Thanksgiving is just a couple days away and if cooking the same thing you do every year is giving you that humdrum feeling, we’ve got your back! The classics are great, but why not try shaking things up this year with a fresh new side dish or a bold new main? Check out some of our favourite recipes below and let us know on Instagram using #BloorandBetter if you’ve given them a try!
One of the cookbooks we’ve loved browsing every time we go into Indigo Bay Bloor’s incredible culinary section is the newly released Antoni in the Kitchen from everyone’s favourite food and wine expert from Netflix’s Queer Eye, Antoni Porowski. The appetizer section is enough to get our mouths watering, with recipes for Medjool Dates with Marcona Almonds and Proscuitto, Herbed Lobster and Saffron Dip, and Ricotta with Pickled Wild Mushrooms, Toasted Hazelnuts and Honey, and more. With this cookbook you’re bound to find the perfect amuse bouche to please a crowd (along with some inspirational tips along the way). It’s also full of great recipes for weeknight suppers, healthy lunches and fancy dinner parties, so swing by Indigo to add this versatile title to your collection.
Yes, Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup is a Thanksgiving classic, but this recipe from President’s Choice adds miso to the mix to switch things up. Miso is a fermented soy bean paste that you’ll be familiar with from sushi restaurants throughout the city and is available in many varieties at Independent City Market (along with all of the other ingredients for this soup). Miso will add an umami punch to this perfect starter for your Thanksgiving meal, and while it comes in a large tub: don’t worry. It will last forever in the back of your fridge, but we encourage you to leave it in your fridge door so it’s within reach to add to any soups and stews this winter to add a sweet/salty/funky kick to your favourite dishes.
Whether it’s the thought of not having to cook a turkey this year or the pending opening of Eataly that has Italian foods on our minds, this recipe for Nonna’s Lasagna from the latest Autumn issue of LCBO’s Food & Drink magazine is all we want to cook this weekend. Not only is lasagna one of the best, most comforting, crowd-feeding dishes, it’s also a great make-ahead dish. Prep the sauces beforehand and assemble on the day for the easiest Thanksgiving you’ve ever had.
For many brussel sprouts are a classic side dish, but these tiny cabbage-like veg often bring up sour, stinky memories of holidays past. While there have been many more contemporary treatments of this divisive vegetable over the years, we recommend bringing it back to basics – well, elevated basics – with this recipe from the new Downton Abbey Cookbook. These Brussel Sprouts with Chestnuts get some of their moreish flavour from bacon, making them perfectly decadent for the first holiday of the season. For a little zing, try adding some lemon zest before serving. Also, if you haven’t yet seen the new Downton Abbey movie, be sure to book a screening at Cineplex Varsity & VIP.
If you’re going to have pie for dessert at any holiday, Thanksgiving is the one. But even the classic pumpkin and apple can sometimes be a little lack-lustre after a fantastic meal. Luckily this year’s Autumn issue of LCBO Food & Drink has a showstopper of a dessert as its cover star: Cinnamon and Lemon Tart. This dessert really has it all: a french tart crust which makes it just that much more special than a pie, the warming spices you crave at this time of year and the tart, refreshing lemon flavour that will perfectly cut through the decadent meal you just had. Trust us, you’ll love it.
