ALT-1 Food Ideas for a non Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner
I am so tired of turkey and ham year in and year out, that last year, I decided on something different. It worked and I think it will become a tradition in our house - at least until I die and someone else does the cooking. Since I am of Croatian descent (across the Adriatic from Italy), and my husband is German, we came up with a no-fail solution. Spaghetti and sauerkraut - YUP, had it last year for Christmas and Thanksgiving - Easter Sunday too! We also have them at least once a month when there are no holidays and always together. We will not get tired of them, ever.
Our spaghetti dinner not only is made with ground beef, it has browned roast beef chunks (about the size of stir-fry meat). There is no Ragu or other commercial sauce; it is an old family recipe. The sauerkraut not only has chopped wieners, but browned pork links and sometimes pork chops or chicken are added, but those last two items are not usually added for the holidays, only regular non-holiday meals. If you are a vegetarian, you would not get much to eat at our house because there is meat in everything except the fruit salad. Once the sauerkraut starts to cook, and the spaghetti sauce is cooking, I always take a ladle full (or two) of spaghetti sauce and add it to the cooking sauerkraut.
So our two main items are the spaghetti and sauerkraut, but there is also garlic bread, Greek Dolmas (which I buy ready-made), a Greek salad and Greek Olives - Hey, the Greeks are from the Mediterranean too. A must to include is the fruit salad with fruit cocktail, extra maraschino cherries, bananas, orange slices, mini-marshmallows and tons of whip cream. We used to include apples in the salad, but apples from the store are pretty much tasteless and are left out because they were ruining the melt-in-your-mouth taste. Pumpkin pie and cheese cake for desert completes the meal; even though we are stuffed, we will all have an extra plate of sauerkraut for a snack later on.
We are pretty big eaters when it comes to this meal, and I usually use three quarts of sauerkraut, always washing and rinsing a couple of times (before cooking) so it is not so sharp. Bacon is browned (at least 4 slices for each the spaghetti and sauerkraut) and chopped up; add onions (at least one - or if you use the dry - two handfuls), a couple of chopped garlic cloves, a can of chopped tomatoes, a dash of white pepper and a bay leaf. Add the sauerkraut; add some water so the kraut can simmer nicely. While that is simmering, start your spaghetti sauce in the same way (bacon, and onions in the same amounts as the sauerkraut), one can of chopped tomatoes, one can of tomato paste, about three quarts of tomato sauce. Add your spices, parsley, Italian seasoning, basil, garlic, a bay leaf, mushrooms if desired, then at least a half teaspoon to a teaspoon of cinnamon, about a half teaspoon each of cloves, allspice, nutmeg, marjoram and a dash of white pepper and a little salt. Bring to a slow boil and let simmer. Brown a couple of pounds of very lean ground beef, and your stew meat, add this to the spaghetti sauce. After the spaghetti sauce has simmered for about an hour, stir and take a ladle or two of the sauce and add it to the cooking sauerkraut. You can add your wieners and browned pork sausage at any time as it only has to simmer for another hour. The spaghetti sauce is better if it simmers for at least 12 hours or longer. Enjoy and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
