Non-tradition has become tradition for our Thanksgiving Day feast. Two years past, after getting chilly at the Thanksgiving Day Parade, we came upon a fantastic free feast at Occupy Wall Street, all generously donated by chefs of New York City restaurants. Volunteers demanded our attendance for the Thanksgiving meal-really, they pulled us in. The teens were a little unsure, but once they got a taste of the delicious fare, they were more than content. Last year we enjoyed the famed Lam Zhou Noodles of NYC's Chinatown. For $25, including tip, we had 4 heaping bowls of beef noodle soup with hand-pulled noodles and a big plate of pot stickers. This place isn't fancy, but it is high on an authentic atmosphere with seriously good Chinese eats!
This year we decided to stay local, celebrating with the theme Turkish with all The Trimmings. Most of our menu came from Claudia Roden's Arabesque cookbook, a collection of classic Turkish, Moroccan and Lebanese dishes. The meal was a communal effort and luckily, we had an opportunity for a kitchen dance break.
Everyone came close to filling up on the appetizers! We savored the goodness of dipping our crusty bread in Za'atar, Egyptian Dukkah, Italian and Dark Cherry Balsamic olive oils.
Dark Cherry Balsamic from Cosimano e Ferrari,
A favorite purveyor of flavored balsamic and
olive oil in my hometown of Rochester, NY
Dip your crusty bread here
Other appetizers included Blue's ever popular Calimari Salad, Hummus Plate, Baked Feta,
Roasted Peppers and Eggplant & Toni's Minty Pea Dip.
Show off your Feta Bake! : )
Toni's Highly Addicting Minty Pea Dip
from Whole Living
Let's not forget the Roasted Peppers & Eggplant w/ Garlic Sauce
Following a post-appetizer frenzy, we sat down to a meal of Seared Tuna w/ Lemon Sauce, Turkish Rice & Scallion Mashed Potatoes. For salads: Cucumber Salad, Beet Salad & a Leafy Greens Salad.
As you can see, Dani thoroughly enjoyed Beet Salad preparation.
Beet Salad with Garlic Yogurt Sauce
We can't get enough of Turkish Rice!
And the entree, Pan Seared Tuna with Lemon Sauce and Scallion Mashed Potatoes...
Dinner for 5 called for 5 desserts: Persian Love Cake, Brownies, Pecan Pie,
Chocolaty Chocolate Brownies and Vanilla Ice Cream.
We will be enjoying dessert for days.
We were happy. We gave thanks. And, we were grateful.
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