Cookerati

I love Diane Morgan’s Cookbooks.  The New Thanksgiving Table An American Celebration of Family, Friends, and Food takes your holiday dinner and elevates it to a whole new level.  We had our Thanksgiving dinner with the relatives this past weekend and I made one of the easiest dishes – Deviled Eggs with Capers and Wild Smoked Salmon and also one of the more difficult and time consuming – Pumpkin Lasagna.  In both cases the directions were very clear and easy to follow.

Diane covers every category from appetizers all the way through dessert. There are no less than 5 whole turkey recipes , plus a turkey breast, a ham and for vegetarians, we have pumpkin lasagna.  She describes all the steps involved in producing the perfect turkey, including several brining and gravy recipes, plus spatchcock, but no deep frying.   Then when dinner is over, there is a whole section with leftover turkey recipes. 

This book has the recipes that takes Thanksgiving up a notch. It raises your regular appetizers, turkey, salads, side dishes and desserts to a higher level.  A reasonably reached higher level of exquisiteness. In other words, she uses regular ingredients, and cooking methods to create a dish that’s a little bit more, without going out of your comfort zone.  While it took a good amount of time to make the pumpkin lasagna, nothing in the directions was above my ability.  The most time consuming was cutting up the pumpkin. 

There were plenty of pictures to judge your results by. The hard cover book with glossy photos makes it a visual treat.  I liked just paging through the book and trying not to drool too much.  My contribution to the big family gathering was terrific.  It turned out so well, that I’m making it again for a smaller family dinner on Thanksgiving day, that way my daughter will get to try it.

My recommendation A+++.   By the way you’ll love The Christmas Table -Recipes and Crafts to Create Your Own Holiday Tradition too!

The New Thanksgiving Table was given to me for a review.  The review’s my honest opinion.  That’s all.