Beet Hummus plus a Sheet Pan Thanksgiving Dinner

(wow and wow)

Hi there friends and Happy Friday. It’s great to see so many new faces here. Welcome!

If you’d rather listen than read, the audio is posted above.

We are knee deep into November. In the lead up to Thanksgiving we have been playing around with starters (Gingery Roasted Squash Soup) and with pies (Vanilla Latte Pie and Triple Flavor Slab Pie) and I hope you get a chance to try them.

Just a heads up that next week’s post will be for paid subscribers. We are putting leftover turkey to good use with a Vietnamese-style sandwich. It’s so yummy!

This week we’ve got another starter, a beautiful beet hummus. In a season inundated with brown and orange foods, this bright pink really stands out. Plus, it’s delish.

Also today I’m including a sheet pan recipe that happens to be a mini-Thanksgiving dinner. I know that not everyone has a huge guest list to cook for this year (or any year), so this is perfect for those who are having a smaller holiday gathering.

Or for those who just want to eat a turkey dinner this week.

Photo by Virginia Simionato on Unsplash

The sheet pan dinner is also a good option to make before, or after, Turkey Day if you find yourself not at home this Thanksgiving. Sometimes a holiday doesn’t feel complete until we’ve had that meal, meaning that meal the way we make it.

A couple of years ago we visited out-of-state relatives for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was great to see in-laws, cousins, and new babies. Plus the weather was crisp, cool, and what Southern Californians imagine real fall weather is like.

Once we got to the hotel, my daughter asked if I would make a full Thanksgiving dinner once we returned to California. When I asked why, she said she felt like she hadn’t really had Thanksgiving yet because it wasn’t the food I cooked. That really melted my heart.

So a week after we got home, our family of five sat down to another Thanksgiving meal. Everyone, including myself, was so pleased. And my daughter’s comment was, “NOW I’ve had Thanksgiving.”

Recipes

Beet Hummus

Yields 2 1/2-ish cups

Time: 1 hour (or less with the shortcut)

Bright Barbie pink with pistachios? Yes, please! This colorful starter is the perfect dip for fresh veggies, toasted pita, or crisp crackers. Roasted beets bring the color and transform ordinary hummus into something extra special.

A shortcut: use already cooked beets to bring the prep time down to 10-ish minutes. I see packages of precooked beets in the produce section of my local grocery store.

Ingredients:

• 3 small beets

• 1 can garbanzo beans

• 1/3 cup tahini

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 1 tsp lemon pepper seasoning

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• Garnishes: 1/4 cup chopped pistachios and fresh chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F/190 C. Scrub and trim beets. Wrap in foil or parchment paper and roast for 50 minutes or until center is tender when poked with a knife. Remove from oven, unwrap, and allow to cool.

2. Place the beets, along with the rest of the ingredients (not the garnishes) into a blender or food processor. Blitz until completely smooth. Taste and adjust to your taste (more lemon, garlic, salt, etc). Add 1/4 cup of water, a tablespoon at a time to adjust the consistency if it’s too thick.

3. Scrape hummus into a bowl. Drizzle with additional olive oil if desired, then sprinkle on the pistachios and parsley.

Sheet Pan Thanksgiving Dinner

Serves 2 or 3 with little or no leftovers

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

This sheet pan meal has it all: turkey, dressing, green beans, and sweet potatoes (by golly, even the marshmallows). It is a great option for two or three people and you won’t be burdened with a fridge full of leftovers. Thanks to Tasting Table for the one-pan Thanksgiving dinner recipe.

Even though it looks like a lot is going on, this meal is pretty simple to make. No weird ingredients and no fancy cooking skills required.

Some tips to know before making the sheet pan dinner:

• Buy your frozen turkey breast as close to 2 pounds as you can get so that everything on the sheet pan is done at the same time. However, be aware that the printed package weight on turkey breast portions may not just be the turkey! The Butterball frozen turkey breast that I bought listed it as 3 pounds. When I unwrapped it, I weighed the breast and discovered it was right at 2 pounds. The other 1 pound? It was a congealed packet of gravy.

• Any dressing trapped under the turkey will turn out soft and mildly soggy. If you are into that (I certainly don’t mind it), leave the dressing in an even layer and place the turkey on top. If not, clear a space in the center of the dressing for the turkey to sit directly on the sheet pan so that all the dressing around it gets toasty.

• The best way to get evenly thin slices of sweet potato? Use a mandoline. Slices cook quicker than chunks and are done at the same time as the turkey.

• The items that take the longest are the turkey, dressing, and sweet potatoes and they are all done around the same time (add that to the things to be thankful for). So the green beans get thrown on at the last minute because they cook quickly.

Dressing Ingredients:

• 1 pound sourdough bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

• ½ cup finely chopped onion

• ½ cup finely chopped celery

• ¼ cup dried cranberries

• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (or 2 tsp dried)

• 1 Tbsp fresh sage, chopped (or 1 tsp dried)

• 1 ½ cups chicken broth

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• ¼ cup melted butter

Turkey:

• 2 lb boneless turkey breast with skin, thawed

• 2 tsp olive oil

• 1 tsp Lawry’s seasoned salt

• Fresh thyme sprigs, optional

Sweet Potatoes:

• 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

• 4 Tbsp melted butter

• ¼ cup mini marshmallows

Green Beans:

• 12 ounces green beans, trimmed

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

• 2 tsp minced garlic

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C and set the rack to the middle position. Grease a rimmed 18x13-inch sheet pan with a light slick of olive oil or line with foil.

2. Dump the bread cubes, onion, celery, cranberries, parsley, and sage into a large mixing bowl. Stir to mix. Tip in the broth, egg, and melted butter. Stir with a large spoon to mix the dry and wet ingredients. Pour the stuffing mixture onto the prepared sheet pan into an even layer. It should take up about two-thirds of the space. Decide whether or not you want to clear the center for the turkey (read the bullet point tips above).

3. Set the turkey breast in the middle of the dressing. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the seasoned salt. Add some fresh thyme, if desired.

4. Toss the sweet potatoes with the melted butter and pour out onto the open one-third of the sheet pan. Don’t use the marshmallows yet!

5. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 30 minutes. In the meantime, toss the green beans with the olive oil and garlic. Once the 30 minutes is up, remove the pan from the oven and scooch the sweet potatoes over to make room for the green beans. The potatoes and green beans each should take up an equal amount of space on the pan. Leave the turkey and dressing alone.

6. Put the pan back into the oven and roast for 20 more minutes. Test the turkey with a meat thermometer and pull the pan from the oven when it reads 155F/68C to 160F/71C. The turkey temp will continue to rise from ambient heat and will reach 165F on it’s own.

7. Once the sheet pan is out of the oven, throw the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes (the marshmallows will get melty on their own with help from the residual heat) and loosely cover everything with a sheet of aluminum foil. Allow to rest for 10-ish minutes before slicing the turkey.

Tell Me

What are your favorite starters to begin a holiday meal? I’d love to hear about them!

Next week: We are talking about what to do with leftover turkey, including tips on how to freeze it properly. There will be a recipe for a Vietnamese-style sandwich and it’s only available to paid subscribers. See you next Friday!