Thanksgivukkah!

As most of you know, Chanukah is just around the corner, but this year the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars converge to give us Thanksgivukkah (or as some are calling it Chanksgiving)! The Jewish festival of lights and the American holiday for giving thanks haven’t coincided since President Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, and apparently won’t happen again till the year 79811.

The much loved Jewish acapella group, the Maccabeats have incorporated this once in a lifetime Judeo-American mash-up into their new Hannukah Video , a cover of Ellie Goulding’s ‘Burn’, which I must say is another truly fantastic production. Yours truly, team AliBabka, was responsible for all the delicious food and the wonderful table scape for the video. In order to fulfill Uri Westrich’s cinematic vision, we set a classic American Thanksgiving table, with a bit of traditional Chanuka fixins mixed in. The Menu is as Follows:

Maple Glazed Turkey (coming out of the oven)

Whiskey Maple Gravy

Green Beans Almondine (getting a sprinkle of toasted Almonds)

Oven Roasted Wild Carrots

Classic Potato Latkes

Spiced Cinnamon Apple Sauce

Fresh Cranberry Relish with an Orange Ginger Twist

Joburg Sausage, Roasted Chestnut Stuffing with Figs

Pumpkin Pie topped with whipped Cream and Candied Pecans

Basket of Herbed Artisan Rolls

Thanks to all The Maccabeats and to Uri Westrich for allowing us to cater and be a part of this video.

I am sharing with you two recipes from the video:

– Chestnut, Fig and Sasauge Stuffing.

– Green Beans Almondine (below)

Check out some of the behind the scenes pics!

Green Beans Almondine

1 lb. Fresh Green Beans, trimmed

1/4 C. Slivered Almonds, toasted

2 Shallots, sliced thin

Salt and Pepper, to taste

2 Tbs. Olive Oil

In a pot, bring 1 inch of water to a gentle simmer and add green beans. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, until the green beans turn a bright green color. Remove green beans and shake off excess water. In a pan or wok, add 1 Tbs. olive oil and bring to a high heat. Add green beans and saute for about 1-2 minutes, tossing with salt and pepper. Transfer green beans to a serving plate and add another 1 Tbs. of olive oil to the pan. Saute’ shallots till translucent, season with salt and pepper, and pour on top of the green beans. To finish, sprinkle toasted almonds on top.

Whenever I hear the word Thanksgivukah, I can’t help but think of other food word combinations like Grapple (Grape and Apple) and Plumcot (Plum and Apricot). In honor of our hybrid holiday, I decided to make a hybrid dish. May I introduce to you….The Pumpkeetotake!

Pumpkeetotake with Craisin Goat Cheese

1 Large Sweet Potato, grated

1 Red Onion, grated

1 Egg

1/2 C. Pumpkin Puree

1/2 C. Potato Starch

1/2 C. Pecans, chopped

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Goat Cheese

Craisins (or any dried fruit: apricots, cherries, fig, etc.)

Maple Syrup

Mix together the sweet potato, onion, egg, pumpkin, starch, pecans and salt and pepper till combined. Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan on medium high heat. Take a golf size ball of sweet potato mixture in your hand and flatten it out. The flatter the pancake the crispier it will be. Put the pancake carefully in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on one side and flip to the other side for another 2-3 minutes, till crispy and golden brown. Transfer pancakes to a paper towel.

In a separate bowl, mix together the craisins and goat cheese. Top each pancake with a bit of the goat cheese mixture and a drizzle of maple syrup. Eat warm.

I rarely make stuffing, but on Thanksgiving, just like the turkey, eating stuffing is basically an obligation. While I was pulling ingredients out of my fridge and freezer to make my sausage and chestnut stuffing, I noticed a package of dried figs. That is exactly what my stuffing needed…figs! This stuffing is extremely savory and has awesome flavor from the seared sausages and creamy chestnuts, but the figs give it that bite of sweet and pulls this dish together.

Chestnut, Fig and Sausage Stuffing

1 Pound (8 Cups) White Bread (preferably a day old), crust trimmed, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 Pound Roasted Packaged Chestnuts

1 Pound Jo-Burg Boerewors Traditional Sausage, cut on a bias into ½ inch pieces

1 Tbs. Olive Oil

2 Onions, finely chopped

2 Celery Stalks, small dice

2 Carrots, small dice

4 Garlic Cloves, minced

1/2 C. Dry White Wine

1/2 C. Vegetable or Chicken Stock

1/2 C. Dried Figs, sliced thin

1 Tbs. Dried Thyme

1 Tbs. Dried Sage

2 Tbs. Fresh Parsley, chopped

Salt and Pepper, to taste

2 Eggs, lightly beaten

Cut up the bread and put in bowl. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, sauté sausage until brown (7-10 minutes). No need to add oil because the heat will extract the natural fat from the sausages. Removes sausages and place in the bowl with the bread, keeping the fat from the sausages in the pan. Add the 1 Tbs. of oil to the pan. Sauté onions, carrots and celery until soft. 1 minute before the vegetable done, add the garlic. Remove the vegetable and pour them into the bread and sausage mixture.

Remove the pan from the stove and add the wine to the pan. Place the pan back on the stove and scrape up any brown bits from bottom. Cook over medium heat until wine is reduced by half. Add to bread mixture.

Add the stock to bread mixture; toss. Add figs, thyme, sage, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the eggs.

Place the stuffing in a grease 9X13 baking dish or 1-9 inch round baking dish. Cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes; remove foil. Bake until golden brown, about 25 more minutes.

The sausages I used in this stuffing are JoBurg kosher sausages. They are made of pure beef and have an incredible flavor! Click here to buy them and be directed to their website!