Not for actual Thanksgiving, but could be. Today, I made a double batch of this for lasagna. I've made pappardelle with this recipe before, but having acquired the KA pasta roller for a ridiculously good price, I thought I'd try making the lasagne with it. There will also be pumpkin filling, herbs and many cheeses in it, and chicken Italian sausage.

Pumpkin Pasta Dough -- Leite's

from Leite's Culinaria

Notes: My own notes say "Needs more pumpkin and water". I was using roasted jack-o'-lantern pumpkin, and it was very wet, so i didn't add water, but used half rather than 1/3 cup (i.e., doubled to 1 cup). I only have "large" eggs which were mostly pretty small, as such things go (eggs are weighed by the dozen) so I used five for the double batch and got more water that way as well. In the end, I added about a sixth of a cup of flour by eye. I kneaded on a silicone mat so didn't need to add flour there. The dough felt good and right while I was kneading, but as of now it's still waiting in the fridge. Overwhelming day. The lasagna casserole itself is my own recipe, but Leite also has one.

Ingredients

1/3 cup pureed cooked pumpkin or winter squash, such as buttercup or kabocha

2 tablespoons semolina flour, plus more for the work surface

2 large or extra-large eggs

3/4 teaspoons fine sea salt

2 to 2 1/4 cups “00” flour or unbleached all-purpose flourPinch freshly grated nutmeg

Directions

• In a small bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and 1 egg. Set aside.
• Place 2 cups “00” flour, the semolina flour, salt, and nutmeg in a food processor. Pulse briefly to combine. Add the pumpkin-egg mixture and pulse briefly.
• Add the remaining egg and pulse until the mixture forms crumbs that look like small curds.
• Pinch together a bit of the mixture and roll it around. It should form a soft ball. If the mixture seems dry, drizzle in a few droplets of water and pulse briefly. If it seems too wet and sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse briefly.
• Turn the mixture onto a clean work surface sprinkled lightly with semolina flour and press it together with your hands to form a rough ball.
• Knead the dough by using the palm of your hand to push the dough gently but firmly away from you, and then fold it over toward you. Rotate the dough a quarter turn, and repeat the pushing and folding motion. Continue kneading for several minutes until the dough is smooth.
• Form it into a ball and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before using. To form lasagne noodles, stretch the dough as thin as you comfortably can, no thicker than 1/16 inch. If you lift a sheet with your hand, you should be able to see the shadow of your hand through it. Because lasagne noodles are layered, they need to be very thin. Using a sharp chef’s or similar knife, cut each sheet into rectangles about 4 inches by 5 inches.

This is a variation on a raw cranberry relish that was on the bags years ago. I've been making it for years too.

1 bag cranberries, 1 whole lemon and 1 whole orange, both seeded and coarsely chopped but not peeled. (I try to get organic since the recipe includes the peels)

Coarsely chop everything in a food processor and add sugar to taste. You'll probably need at least 1/2 c.

This is the only way I like turnip. It's been a staple at our Thanksgiving and Christmas table for decades. Easy and can make ahead. They're actually rutabagas, but we call them turnips, if that makes a difference to you.

Excuse the hand-written.

I only use Swedes, which you call rutabagas, in vegetable soup and pasties, but I like turnips cut into thin-ish wedges and cooked in a small amount of water which has a good lump of butter and a teaspoon or so of sugar added. The water eventually evaporates and then the butter and sugar glaze the turnips.

seagrass_gw Cape Cod

We have a local turnip, called an Eastham turnip, that only grows in our sandy soil. It's grown now from heirloom seeds. The taste is milder than the sharp white purple top turnips. Our town has an annual Turnip Festival. They can grow quite large and this year the winning turnip came in at 17 lbs. 3 oz. They aren't all that unweildly. I usually only need one or two smaller turnips to make my recipe for turnips au gratin. This is a photo of a large Eastham turnip

I've also made my recipe using rutabagas when we lived in the Netherlands and couldn't buy similar turnips. We've had this on our Thanksgiving table every year for over 30 years.

TURNIPS AU GRATIN

2 lbs turnips, peeled and diced

1/4 c. butter

3 T. flour

3/4 tsp. salt

pinch of nutmeg

dash of pepper

2 c. milk

3/4 c. freshly grated cheddar

1 1/2 c. soft bread crumbs

2 T. melted butter

Cook cubed turnips in boiling salted water until almost tender - approx. 5 minutes. Drain and put into a buttered baking dish approx. 10 x 6 x 2. In saucepan, melt 1/4 c. butter, stir in flour and spices, cook about 2 minutes but don't let flour brown, then add the milk all at once. Cook quickly, stir constantly over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat, add grated cheese, stir to melt. Pour sauce over turnips in baking dish. Combine breadcrumbs with melted butter and sprinkle over turnip mixture.

Bake uncovered at 375° F until crumbs brown, approx. 30 minutes.

Speaking of turnips (the real kind with purple tops and white bottoms, not rutabagas/sweeds--BTW, Jasdip, I recently read that calling rutabagas "turnips" is the norm in Scotland--do your come from Scottish?), I got a nice big flat one to make "chips" from. It needs to be flat enough to cut on a mandoline, and firm and nice. Wash well, then slice on the finest setting. Arrange with no overlap on a baking sheet (parchment optional). Use a microplane on a block of white extra sharp cheddar to make little ribbons of cheese on top. Each piece only needs a few. This isn't about the cheese. Broil at 375° until just beginning to brown. Try to fight off the family long enough to transfer them to a plate.

I just made a roasted apple pie that everyone loves, but I need to make it a couple more times to have a reliable recipe.

I am bad with recipes (measurements? what are those?) but a couple of sides I sometimes make are so easy no recipe is needed, tasty, and kind of different, being rather dated or “vieillot” as the French would say.

Creamed corned. Cut corn off cob, scraping to get all the little bits. Or open a can - it doesn’t make much difference honestly. Melt cream cheese in saucepan, mix in corn. Add heavy cream to desired consistency. Season to taste, not forgetting the nutmeg. If being fancee, not forgetting the Gran Marnier. Use immersion blender to mash up a small part of the corn - about one-sixth?

Creamed spinach. Similar to above, but cook down and drain spinach with shallots and garlic, before adding cream cheese. Skip nutmeg and Gran Marnier, sub butter and Amaretto. Skip blender.

I believe the “correct” way to make these dishes involves flour and roux but that’s way too much work.

Serve with a side of ribeye steak and bourbon.

Re rutabagas/swedes. Oldtimers in WV used to call them Hanovers.

John, creamed corn and creamed spinach…💗!!!

I like veggie crumbles. Finished with a topping of flour, butter, oats, chopped nuts and a little cheese.

Mum used to serve creamed sweetcorn. I loved it. It came out of a tin lol. Nothing fancy. I'm not sure that you can still get it.

You can here, Islay. I often get it to make corn fritters.

Turnips are my favorite vegetable for making tempura. Here's a tempura batter recipe:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cold beer
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 egg whites, stiffly beaten

I recall using soda water to make tempura - is that a thing?

Yes. I'm not sure that non-discharged CO2 in soda water or beer in batter really does make it lighter, but it's a thing, especially for tempura. Both would be redundant. ;)

Lars, I love the idea of whipped eggwhites in your recipe. I've never heard of that, and will have to try it!

Canned ”Creamed Style Corn” (my guess is the name probably a legal compromise for using the word ”cream” without containing cream) is commonly available in the USA. All the cans contain corn, ”modified corn starch”, water, sugar and salt. Not in quantity order.

I don’t really like the canned ”cream corn”, its basically pulverized corn bits in corn starch gloop. Not that I haven’t eaten it - in grad school, plenty of meals were decanted straight from a Campbell’s can.

LOL! Homemade is ”pulverized” (blendered) corn kenals mixed with the scrapings from the cob after the slicing, which is usually thick enough without starch. That then, usually has at least as much corn kernals as goo mixed together, and better 3:1. Some people do like to add actual cream and simmer a little. I prefer just barely steamed and still crisp, with just a whiff of salt.

Who can resist creamed corn and crab soup with a touch of miso. Nothing fresh about this as both main ingredients out of a can, but still quite good.

That looks very tasty!