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At Thanksgiving, The Sides Have It

Chef Mike Isabella

It's Thanksgiving, which means you'll be seeing Aunt Martha's sweet potato casserole encased in a marshmallow cloud that has drifted too close to the sun. Cousin Joe, who's just here for the game, will bring his famous can-shaped cranberry sauce that looks like it's been attacked by a slinky. Then your sister will arrive with her sad concoction of green beans drowning in cream-of-mushroom soup, flecked with floating onion strings that have been flung like debris from the Titanic.

There's a certain charm to these standbys, and by golly, you might even like them. But maybe this year you're ready for a change. Not a big one, like subbing tofu for turkey. Just a twist, you know - one that keeps you from being accused of breaking tradition but also says, "It's my kitchen and unless you're helping, go away." And, hey, wouldn't we also like to keep it simple so that we actually have some time to enjoy ourselves?

Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep spoke with chef Mike Isabella, a Washington, D.C.-based restaurateur, about how to tweak that traditional dish into one you still wouldn't mind bringing home to meet your mother.

Isabella, who is in charge of bringing side dishes to his family's Thanksgiving table every year, says he sticks to classic roots, but likes to add a twist here and there. "You always want to put one or two elements in there that changes the way people think when they taste something," he says.

For the sweet potatoes, Isabella says he wants to create something a little more savory, "something you could eat not just at Thanksgiving but all the time." For cranberries, which often take the form of ambrosia, using Jell-o and whipped cream, Isabella instead cooks down the berries with sugar, oranges, cinnamon, rosemary and thyme and chills the result in a terrine mold. He tops it with Greek yogurt. And for a fresher, healthier green bean dish, he blanches the beans and cherry tomatoes, sprinkles them with fried shallots, and tosses it all with a mustard vinaigrette.

When you keep things simple, Isabella says, "That makes Thanksgiving a lot more fun, and you can drink a little more that way."

More: Orange-Cranberry Terrine

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