food comas

Last Wednesday, Natalya and I hosted Thanksgiving Eve dinner for a bunch of our friends who, like us, have no choice but to stick around the city during this foodie holiday because of work Friday.  Our first year, we made the mistake of not making it clear to our guests we were preparing legitimate food and so everyone showed up full.  Our second year, people showed up hungry and… stayed hungry for a while as we definitely were still cooking for at least another hour after our 20 guests arrived…  Not to mention the fact we didn’t have a dining table until halfway through the party our brand new dining table arrived from Target… and err yes, we did ask our guests to help assemble it.  That is what Friendsgiving is all about!

Anyway, third time was the charm as we were completely on our game this year!  Our timing improved immensely this time around — we even had time to make ourselves look presentable by the time our guests showed up.  Very key.  Our Thanksgiving Eve dinner menu is detailed below; click on each link for the recipe.

Click HERE to see our 2010 Thanksgiving Eve dinner.

Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday and ate to your stomach’s content!  I know we did.  Multiple times.

xoxo,
Food Comas

Hot Apple Cider with Rum and/or Whiskey
Hot and toasty spiked apple cider gets everyone in a festive mood!

Mini Caprese
Snack form of Insalata Caprese with cherry tomatoes, Bocconcini, basil, and sun dried tomatoes… the perfect (healthy) party appetizer!

Cheese, Olives, and Charcuterie Platter
Always the easiest dish to make haha.  We went with a nice selection of prosciutto, salami, kalamata olives and green olives, and cheeses (Taleggio, Appalachian, Gruyère)

Crunchy Deviled Eggs
I had a few small stalks of celery left from the vegetables I roasted with the chicken and decided it would add the perfect crunch to deviled eggs!

Marinated Mushrooms
These zesty little morsels are great to eat chilled — meaning you make this way in advance for budgeting stove top usage!

Baked Crab Dip
Gooey and creamy crab dip with a crispy minced onion crust!  Always a crowd pleaser

Spicy Meatballs with a Spicy Meat Sauce
This recipe is direct from Daniel Holzman of The Meatball Shop! 

Cavatappi with Spinach, Beans, and Asiago
A nice, simple vegetarian pasta — our attempt at a “light” pasta to balance out all the other heavier dishes in this meal

Macaroni and Cheese
Our buddy & neighbor James made this righteous mac & cheese with cheddar and Gruyere

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Shallots
Roasted brussels sprouts are delicious on their own, but adding fried shallots really ups the ante!

Purée of Garlic Potatoes
A recipe from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home cookbook — a creamy pureé of potatoes with garlic confit

Whole Roasted Chicken with Vegetables and Roasted Garlic
This is Hank the Chicken.  He served his purpose well.  I have been making chicken over turkey for the past three Thanksgiving Eve dinners because I figure most people will have a real turkey dinner elsewhere and I’m too lazy to deal with cooking some 20 lb bird and having weeks worth of leftovers.  The 8 lb Hank worked just fine for our Friendsgiving!