Thanksgiving 2010

This year I have traveled to San Diego to be with my cousin for Thanksgiving. My kids are having their own celebrations in Albuquerque and Denver. So instead of moping around an empty house or going out to dinner at Denny’s, I decided to take a road trip. I tried to volunteer at the local Senior Center but they were having a catered lunch and didn’t need any assistance.

Thanksgiving is such a food related holiday that most of us look at it as a gluttonous feast day, where we have to unsnap our trouser buttons so we don’t explode. Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stringbean casserole, pies of all kinds and then there is the gravy. That strangely seductive elixir of turkey drippings, giblets and a thickening agent to tie it all together. Its tradition you know.

But now that I have had WLS, how do I approach both the cooking of Thanksgiving dinner and the consumption of same. What decisions are relevant regarding the foods generally headlining the feast? How do I accommodate my minimal consumptive capacity with the psychological siren song of all that traditional food? And to add another element into the culinary equation, my cousin is both gluten-intolerant and lactose-intolerant. Now we really have to think about the menu. Volume is one thing, intolerance is quite another.

Our plan is to have a roast turkey (sorry you have to have turkey), stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, roasted seasonal vegetables (broccolini, Brussels sprouts and carrots), and a dessert or two. I will make a new antipasto (Medjool dates stuffed with a sausage and cheese mixture and heated in the oven). That is a huge amount of food for two people, so now I am looking at making the dishes so that there are some leftovers (got to have turkey sandwiches) but that we aren’t eating the leftovers for the next week.

So here is the plan including the reduced quantities of ingredients. We purchased a 12 pound turkey which is nicely sized for this application and provides the desired amount of leftovers for turkey sandwiches and turkey tetrazzini. The cornbread stuffing will be made with a gluten-free cornbread mix I will bake and then use half to make the stuffing and the rest kept for another meal. Sweet potatoes (two medium) will be baked and turned into a puree with butter and a bit of cream. The mashed potatoes (4 medium) will be boiled with garlic, mashed and seasoned with salt and pepper, butter and a bit of the cream. The gravy will be a reduction of the pan juices with most of the fat removed. You don’t need to use thickening agents if you use a reduction. 

The Brussels sprouts (10 quartered) and carrots (3 sliced on the diagonal) will be roasted in the oven and tossed with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. The broccolini (4-5 small stalks) braised quickly in a saute pan with some garlic and olive oil. The date antipasti are made by sauteing Italian sausage with chopped onions, adding about a half cup of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, then cooling mixture and crumbling by hand into smaller particles. The dates are placed in a glass baking dish and a mound of the sausage mixture placed in each one. Into the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees and they are served immediately.

All of the tastes of Thanksgiving were retained without the excesses normally seen during the preparation of this meal. There are no gluten filled dishes like rolls or and no significant use of lactose with the exception of the whipped cream which generally has little lactose. For the bariatric surgery patient as well as the gluten and lactose intolerant this meal can easily accommodated.

For the WLS diner, take a single stuffed date, two-three ounces of turkey, a spoonful of stuffing, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, a taste of each of the vegetables. Eat slowly and enjoy the traditional flavors. That way you save room for a taste of dessert. This year it will be a flourless chocolate walnut cake with chocolate ganache icing and a pumpkin souffle with whipped cream. It is Thanksgiving after all and on that day we are allowed to eat a little excessively. But the fact that our reduced stomachs provide a restrictive element to our desires, does not mean you cannot enjoy all the tastes and dishes of the holiday table. So eat responsibly and enjoy yourself.