Holiday season is upon us! The holiday season is a busy time of year (and you want it to be for your restaurant too!). First up is Thanksgiving: you want to think about offering Thanksgiving inspired dishes to your menu in the hopes of getting some positive buzz surrounding your restaurant. You do all this with the hopes of increasing foot traffic. Here are some Thanksgiving inspired dishes for your menu (or if you want them for your dinner table on Thanksgiving Day):
Sausage Fennel Stuffing
An Italian-inspired Thanksgiving stuffing dish, this dish adds chunks of Italian sweet sausage to fennel and onions for a great stuffing twist!
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
- 2 small fennel bulbs
- 2 medium sized red onions
- 4 thyme sprigs
- ¼ cup of extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pound sourdough
- 2 ½ cups unsalted chicken stock
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a baking pan with butter. Place the sausage, fennel, thyme, and onions into a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with pepper, and bake in preheated oven until brown (20-25 minutes). Place the sourdough bread (separated into smaller chunks) on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees until lightly toasted and let cool for 5 minutes. Whisk together the eggs and chicken stock in a bowl, and then add the bread and sausage mixture. Then add the remaining pepper and salt and scrape into prepared baking dish that was greased with butter earlier. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and let sit for 45 minutes at room temperature. Then bake at 375 degrees until heated through (about 45 minutes). Let stand and then serve.
Chile Infused Mashed Potatoes
Add Chile to this familiar Thanksgiving side dish for a spicy flair!
Ingredients:
- 3 guajillo chiles
- 3 dried chiles de árbol
- 2 ½ cups of half-and-half
- 5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
- 7 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Place chiles in a saucepan over medium and cook, stirring until lightly toasted (5 minutes). Stir in the half-and-half, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to very low and let the mixture sit for 30 minutes. Then pour the chile infused half-and-half through a strainer over a bowl. Next, place the potatoes in a saucepan and add cold water to cover by 1 inch and bring to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, reduce heat to medium, and let simmer for about 25 minutes. Then drain the potatoes over a colander. Stir together butter and the chile mix over medium until butter is melted and remove from the heat. Put the potatoes through a potato ricer into the saucepan and stir until combined. Season with the remaining salt and serve!
Think about adding twists that fit the theme of your restaurant to classic Thanksgiving dishes, and your customers will be impressed!
