Seattle Chefs Thanksgiving Potluck: Side Dishes

Earlier this week Ryan made the case for cooking your turkey sous vide (with a little help from the newly Michelin-starred Grant Achatz). Seattlest has asked some local chefs to round out our Thanksgiving meal with some favorite recipes for accompany the bird.

If you want some hors d'oeuvres, Serious Eats has a nice list of at-home ideas. Today, however, we bring you some side dish recipes that call for mild-to-moderate cooking skills but deliver much more impact than one of those lame sweet potato casseroles covered with marshmallows.

Read on for Cafe Juanita chef Holly Smith's butternut squash sformata (a tiny, dense cousin of the souffle). Chef Jacob Wiegner from Blackboard Bistro shares his warm parsnip salad and Betty's Craig Serbousek dresses up some Brussels sprouts with bacon and chestnuts.

Bacon & Brussels Sprout Hash with Chestnuts
From Chef Craig Serbousek of Betty Restaurant & Bar

Serves 4-6 people

24-30 heads Brussels sprouts
6 slices of bacon
1 T chopped Shallot
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T butter
½ C chopped chestnuts
Salt and Pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Clean Brussels sprouts by slicing off the stem-end and cutting them in half. Place each half on its cut side and slice the half very thinly (in a chiffonade). Place in a colander and continue until all of the Brussels sprouts are sliced. Wash thoroughly under cold running water.

When the salted water reaches a rolling boil, plunge all of the Brussels sprouts into it. Stir to submerge all of the Brussels sprouts. Cook about 1 minute, until sprouts become very green. Place the colander in sink and strain, rinsing the Brussels sprouts with cold running water to stop the cooking process. Gently squeeze out excess water and set aside.

Cut bacon lengthwise down the middle. Then chop into equal sized cubes.

In a sauté pan large enough to hold the Brussels sprouts, add olive oil and bacon and place over medium-low heat. Cook bacon, stirring occasionally, until it starts to render its fat. Continue cooking until bacon starts to brown. Add butter and shallots and increase heat to high. When bacon starts to sizzle add all of the Brussels sprouts. Stir to incorporate, making sure the bottom of the pan is completely covered. Cook, stirring regularly until they begin to brown.

Season with salt and pepper and incorporate chopped chestnuts. Serve immediately.

Butternut Squash Sformata
From Holly Smith of Cafe Juanita

3 cups roasted butternut squash - puree until smooth
1.5 cups cooked polenta ( seasoned with salt, butter and Parmigiano Reggiano to taste)
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
5 eggs separated
kosher salt to taste
cayenne to taste

Butter boat molds (about 8). 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inch high mold is ideal.

Mix polenta, squash, parmesan and egg yolks together. Season with salt and cayenne to taste.

Whip egg whites until stiff peaks but not dry. Taste and season again as necessary.

Gently fold in egg whites to squash mixture (in 2 or 3 batches).

Fill boat molds half way up with mixture.

Put in water bath and bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes. The soufflés should rise and a cake tester should come out clean.

To garnish top with pomegranate arils, buttered fried sage leaves and curls of Parmigiano Reggiano

Warm honey-roasted parsnips with salad of watercress, pomegranate, chestnut and orange
From Jacob Wiegner of Blackboard Bistro

Serves 6

9 medium parsnips
1 stick of butter
3 Tablespoons honey
1 lb chestnuts (raw)
1/2 pomegranate
3 oranges (an extra may be needed as per method)
1 bunch of watercress
Good extra virgin olive oil to finish
Coarse sea salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Note: the chestnuts, watercress, pomegranate and oranges can all be done in advance.

Melt butter and honey together in large saute pan. Peel parsnips and cut in 1/2 lengthwise. Cut the bottom half lengthwise once again and cut the thicker top section into four pieces so you end up with six similar sized sticks per parsnip.

Add to warm pan of melted butter and honey. Season with salt. Gently cook on a medium heat until golden brown, stirring only when needed to avoid the pieces breaking up. This process can take up to, but not necessarily half an hour.

While parsnips are cooking, cross score the chestnuts on one side with a paring knife. Roast in a single layer on a baking tray until the cross score peels back on the chestnuts (10-15 minutes). Allow to cool until you are comfortable handling them, peel the shell off. It is much easier to peel when warm. Keep them as whole as you are able, but don't worry about them breaking up as once peeled, slice them thinly.

Seed Pomegranate.

Pick watercress off stem and rinse if needed.

Zest oranges.

Oranges can then be prepared one of two ways: For less work simply peel and separate into segments. For a finer finish you can cut the top and bottom off the orange to the flesh and carefully peel with a knife removing all pith and as little flesh as possible and then cut the individual segments out with the knife following the pith lines and using a v-cut to make orange supremes. Remove all seeds.

Squeeze the remaining juice of orange left with the pith over the segments and toss with the zest. If you are just separating out the segments with no cutting use an extra 1/2 an orange to juice.

To Finish: Remove parsnips from pan using a slotted spoon allowing some of the honey and butter mixture to drain. Spread on a serving plate. Toss chestnuts, pomegranate, watercress and oranges with juice and zest together in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. (Do not toss these together until you are ready to serve).

Arrange mixture on top of the parsnips. Serve and eat.