In order to figure this out we would first have to determine the core points of an American Thanksgiving and then understand how Italians might use and interpret the same foods including the usual suspects of turkey with dressing or stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and pumpkin.
Let’s start with the turkey. (Make sure you buy a large one). Bone out the thighs and pound them until relatively flat. (To pound, cover with plastic wrap and use a meat tenderizing hammer if you have one, or the bottom of a heavy frying pan). Then spread herbs and cheese and prosciutto on the flattened thigh, roll it up, tie it with cooking string to keep its shape, and then roast it. Voila: the Italian favorite porchetta (pork roll) transformed into what we can smilingly call “tacchetta.”
You would now be left with the breast. For an appetizer, try this: take the meat off the bone, poach the whole breast, and, when cool, slice it, and dress it with tuna sauce. Voila: vitello tonnato (actually “tacchino tonnato” because we are substituting the turkey for the traditional veal). Be careful not to overcook the turkey as it will get dry and tough.
Want some side dishes to go along with the turkey “tacchetta”? Thanksgiving dinner is not complete without a dressing to sop up the pan gravy. Make your dressing with day-old ciabatta bread, Italian sausage, pancetta, pine nuts, Italian parsley and sage, onions and celery (if you substitute fennel for celery, it will give the dressing a wonderful flavor). Here is an example of a good Italian stuffing or dressing.
For mashed potatoes and gravy, how about this: save the pan gravy for the dressing and use the potatoes to make gnocchi!
Thanksgiving is not complete without pumpkin but who says it has to be a pie? “Pumpkin” is a general term in Italian and can mean any type of similar sweet squash such as acorn, butternut, calabaza, or hubbard. So make ravioli stuffed with any cooked squash. Start with the packaged cubed squash you can find in most stores and save yourself the time and effort of peeling a fresh squash. (It is just as good).
Chestnuts are another fall and winter staple in Italy. Arrange Brussels sprouts (green), chestnuts (white) and dried cranberries (red) in three wide stripes, and you have the Italian flag! A very festive presentation.
The last side dish? Something with mushrooms, maybe? Well, in the Piedmontese commune of Alba, fall is the season for white truffles. How best to present them? Try sliced truffles over the gnocci. Finish the pastas only with a little melted butter, no sage, and then shave the truffles over the top. Another way to work funghi into the menu would be a side dish of sliced porcini mushrooms sautéed in butter and topped with Italian parsley.
I knew you would ask about the cranberry sauce. This is an easy one. To your regular cranberry sauce recipe add Campari, gin and vermouth: find the recipe here on SavoringItaly.com: Negroni Cranberry Sauce.
So this has become quite an elegant feast! How shall we finish it off? Make some cranberry and pistachio cantucci. (Cantucci is the actual name for what Americans call biscotti, as the term biscotti in Italy is used for cookies in general.) Serve these with pumpkin panna cotta.
Want a menu to print for your guests? Download this PDF.
Enjoy!
