not Thanksgiving delight

I don't do Thanksgiving here in Israel - not that I have anything against it. The idea of appreciating and giving thanks is quite Jewish (ok, New Age is catching up also), in fact religious Jews begin each morning by giving thanks to our Creator, and actually give thanks all day long (depending on how much you eat and how much you, umm, how do I say it, the bodily functions after you eat :>) ).

But Thanksgiving sort of fades into the background here. There are enclaves of people celebrating, holding on to the Old Country ways.

But tonight I have the privilege of celebrating someone's 70th birthday, and for that occasion I made a very special dish (would go well in any Thanksgiving feast) called Enchanted Broccoli Forest with Pumpkin Creme. It comes from Ilanit Tof's book, Seasonal Variation: Wholesummer Meals (ok, not summer now, but still works). The special feature of her book is to show the inexperienced cook how he/she can play and exchange ingredients for unlimited variations. She gives the basics and then shows the different variations to start and hopes the new cook will go on and take it from there.

So this dish isn't as hard as it looks, but has different parts. The first is a bed of grains, she suggests polenta (coarse cornmeal), cooked with onions and fresh corn (off the cob), and after it's cooked, mixed with chopped parsley and spread in a baking dish. I used millet instead, it's a whole grain and therefore more appealing to me. The next step is to simply blanch small heads of broccoli. And when done to one's liking, to stick them into the grain bed (that's the forest - the next time I do this I'll reverse it and put the creme (cream?) on first and then stick in the little trees). Next comes pumpkin and onions steamed, then blended with a little tehina and fresh ginger juice. That gets poured on.

It's such an attractive dish - and so so so delicious.

As this blogging is still new for me, I'm not sure how to give references - I'm afraid if I post the address it won't go thru - so I'll put spaces in between - and you can close them up - on this site is a shop where you can find Ilanit's book and lots of other great books. www cybermacro .com - will that work??

Happy feasting everyone - doesn't have to be unhealthy for it to be a feast.