Thanksgiving Side Dishes

Chris McKone had a class this evening on Thanksgiving Sides. Wonderful recipes. I wish I were cooking for a big group so I can try all of these. As it is there are just 3 of us so I'll probably just make one of these. For Christmas I'll make a couple more. These are the Roasted Root Vegetables and the Haricots Vets with Goat Cheese and Warm Bacon Dressing. This is a very festive "Christmasy" dish with the red from the pomegranates and the green of the beans. It is a very tasty salad. The Roasted Root Vegetables were a combination of carrot, parsnips, sweet potatoes and onion all roasted until caramelize then dressed with a thyme marjoram vinaigrette.

These are the Corn Pudding and the Mushroom and Gruyere Bread Pudding. Both were delicious and I do want to make one of these for Thanksgiving. The Corn Pudding is supper easy to make and only takes a few minutes to put together. The Mushroom Bread Pudding was my favorite dish. A mixture of different mushrooms, Madeira wine, Gruyere and Parmesan Cheese and good bread all in a savory custard. The last dish was the Potato and Celery Root Puree with Roasted Garlic. We also were treated to a Cranberry Kir Royale which unfortunately I didn't get a picture of. It would be a great cocktail for the holidays. All it is is 2 Tbsp of cranberry concentrate in the bottom of a champagne glass, fill the glass with champagne. Very pretty.

Corn Chive Pudding

2 (10oz.) packages of frozen corn, thawed

1/4 C sugar

1 1/4 tsp salt

2C whole milk (must be whole milk)

4 large eggs

1/2 C or more grated sharp Cheddar cheese

1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

1/2 stick (1/4C) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 Tbsp all purpose flour

1/4 C Chopped fresh chives

Pinch freshly grated nutmeg

3Tbsp chopped chives for garnish

Prey heat oven to 350 and butter a 11/2 quart dish or pie plate.

In a food processor pulse 1/2 of the corn until chopped coarse. In a bowl stir together chopped corn and remaining corn kernels and sprinkle with sugar and salt, stir until combined.

In another bowl whisk together milk, eggs,cheese,vanilla seeds,butter, flour and 1/4 C chives stir into the corn until combined well. Pour pudding into the prepared dish and sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake pudding in middle of oven until center is just set, about 45 min. Garnish with the rest of the chives. Makes 8 servings.