A Thanksgiving Feast | Cooking at Cottage Farm
After months of growing and harvesting, Thanksgiving on the farm is a chance to relish the fruits of the season with a delicious, easy-to-prepare feast.
A delicious and easy-to-prepare Thanksgiving feast. Featured serving props provided by Simon Pearce and Mirth Ceramics.
Photo Credit : Krissy O’SheaPhoto Credit : Krissy O’Shea
Our little party, plus two Great Danes, made for the door, bursting out into the cold sunshine and shaking off the torpor of a long meal. We walked down back roads, cutting through the quiet woods and along the edges of cornfields where the sky glowed blue-gray against the parched yellow stalks. I pulled the collar of my coat higher as the sun set and the winds whipped up. Our breath rose in pale ribbons of steam, like the smoke rising from our neighbor’s chimney, and, without speaking, we all turned back toward home and our own applewood fire to enjoy a dessert of British-style cranberry-orange puddings, called possets. It was a perfect holiday, requiring nothing more than a meal, long conversations around the table, and our traditional post-dinner, pre-dessert walk. It was a day to celebrate the everydayness of things: one table, some guests, and a slow meal of cornbread-chestnut dressing, buttermilk-mashed potatoes, a big green salad, and maple-bacon turkey. A simple, joyful day. May you find joy in your holidays as well.
Photo Credit : Krissy O'Shea
TIPS FOR SETTING THE THANKSGIVING TABLE
- Decide on your color palette (look to the landscape or views outside your door for inspiration) and stick to three dominant, complementary colors as you choose linens, plates, glasses, flatware, and table accents.
- Think about mixing traditional and modern elements, incorporating clean organic materials (like fruit, flowers, nuts, and collected leaves), and adding height (but not so much that you block the sight lines for those sitting across from one another) and candlelight to the table.
- If you have family china you rarely use, bring it out during the dessert course.
- Finally, remember to step back and look at the table once you have finished setting it (something that can be done a day ahead to save time) and remove anything you think might distract from the beautiful food you’ve prepared.
