Memories of Thanksgiving feasts gone by

This past weekend, I made a recipe that got me to reminiscing about Thanksgiving dinners from years gone by. As a single gal for many years who lived 3,000 miles from her family, I got invited to a number of (as I liked to call them) “orphan feasts.” These were dinners where a family took me in or where a group of friends, who were without (or who were avoiding) their own families, joined forces to create a feast and celebrate the holiday.

One of my favorite potluck Thanksgivings revolved around a “Kentucky” themed meal. Let’s just say that bourbon figured prominently in most of the recipes (and on its own). The turkey was brined and smoked on a grill with cherry wood chips and then the skin was glazed with maple syrup. I told people it was the best darn turkey I ever had and I fantasized about it for many years until finally, one Thanksgiving when both our moms came to visit, Big Papa and I made it. Big Papa, who was never a turkey aficionado, said: That was the best darn turkey I ever had.

Then there was an out –of-state Thanksgiving with a boyfriend who was filming a movie. The family of his friend, lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and that meal fulfilled every stereotype you might have of a “hippie” holiday. Everyone was smoking pot around the table, including grandma, who told me quirky stories about the days when she owned two Wallabies that she paraded around the streets just to get a rise out of her neighbors. Forget about having to decide whether you wanted apple or pumpkin pie. They didn’t serve either. Brownies were the sole dessert option and given the pot-filled haze in the air, I wasn’t sure what “special spices” might be in them, so I said: Uh, thanks, I’ll pass.

The recipe I made was one that predates these celebrations, because it is a recipe from college days. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I was a vegetarian for roughly seven years. Although my food “lifestyle,” was not unheard of, it wasn’t as universally accepted as it is some thirty years later. These days, I can easily name five or six vegetarian restaurants in Seattle, and one or two vegan spots. But back in the day, Moosewood Restaurant was one of the first and one of the only.

I started making this recipe for stuffed squash, from the Moosewood Cookbook, when I came home to visit my family for the Thanksgiving holiday. Skipping the main event, turkey, was disconcerting for my mother, that I’m sure. The fact that she still makes this recipe (and likes it!) is a testament to how good it is. It’s a Thanksgiving classic, in its own way.

Since Big Papa and I are celebrating one of our (now nearly annual) traditions of painting a room this holiday weekend, my cookbooks are tucked away in a spot where I can’t get to them and, amazingly, I couldn’t find this recipe online. So, I made it from memory. I can say with complete confidence, it’s still as tasty as I remember.

Stuffed Squash (as I remember it from the Moosewood Cookbook)

Ingredients:

• 1 Squash (acorn, butternut or your fav)
• Cottage cheese, roughly ½-1 cup
• Cheddar (or other sharp cheese – I used Gouda this time), roughly ½-1 cup
• ½ Yellow onion, chopped
• Crimini or button mushrooms, 5-10 sliced
• 1 Apple (I used a Honey Crisp, but any variety will work), cored and chopped
• Cinnamon, 1 teaspoon
• Canola or olive oil

How to:

1. Split an acorn (or butternut) squash lengthwise down the middle.
2. Remove seeds and bake (face down on a baking sheet with a little oil) at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
3. Saute onions in oil and then add apple and mushrooms. Saute until a tad soft but not fully cooked.
4. Combine the onions, mushrooms and apples with the cottage cheese and cheddar cheese and add about a teaspoon of cinnamon (or a bit of nutmeg, or both – I also added some fresh thyme)
5. Take the squash halves out of the oven, flip them over and fill the cavity with the cheese filling.
6. Bake for another 30 minutes at 350-375 or until the squash is tender and pulls away from the skin.

Want to find more food to be thankful for? Check out Wanderfood Wednesday!