This puree reheats nicely and holds for a couple of days in the fridge, but it is prime the day it's cooked.
Seasoning is totally your call and it can have as much attitude as you’d like, as in these warm-tasting spices of the West Indies and a garlic-tomato sauté.
This recipe stands well on its own, but is also the base for a delicious holiday treat: Cornbread Pudding with Rough Country Greens.
Judy Graham created this luscious southern-style cornbread. Use fresh corn when it's in season, but know that niblet-style canned corn tastes just fine here. You could bake off the bread an hour ahead, wrap in foil, and reheat it.
Lighter than yams, easily done ahead and good hot or tepid, roasted sweet squash turns almost candy-like in the oven.
Anything you can serve at room temperature is a gift when you’re taking on a big menu. These beans shine at room temperature and could be done a day in advance. They will hold at room temperature about 2 hours; after that, chill them.
Making the stuffing a day ahead gives it a chance to come into its prime. Serve hot or at room temperature.
There’s a 30-minute or so grace period while the turkey takes its necessary rest after coming out of the oven (this is what makes for juicy eating, believe it or not). Use this grace period to heat up the sides and to simmer the gravy.
These beautiful and simple cheese crisps hail from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy.
My father uses the microwave. Working with about 5 chestnuts at a time, he slits each chestnut almost all the way around its circumference, leaving the shell connected in one spot (there is a black dot on the chestnut that he uses as the hinge). Then he lays the nuts on a plate and microwaves them on high power for 40 seconds. The shells pop open like clams. He wets his fingers in cold water and pulls off the shells before the chestnuts cool. Repeat until all the chestnuts are peeled. The fresh ones really are better than the jarred, and he says it takes him only 15 minutes to do a pound.