It’s tomorrow! My Olympics!

Thanksgiving has quickly become my favorite holiday. I get to do a ton of cooking and baking, stay in my own home in comfy clothes, and only hang out with my immediate family. Zero complaints.

I’ve been hemming and hawing over a vegetable side for this year. Last year I did brussels sprouts and they were good, but a little heavy and rich with all the other food on the buffet. So on Sunday when G and I hit up the farmer’s market as we usually do, I opted to buy a gigantic bushel of green beans.

No casserole with cream of mushroom soup and crunchy onions for this girl (though, I’m not judging if that’s your tradition. Remember that we eat pretzel jello.) The other night I tested out this recipe from Bon Appetit and it was pretty good, though the GS described it as “a bit lemon-forward.”

I’ve created a monster.

I also made these grilled leeks because I saw the recipe on Instagram and it looked amazing so I grabbed some leeks during my Thanksgiving Wegmans run on Monday. I also got macadamia nuts because I couldn’t find hazelnuts in the bulk section.

The leeks were actually out of this world, but the GS pointed out that certain guests at our Thanksgiving table might not know what leeks are (looking at you, Funcle Kevin) and they were admittedly kind of hard to eat. So I decided to smash the two recipes together and make the delicious brown butter nutty topping for the bounty of green beans from the farmer’s market. I tested it out today just to confirm.

My measurements below are an estimation of what I’ll do tomorrow based on the small batch I made today. ENJOY!

Sweet & Salty Green Beans

1 lb fresh green beans

1 stick unsalted butter (may be more like 1 1/2 sticks)

1/2 lb roughly chopped salted macadamia nuts

1/4-1/3 cup toasted sesame seeds

1-2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp red wine vinegar

pickled red onions (optional)

Blanch the green beans in salted boiling water for 2 minutes- they should be bright green. Transfer them to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Trim the ends off, then chop them into 1-2 inch pieces.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium low heat, swirling occasionally until it starts to get brown and smell nutty. Add the nuts, sesame seeds, and smoked paprika and stir together. Remove from the heat and add the red wine vinegar (it will bubble) and pour over the green beans. Serve immediately.

Now, I wanted to pay homage to the original leeks recipe with a little onion flavor so I added some pickled red onions and thought it added some visual beauty and some good freshness. The GS felt it was “not necessary” and “tangy.” You can decide for yourself.

PS I’m also making this salted caramel apple pie, this pumpkin pie, vanilla ice cream, this stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce (with apple cider, maple syrup and cinnamon sticks- I just made this up). Turkey is brining, mom is bringing the jello, and we’ve got 3 packages of dinner rolls for our college boy.

Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful and delicious even if it’s not as crowded as you would have liked!