An Early Fall Powerhouse Vegan Salad

Approximate quantities: 1 head of butter lettuce, roughly chopped; 3/4 of a cup of cooked brown rice; 2 Kirby cucumbers, cut lengthwise cut lengthwise into thin spears, then into 1-inch segments; kernels of 1 ear of grilled corn; about a cup of grilled wax beans, roughly chopped; 2 heirloom tomatoes, roughly chopped; 3 medium carrots, sliced into thin disks; 2 medium sweet potatoes, peels, chopped into 1-2” cubes and tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Dried Icelandic Kelp, and roasted at 425 degrees for about 20-25 minutes; 1 grilled red bell pepper, roughly chopped; 1 16-ounce can of chickpeas, crisped in a skillet or on a sheet pan, and 1 medium sized watermelon radish, sliced into thin crescents drizzled with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper — although it also would be good with tahini dressing

Serves 2 as a main.

I Also ❤ Thanksgiving Links

The short version of how I celebrate Thanksgiving goes something like this: In 1946, my grandparents began celebrating Thanksgiving at my grandfather’s older sister’s house. This is a tradition that our family continued for 60 years that grew from, Thanksgiving for six people — my great aunt, her husband, and their daughter, my grandparents and my great-grandmother — to Thanksgiving for 40 people — my great-aunt, her husband, their three daughters and their husbands, their nine grandchildren, their spouses and children, my grandparents, my mother and father, my brother and I, my Uncle, and various in-laws, friends and stragglers. This was how I celebrating Thanksgiving for the first 25 years of my life at a huge pot-luck with multiple table and many, many, many dishes.

Then, in 2006, exactly 60 years after it started, it stopped. It just became too much. My great-aunt’s daughters who had taken on the mantel of hosting, began downsizing, my grandmother, who’d also cycled through as the host wasn’t able to anymore, and just like that, the tradition ended and we splintered into smaller, satellite family Thanksgivings. For the record, we all miss that huge one but it’s a huge undertaking.

For the last 13 years, Thanksgiving has been a much smaller affair. Just my immediate family, sometimes, we have a few friends and stragglers, rarely are we more than 10 or 12. But because of the legacy of the huge pot-luck, we don’t have a strict menu and all of those you-gotta-make dishes that so many people have because at the huge Thanksgiving everyone brought something and there were multiples and variations and one-offs and “I tried something new” and “I’ll bring that this year” and it was always a wonderful and endless smorgasbord of turkey, sweet potato and yam dishes, salads and green beans, carrot molds and cranberry sauces, and pies cranberry breads and cakes because we have November family birthdays, and all sort of other things that would randomly appear like Swedish meatballs and cheesecake, likely out of the concern that there wasn’t going to be enough food, but there always was.

Anyway, the result of all of this is that, again, that there isn’t a deep attachment to specific recipes or preparations in my family and we change the menu up from year to year, the benefit of which is: I’ve tried out a lot Thanksgiving recipes over the last 13 years, here are some of my favorites.

What I’m making this year:

• Fennel and Pear Salad with Parmesan and Maracona Almonds — A version of this

• Julia Moskin’s Garlic and Ginger Green Beans — I don’t think it’s necessary to blanche them and this also prevents them from getting overcooked and soft, if you want to saute them and then warm them up in the oven

• Mark Bittman’s Baked Broccoli Rabe with Parmesan — Similarly, I see no need to boil the broccoli rabe for 3 minutes before sauteing, I bake it for a bit longer, like 20 minutes instead

• Deb Perlman’s Slow Roasted Sweet Potatoes — We do these on the grill, using the grill on Thanksgiving really helps free up the oven

• Peruvian Purple Mash — I don’t have a recipe for mashed potatoes, I completely eyeball it but I’m going to try to keep track this year

• Jeff Gordimer’s Glazed Grilled Carrots — Another thing we do on the grill

• Melissa Clark’s Turkey with Anchovies and Garlic

• Deb’s Pumpkin Pie

• Something apple, last year, Erin McDowell’s ombre one, this year it may be Claudia Flemming’s Apple Crumb Crostata

• And then, frequently, brownies, chocolate pound cake, or David Leite’s Chocolate Chip Cookies — There is usually a request for “real dessert”

• Fruit Salad

• Ice cream and whipped cream

Recipes that have cycled through and That We all liked that I’m not makIng this year, But that i recommend:

• Alton Brown’s Cranberry Sauce

• Julia Moskin’s Hashed Brussels Sprouts

• Melissa Clark’s Brown Butter Corn Bread

• Gjelina’s Roasted Yams

• Kim Severson’s Roasted Potatoes with Thyme and Figs

• Martha’s Butternut and Yukon Gold Mash

• Butternut Squash Soup

• Butternut Squash Risotto from the Union Square Cookbook

• Four and Twenty Blackbird’s Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie

• Joy Wilson’s Sweet Potato Pie

• Martha’s Chocolat Kugelhopf

Grilled Fruit and Vegetables

People are always asking me about how I grill corn — a topic that there a many, many opinions on — and about other grilled vegetables so I made a point to write out as many grilled vegetable and bread and fruit grilling instructions that I could.

Truly, it’s not difficult to prep, most should be drizzled or tossed with a 50-50 mix of olive oil and a neutral, vegetable oil with a high smoke point — I like grapeseed — salt, pepper, and aromatic herbs or alliums. The slightly trickier part is getting to know your grill and it’s temperatures. I’ve provided a heat and time range for everything that should work for almost all grills.

Almost everything needs to be turned, or if it’s in a grill basket a good strong couple of shakes at the halfway point will work, so what I’d recommend is plan to check it and turn it halfway through the shorter time range that I suggest, and then, to check it again for doneness, at the end of the shorter time range. This way, if you grill doesn’t run as hot, and you can see that you need more time, it’s easy to leave the second side on for a few more minutes.

• Grilled Halloumi

• Grilled Peaches and Grilled Plums

• Grilled Romano Beans

• Grilled Sugar Snap Peas

• Grilled Sweet Potatoes

• Grilled Wax Beans

• Grilled Bell Peppers

• Grilled Bread

• Grilled Broccoli

• Grilled Carrots

• Grilled Cherry Tomatoes

• Grilled Corn