Everyone knows that the sides are the best part of Thanksgiving. But I’d go even further and say those robust dishes of vegetables and carbs and relishes and sauces are the best part of November. You don’t need to wait until Thanksgiving to make (and eat) them.
Case in point: This giant roasted vegetable platter, a new recipe from Melissa Clark, would be a perfect centerpiece for a casual Thursday dinner with friends. Bring her zippy green beans with lime and red onion or red cabbage with walnuts and feta to that potluck you have tomorrow. I’m eyeing this maple-roasted squash to eat with fried eggs for a simple but bright Wednesday dinner on the couch, a lovely little feast to celebrate cresting the workweek.
ImageWatch Melissa’s tips for making Thanksgiving pop.Credit...Left: Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Prop Stylist: Courtney de Wet, Phoebe Melnick/The New York Times, Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.8 Brilliant Tips to Make Your Thanksgiving Better and BrighterWatch Video →
Melissa has a new video and guide to bringing (edible) color to your holiday table: “This is a great year to add vibrancy and verve, not just for the visual thrill, but because colorful ingredients also often have the deepest, most complex flavors,” she writes. It’s already starting to get gray and cold where I live, so I won’t be waiting until the 28th to try these vivid dishes — not that I could resist a smorgasbord of my favorite farmers’ market veggies, perfectly roasted and adorned with garlicky yogurt and hot honey until then, anyway.
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Giant Roasted Vegetable PlatterView Recipe →
A reminder: Beige, in all its soft, soothing hues, is a color, too. And we have excellent recipes for beige (and brown) sides: stuffing with mushrooms, leeks and bacon; cheesy baked cauliflower; herby mashed potatoes with labneh. (Though this last one, a new recipe from Andy Baraghani, might count as colorful — the scallions and dill give the dish an assertive shot of green.)
Melissa’s sheet-pan tarragon chicken with sherry vinegar onions, which had me at “sherry vinegar onions,” would pair nicely with any of the above dishes. Or, for a no-fuss fish dish that welcomes improvisation, there’s Ali Slagle’s olive oil baked salmon. “I love when NYT Cooking gives us template recipes like this,” wrote Daniella, a reader. “The technique is foolproof and open to endless adaptations. I made mine with lots of lemon peel, sliced olives and an extra squeeze of lemon.”
And for dessert? Skillet caramel-apple crisp. I’ve been making a lot of apple crisps lately, and this feels like the fancy Friday apple crisp, with its caramel sauce and apples spiced with cardamom, clove and cinnamon. A shining white orb of vanilla ice cream is optional butkawbet, as with all things fun and colorful, very much encouraged.