By Debra Morris–
This Thanksgiving, take a break from your traditional recipes and change it up with some new and interesting side dishes to serve with the big bird. Yes, it’s nice to enjoy favorite dishes that have been handed down through the generations for this special day, but it’s also good to shake things up sometimes. Add a new side dish or update an old one—maybe it will be so popular with your guests that it will become a new tradition to be passed down!
At your local farmers’ market, you’ll find sweet potatoes, winter squash, apples, grapes, Brussels sprouts, persimmons, pomegranates, onions, greens, and even baked goods for your feast. Try these scrumptious recipes for a bit of a twist on your traditional Thanksgiving side dishes.
Twice-Baked Winter Squash
Transform your acorn or butternut squash by twice-baking them, just as you would a potato. Bake, scoop out, and mash with a little butter and maple syrup, spoon back into squash shells, reheat, and top with pecans. Or stuff them with your turkey stuffing.
Market Mash
Add some market-fresh herbs and goat cheese to your mashed potatoes. It will add an unexpected and delicious flavor to your spuds. Or mash up carrots to add to it. You can also add caramelized onions or bacon on top.
Balsamic Bacon Brussels
Roast some Brussels sprouts and button mushrooms with bacon and balsamic vinegar. Cut sprouts in half, toss with olive oil and balsamic, and roast until browned and crispy. Or roast fresh green beans the same way. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
Sweet Potato Fries
Make it casual with baked fries instead of a sweet potato casserole. See recipe.
Apple Pear Salad
Toss fresh greens, chopped apples, pears, red onion, and walnuts. Add a sprinkle of goat cheese or blue cheese, and toss with your favorite vinaigrette. This is a refreshing starter for a heavy meal.
Quick Add-Ins
Add fresh rosemary and grated Parmesan cheese to your crescent rolls, jalapeño to your cornbread squares, pomegranate seeds or almonds to salads, chopped apples to cabbage salad or slaw, or mashed sweet potato or pumpkin purée to your biscuits.
Stock up for your Thanksgiving feast at the Castro Farmers’ Market by visiting Fifth Crow Farms from Pescadero for Brussels sprouts and root vegetables, Rainbow Orchards in Camino for crisp apples and pears, Ken’s Top Notch for sweet grapes, Pirate Creek Bees from Sunol for sweet local honey, and Rodin Farms for persimmons and nuts.
Help your farmers while helping others. Farmers have had a rough year with water shortages and drought. Please keep farmers farming and purchase your Thanksgiving produce at your local farmers’ market! Your farmers will appreciate it and you won’t find better produce anywhere.
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
2 pounds of sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon 5 spice blend
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the sweet potatoes into sticks 1/4 to 1/2-inch wide and 3 inches long, and toss them with the oil. Mix the spices, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, and toss them with the sweet potatoes. Spread wedges out on 2 rimmed baking sheets. Bake until brown and crisp on the bottom, about 15 minutes, then flip and cook until the other side is crisp, about 10 minutes. Serve hot.
Debra Morris is a spokesperson for the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association (PCFMA). Check out the PCFMA website for recipes, information about farmers’ markets throughout the region and for much more: https://www.pcfma.org/
Published on November 4, 2021
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