One thing I’ve learned about this industry is that it’s VERY easy to get burned out. Between getting new clients, maintaining equipment, servicing the clients, studying changes in the industry, meeting deadlines, researching new equipment, staying active on social media….. and so on. If you keep a very singular focus SOLELY on the industry and everything that is happening in the industry, you’re going to miss out on something very important. Life.
We all get one shot at this thing called life and while it’s important to stay on top of what makes us all successful in the industry, you also have take time to step back, unplug and enjoy “other things.” I’ve found that my love of “other things” has helped me be more successful in my “day job.” For instance, my love of cooking gave me an immediate connection with Alton Brown when I met him the first time on the set of “Good Eats.” I was blown away by all the “toys” in his kitchen and we spent as much time talking about cooking and the toys as we did the animations I was originally asked to come in to discuss. When you enjoy life and have other pursuits, you can have some common interests beyond technology to chat about with both colleagues and clients. So I’m starting a new series on this blog, “Get A Life!” where I’m just going to share some of the things I love to do outside work and I’ll get some of my friends to join in as well.
I’ve found a love of cooking to be common among many of my colleagues and in the past I’ve blogged extensively about my family’s “Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes” which I’ll repeat here on this very blog soon. But today, I’m here to share with you an incredible “Italian” Thanksgiving meal that I prepared along with my colleague, Kylee Wall (@kyl33t) who also loves to cook and bake. The menu and recipes were all prepared by Chef Marco Canora and featured in La Cucina Italiana Magazine. This is one of my favorite cooking magazines and Marco brought an Italian accent to the traditional American Thanksgiving meal. The meal is quite simple to make with little stress and these recipes would make a welcome addition to any holiday meal or gathering in your home.
The Menu
Roasted fennel soup with cranberries and hazelnuts
Butternut squash risotto with mostarda di cremona, amaretti cookies and fried sage leaves
Roast turkey with garlic, sage and orange
Caramelized leek and sage stuffing
Cauliflower sformato
Mushrooms in parchment paper
Broccoli rabe with chili and garlic
Homemade meat broth
Pine nut pie
The recipes and a cooking schedule can be found here in the article “Thanksgiving With An Italian Accent.”
Some Notes on the Menu.
My wife is a vegetarian so we substituted vegetable broth for all the recipes except the Gravy so I did not bother to make the meat broth. This is an entirely vegetarian meal if you go that route with the exception of the turkey and gravy. If you believe you are not a fan of Fennel, and I count myself among you because I hate black licorice, do not let that sway you from making the Fennel soup. It is simply amazing and I believe the roasting removes all that licorice type flavor. For the Risotto we omitted the Mostarda di Cremona because it did not sound very appetizing and in lieu of ameretti cookies, we used roasted walnuts. And definitely do the fried Sage leaves, we’ve never done that before and they were awesome. For the Sformato, we could not find a ring pan so we used an angel food non-stick pan and it worked out extremely well. Did not brown up exactly like the photos in the recipe but I came up with a solution to get it close. Be sure to check out his cooking schedule that is provided with the recipe, we followed it and that made the entire meal simple and easy to prepare. Serve the meal in courses like he describes with Soup first, then the Risotto, then the main meal. It’s a nice pace this way and you just give small portions of the first two courses to get the meal started.
So here’s a look at how our versions of the menu turned out.
Roasted fennel soup with cranberries and hazelnuts
Butternut squash risotto with toasted walnuts and fried sage leaves
Roast turkey with garlic, sage and orange
Carmelized Leek and Sage Stuffing.
Cauliflower sformato
Mushrooms in parchment paper
Broccoli rabe with chili and garlic
Pine nut pie
Help! Every year I cook the Orange and Sage Turkey recipe from a 2009 (I think) copy of La Cucina Italiana. I can’t find the recipe online … I haven’t made it in two years because I was deployed to Afghanistan last Thanksgiving … so I don’t know where the recipe is … can you help me find it? I’m looking everywhere online and am coming up short. Thanks!
Hi Bryan! La Cucina went under last year unfortunately and for some reason, every single online recipe disappeared too. BUT, fortunately I saved that recipe along with recipes for the entire menu. I will email it to you shortly. And thank you so much for your service!