Harvest Gathering Archives - Page 2 of 2

Thanksgiving Menu | Stuffing + Our Favourite Sides

Today I thought I would share with you some of our favourite side dishes and homemade condiments that adorn our Harvest Gathering dinner table each year. Like these two beautiful heirloom carrots who became intertwined over time, these simple dishes have become synonymous with Thanksgiving dinner for our family.

There is something comforting about the side dishes we eat at Thanksgiving. As a cook, I love experimentation and exploration, but there are certain dishes that are “not to be messed with” according to my family, and Thanksgiving Stuffing is one of them. The truth is, I make this side dish without a recipe every year, so I have my fingers crossed that I have actually managed to write it all down for you correctly! Once I’m in the zone of cooking, I am often driven by intuition and my senses of smell and taste, so please use yours as well when making this and adjust the herbs and balance of ingredients according to your palette. That said, the recipe below should help you approximate what has become a bit of a cult favourite amongst our family and friends.

I have experimented with making this stuffing with gluten-free bread and the honest-to-goodness truth is it doesn’t work. It’s mushy and unrecognizable and could start a riot amongst my family and friends expecting “the real thing.” My suggestion for those of us who are gluten-free? Cook up all of the ingredients together, and before you add the bread, set aside some of the mix of onions, bacon, apricots and apples with the herbs. The flavours are amazing and a scoop of that on the side of your plate is almost as good as the bread-laced version! Everybody wins.

OK, my next favourite side dish to share with you is another of our annual Thanksgiving traditions. But first, I have a confession to make. I don’t like cranberry sauce. I know, I know, it makes my connection to the original Pilgrims questionable and my citizenship as a Canadian tenuous. But I find the tartness dominates the flavours of my Thanksgiving meal and thus gave up on trying to like it years ago. So in place of the traditional cranberry sauce, I’ve added two rich and flavourful “condiments” that add depth of flavour without taking over the party in your mouth. The first is our Caramelized Balsamic Onions.

I’m always secretly hoping there will be some of the Caramelized Balsamic Onions left over for making sandwiches or adding on top of salads. It makes a divine addition to a cheese board, too. Like, moan-worthy with a good old English sharp cheddar. Yum.

Last but not least, I always make Roasted Garlic Butter each year, and it tends to be a surprise favourite with new guests each Autumn. It’s not much to look at once it’s finished, but the sweet, roasted richness of the garlic makes up for what this condiment might lack in the good looks department.

I just love the way the garlic bulb “skeletons” look once the cloves have been removed. The light was particularly gorgeous that day, showing off their translucency in the loveliest way such that I had to stop and take this shot for you!

So there you have it! 3 of our family’s favourite side dishes for one of our favourite gatherings of the year! Tomorrow I’ll share my secrets to a gorgeous, mouth-watering turkey as well as the recipe for a delicious and seasonal dessert.

Many thanks to the lovely and oh-so-talented Gabriela Hansen for contributing her beautiful photographic skills to this day and this post! What a joy to work with such delightful people.

Wishing you a flavourful and fragrant Thursday!

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|November 8th, 2012|1 Comment

Thanksgiving Table Décor | Part 3 | Menus + Linens

PHOTO BY GABRIELA HANSEN

I love it when all of the lovely details start to come together. With the floral centrepiece and Moroccan-inspired “punched tin” mini pumpkins complete, it was time to finish the place settings. I love a simple yet layered place setting, and I am a big fan of the use of beautiful typography to set the mood for the special meal. Enter my lovely friend Melody Hansen, who graciously offered to design menus for this year’s Harvest Gathering in order to give it an extra special touch of thoughtful detail and design.

PHOTO BY GABRIELA HANSEN

I love collaborating with people who understand my aesthetic. The natural and organic simplicity of Melody’s hand drawn illustrations framing the top and bottom of these elegant menus were the perfect choice to communicate the casual elegance of our seasonal celebration. The watercolour paper on which we chose to print the menus had the same quality as a natural linen fabric – simple yet substantial and sophisticated.

PHOTO BY GABRIELA HANSEN

I’m a big believer in linen napkins – firstly because they are better for the environment, and secondly because they make the meal feel more elegant. That said, I didn’t want the table linens to feel formal. With 14 people sitting around the extended table that we added, I also needed to come up with an option that was cost effective. The solution? $5/yard fabric from Designer Fabric Outlet, a bit of time in front of my sewing machine, and voila! French bistro style cotton-linen blend table napkins that were the perfect bridge between formal and casual, just like the menus.

PHOTO BY GABRIELA HANSEN

With the table settings complete, tomorrow I’ll dive into the food preparations. Can’t wait to share some of my favourite Harvest recipes with you!

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|November 7th, 2012|4 Comments

Make Something Mondays | Thanksgiving Table Décor | Part 1

I love the Harvest season and all it brings. The cool, crisp air seems to heighten my senses to the deepening colours and this season’s magical, temporal light. I am easily won over by the heartier flavours of all the root vegetables and roasted goodness coming from the oven, making up for the shorter days and signs of winter’s approach. For now, nature is showing off in all her splendour, inviting us to slow down and stand in awe of the beauty of this season’s transitional state.

One of our favourite things about this season is our annual Thanksgiving gathering. We love our more impromptu gatherings that happen so often with friends descending spontaneously to connect over a meal. We decide together what we should make with the ingredients we’ve got in the fridge and the making of the meal is as much of an event as the eating of it. But every once in awhile, it’s lovely to plan things out more thoughtfully, with careful attention to the details that make it feel like a celebration. It doesn’t have to be serious to be thoughtful. Just an intentional expression of gratitude through the mediums of food and friendship. Thanksgiving is a beautiful opportunity to do just that.

This year I felt like playing with mini pie pumpkins for a potentially cliché but hopefully charming addition to the table decor. Here were my weapons of choice:

Four mini pie pumpkins
A cordless drill with 3 different sizes of bits {all quite small}
A couple of spoons for scooping out the guts of my pumpkins {I saved the seeds and roasted them with sea salt, of course!}
A small paring knife to cut my openings

I chose to open the mini pie pumpkins from the bottom as I didn’t want the cut out to interfere with the patterns I was hoping to create.

Using the drill {and inspired by Moroccan tin lanterns}, I set about trying to create delicate yet simple patterns that would allow the light to come through and create interesting patterns of candlelight on the table. This was my attempt at a slightly fresh take on pumpkin carving!

PHOTO BY GABRIELLA HANSEN

What I learned was that my mini pumpkins were in fact too mini for the flame. Great idea, wrong scale! Within a few minutes, the less-than-festive odour of burning pumpkin began to fill the dining room. Yikes! In our scramble to keep them from totally combusting, I didn’t manage to get any pics to show you the charming and patterned glow they cast on the table. Plan B. Candles beside the minis instead of inside them. This is what experimentation is for, right? Now we know, 3″ to 4″ pumpkins are too small, but I stand behind the idea as one that would totally work on a slightly larger scale!

PHOTO BY GABRIELA HANSEN

PHOTO BY GABRIELA HANSEN {CAPTURED JUST BEFORE THE BURNING STARTED!}

I’m dying to see a Moroccan-tin-lantern-inspired pumpkin all lit up {and not burning}. Maybe one of my lovely friends south of the border will make these for your upcoming American Thanksgiving celebration in a couple of weeks? If you do, please take pics! I’d love to see them.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|November 5th, 2012|0 Comments