then scrape contents into bowl with sausage and vegetable mixture.
6. Pour mixture into a large roasting pan and add cubed corn bread, mixing by hand. Add chicken stock to moisten, cover with aluminum foil, and place in oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until it is soft and the flavors well incorporated. If you desire a crunchy top, remove foil for final 10 minutes of cooking.

(Dressing can be made ahead of time and reheated when needed. If dry upon reheating, add additional chicken stock.)

CORN BREAD

John Willoughby, once the executive editor of Gourmet and, with chef Chris Schlesinger, one of the great interpreters of live-fire cooking in the United States, once said that there are only 11 recipes in the world, and those of us who labor in kitchens spend most of our time reinventing them. As an example, here is my adaptation of the recipe for corn bread Schlesinger served in his East Coast Grill from the time he opened the place in Cambridge, Mass., in 1985 to when he sold it in 2012. The adaptation? I have added a few cups of frozen organic corn for texture.Those who wish to go further might add a fine dice of fiery chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, or cook a few slices of bacon in the skillet before cooking the dish and add the crumbled result to the batter. The fat left over in the pan would allow you to reduce the amount of butter you use by about 2 tablespoons.

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons baking powder
4 large eggs
3 cups whole milk
2½ tablespoons vegetable oil
1 10-ounce package frozen organic corn kernels
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9-inch cast-iron skillet or a 12-by-8-by-2-inch pan, and place it in the oven to heat.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and oil. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, add the corn, and stir until just combined. Add the butter and stir once or twice to incorporate.
3. Remove the hot skillet or pan from the oven, pour batter into it, and give the whole number a smack on the counter to settle it. Put pan in oven to cook until mixture is brown on top and a sharp knife inserted into its center comes out clean, approximately 1 hour.

Corn bread can, indeed should, be made ahead of time. If it is slightly stale at the start of the process, so much the better — the dried corn bread leads to a fluffier dressing.

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER WITH ANCHOVY BREAD CRUMBS

It is important to note that this dish does not have an anchovy flavor. Indeed, there is no reason ever to tell anyone who eats this dish that there are anchovies in it. The taste is merely salty and rich — and reflects beautifully off the sweet, creamy taste of the cauliflower beneath its slightly crunchy bread-crumb topping.

2 heads cauliflower
8 to 10 fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
Zest of 2 lemons
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the anchovy bread crumbs:
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
8 anchovy fillets, rinsed and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 shallot, peeled and diced
1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Break cauliflower into florets and toss in a bowl with sage, lemon zest, sugar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and spread out on a large baking sheet. Place in oven and cook until tender and golden, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, prepare bread crumbs. Heat olive oil in a sauté pan set over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add the anchovies, garlic, shallot and bread crumbs. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until golden.
3. In a large bowl, toss together cauliflower and bread crumbs, and serve on a warmed platter.

PEAR COBBLER

Another dish that lends itself well to non-Thanksgiving preparations, this cobbler is terrific with raspberries or blackberries, depending on the season, and with mixtures of berries and apples, berries and pears, apples and pears. It takes its name from the cobblestone appearance of the dough on top of the fruit. The addition of a spray of diced candied ginger to the fruit before you lay down the pieces of dough will yield a fragrance and fiery excellence that is very close to fancy grade.

2½ pounds pears, peeled and cored, then cut into wedges (6-8 medium-sized pears will do it)
½ cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons diced candied ginger (optional)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1 large egg
½ cup whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter a 9-inch cast-iron skillet or 8-inch square baking dish. Place the fruit in a large bowl, and add ½ cup sugar and the lemon juice and zest. Gently mix until the sugar dissolves.Transfer to the skillet and top with candied ginger, if using.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and 1 tablespoon sugar. Add the butter and, using a fork, work it together with the dry ingredients until the mixture is coarse. In a separate bowl, stir the egg and milk until combined. Pour over the flour and butter mixture and stir to combine into a smooth dough.
3. Using your fingers, place clumps of dough the size of golf balls on top of the fruit mixture, pressing down slightly to create a rough-textured, cobbled crust. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 to 45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

*Excerpted from Thanksgiving: How to Cook It Well by Sam Sifton. Copyright © 2012 by Sam Sifton. Excerpted by permission of Random House, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.