Toasting a healthy Thanksgiving: No butter, cream, antibiotics or turkey

A luxurious Wild Red King Crab Salad, dressed with Dijon mustard, extra-virgin olive oil and fresh lime juice, includes sweet peppers, red onion and diced carrots.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Red King Crab Salad I just made for Thanksgiving is chilling in the refrigerator, and the Argentine Red Shrimp I plan to grill on the stove top are defrosting next to it.

This year, we didn't make our annual trek to the Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff, where we usually buy naturally raised turkey parts -- the flavorful dark meat -- instead of a whole bird.

But to satisfy the meat eaters in the family and a couple of guests I did buy a fully cooked Applewood Smoked Uncured Petite Ham from Whole Foods Market in Paramus ($7.99 a pound).

The 3.4-pound Niman Ranch ham was raised on a vegetarian diet without harmful antibiotics.

The ham is being heated in the oven now, and I've already roasted 2 pounds of fresh Brussels Sprouts with olive oil, sea salt and other seasoning.

That's not all

Meanwhile, my wife has prepared oxtail, barbecued chicken, rice with peas and cole slaw for our son, who is home from college, and two of his friends, who showed up unexpectedly and spent the night here.

I made the Red King Crab Salad from fully cooked legs my wife bought at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro on Tuesday (3.06 pounds at $19.99 a pound).

Each of the four legs, with meaty knuckles, was about 2 feet long.

If need be, we also can have baked organic sweet potatoes or mashed organic sweet potatoes with extra-virgin olive oil I made on Wednesday.

At dinner, we plan to toast our good fortune with a Bellini, a cocktail made with Prosecco and peach nectar, both from Italy.

Argentine Red Shrimp can be deveined or grilled on the stove top head and all. I plan to marinate them in fresh lime juice first.

This year, we're giving thanks without the turkey

The wine department at Costco Wholesale in Wayne offers some pricey bottles, above. A 3-liter bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne from France is priced at $299.99.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Our Thanksgiving menu this year offers a bounty for meat eaters and vegetarians alike, but doesn't include the traditional turkey.

A whole turkey hasn't been the centerpiece of our meal for several years, because we prefer the dark meat and usually visit Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff for naturally raised drumsticks, thighs, wings and necks.

This year, we're picking up ingredients for the holiday meal at Whole Foods Market, Costco Wholesale and ShopRite.

For the meat eaters, we'll serve a Niman Ranch Smoked Uncured Petite Ham from Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

This fully cooked, 3.3-pound ham -- which is vegetarian fed and raised without antibiotics or growth hormones -- was $7.99 a pound. 

We'll also serve a Kirkland Signature Frenched Lamb Rack from Australia ($10.99 a pound) that I picked up today at the Costco Wholesale in Wayne.

Kirkland Signature Champagne, left, and California Cabernet Sauvignon flanking Beaujolais Nouveau.

I drove to Wayne to shop the only Costco wine, beer and liquor department in the area, picking up Kirkland Signature Cabernet Sauvignon and Kirkland Signature Champagne (Brut).

A 1.5-liter bottle of the California wine was a bargain at $7.99. 

The champagne, from France, was $19.99, about half the price of such premium brands as Veuve Clicquot Brut (more than $40 at Costco).

I also purchased a bottle of Goerges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau for $8.39, about 60 cents less than elsewhere.

The new wine has always been overpriced, and this year is no exception.

On Wednesday, I plan to shop the Seafood Road Show at the Hackensack Costco for Alaskan king crab legs and mussels.

They will be part of my Thanksgiving seafood meal, which also may include whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce, and sardines, shrimp or salted cod -- possibly all three.

For side dishes, we also have ShopRite sweet potatoes to bake or mash; and broccoli, organic spring mix and Campari Tomatoes from Costco.

As for turkey, I plan to donate a whole one to the Center for Food Action in Englewood, as I do every year.

Inside our Thanksgiving dinner

Image via Wikipedia

I had the tool, but zesting two oranges was the hardest part of the recipe.

If I had a larger stock pot, I would have ruined the healthy carrot-fennel soup I prepared for Thanksgiving and been stuck with a lot of watery stuff that I could never serve my guests. The recipe I included in my last post must be in error on the huge amount of water called for.


I started sauteeing sliced onion, garlic and fennel in olive oil Thursday morning. Meanwhile, I sliced the 5 pounds of organic carrots I had peeled the night before, and when the other ingredients were translucent, added the carrots and water.


The recipe, from the Stony Hill Inn in Hackensack, calls for two and a half gallons of water, but I couldn't find a pitcher that was marked with its volume. A Brita pitcher we use for home-purified water was marked in cups, but only two-thirds up the side, ending at "10c." The Brita Web site gave the volume in 8-ounce glasses. (A gallon has 16 cups).

So, I poured nearly a full Brita pitcher of water into the pot, probably a gallon in total, and that was all that would fit. There wasn't even room for the optional two cups of milk, so I saved that step for later.


I boiled the mixture until the carrots were soft, about 40 minutes, and added zest from two oranges. Then, I started transferring the solids and some liquid into a blender to puree them. I should have poured the low-fat milk into the blender, not the pot, because when all the solids were removed, there was still a lot of milky liquid left, and I was forced to discard it.


I was left with a pleasantly thick and grainy carrot soup that tasted neither of fennel nor orange zest, but once I seasoned it with salt and white pepper, it was bursting with flavor. It went over big at dinner.


The rest of the menu was easy to prepare: 

Ravioli with beef for my guests, my son and my wife; lobster ravioli for me, both from Costco and both drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil and a shower of black pepper from a mill; seasoned turkey thighs, drumsticks and wings from the Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff that took on a beautiful color during simple roasting; baked sweet potatoes and yams; jellied and whole cranberries, and a big salad.


My reward for not eating meat was several glasses of delicious wine from La Familia Bujanda in Spain (made from the tempranillo grape), and a mid-afternoon nap.