Hold the turkey

By the time you read this, I’ll be deep in prep mode, scurrying around the kitchen getting everything ready for a three-course Thanksgiving meal.

Wait. Thanksgiving isn’t for another couple of weeks, right? Right! But today, I’m teaching a Zoom cooking class on plant-based strategies for the holiday table, so consider it a dry run. Depending on when you open this email, I’ll likely be either putting the finishing touches on the mis en place, getting the camera angles just right, in the middle of answering questions through my laptop screen for students who are as up to their elbows in romesco sauce as I am, or maybe cleaning up and taking stock of what I hope is a fun, instructive time for everybody.

Table of Contents

• I break for animals: Chopin

• Recipe: Whole Roasted Cauliflower With Romesco

• More favorite Thanksgiving recipes

Some of you subscribers are joining (I offered a discount as a way of thanking you for being part of the Eat at Joe’s community), so you may be some of those folks chopping chocolate, slicing onions, and toasting pecans in preparation for the class’s start time. (I list some prep work that will help us get these three dishes done in just a couple of hours, allowing time to interact around, say, the way the dessert’s press-in crust should look and feel before it comes out of the oven.)

The goal of all this? To get everyone comfortable with making a Thanksgiving meal that focuses on just about any- and everything except a big old turkey. Not that I’m exclusive about this: The recipes I’m showing how to make would be just as comfortable on a table that has a bird in the center as one that doesn’t.

But I am here to argue that even if you are an omnivore, boy, does Thanksgiving get a lot easier — and more fun, IMHO — if you forget about the traditional poultry. Just think about all the typical questions you don’t have to grapple with: When should I buy the turkey? Do I have room to keep it in the freezer? When do I start to thaw it? Do I have room for that in the fridge? Brine? If so, how and in what? Wet brine or dry brine? When should I start roasting it so it’ll be done in time for the meal? How do I fit other things in the oven while it’s in there? Who am I? Why am I here? It just goes on and on, and that’s even before you think of such things as, well, the flavor.

Take the turkey out of the equation, and all of a sudden you’re left with, praise the Pilgrims, a dinner party!

I haven’t roasted a turkey in years. And it’s not because I never serve one. Most years, given that The Husband and The Teenager don’t want an all-vegan or vegetarian meal, I buy a smoked one from a local barbecue spot. I cook meat, poultry and seafood for them on a weekly basis even though none of those are part of my diet, but I draw the line at wrestling with a giant bird, so I outsource it.

And I always look for ways to make a vegetarian or vegan dish celebratory enough to serve as a centerpiece for the plant-based eaters at the table. Often, that means serving something you can or even need to “carve,” such as Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Romesco Sauce, the recipe I’m sharing with you below. In “Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking,” it’s two separate recipes — one in the Building Blocks chapter for the romesco, and then one in Center of the Plate Mains for the cauliflower, with a reference to that sauce. But here, I’ve integrated them so you can easily just do it all in one go, no flipping back and forth required.

My whole-cauliflower-roasting technique has simplified dramatically over the many years I’ve been making it. I started, as so many people did, with New Orleans chef Alon Shaya’s beautiful version that he served over whipped feta, but even though it is glorious, poaching the cauliflower first struck me as almost as much hassle as dealing with a turkey. Besides, cauliflower, like so many vegetables, has a high water content, so couldn’t I employ that by roasting it first under cover, in essence letting it steam itself?

First I used foil, but soon, out of an eco-friendly determination to call for as little foil or plastic wrap in my recipes as possible, it became a Dutch oven or other pot big enough for that head. A garlicky, smoky oil gets brushed all over the cauliflower first, then you roast for about 20 minutes covered and 10 to 15 minutes uncovered.

I’ve been pairing cauliflower with romesco — the thick Spanish sauce based on red pepper, almonds, bread, sherry vinegar and more — for decades. For “Mastering” I finally did what I’ve wanted to do for so long, and that is to use romesco as the base for a roasted romanesco cauliflower. If you can find one for Thanksgiving, by all means give it a go, because that green color and fractal pattern make the dish even more stunning, especially against the red sauce, but it works with any color of the crucifer.

This is a great party appetizer, too: You can stick toothpicks all over the roasted head, then use a sharp knife to cut around them, going in the cauliflower at an angle to separate florets, and letting guests pull out a piece at a time and swipe it through the sauce. Or, if you trust the crowd’s hand-washing practices, you can skip the toothpicks and let them cut or pull off their own pieces as they wish.

Here are some tips to help make the dish a success:

• Make sure to test the size of your pot before you start; you want to be able to put the cauliflower inside and to fit the cover on. My 5.5-quart Dutch oven usually works, or I opt for a large stock pot.

• Before you preheat the oven, adjust the racks so the pot will fit inside! Ideally, you want enough room to have at least one rack below that can fit the romesco ingredients, so you can use your oven time efficiently and make the sauce while the cauliflower cooks.

• Put the pot in to preheat with the oven, as soon as you turn it on. This will get the cauliflower steaming immediately. (Note that manufacturers such as Le Creuset don’t recommend pre-heating an empty pot, but plenty of us bread bakers have been doing that for our no-knead loaves with no ill effects.)

• When you put the cauliflower in the hot pot, be very careful. I like to use oven mitts and grab the cauliflower with them rather than depend on tongs or another implement that might slip.

• You’ll know it’s ready when a skewer inserted in the center encounters just a little resistance. You don’t want the veg to be mushy; in fact, I usually err on the side of cooking it less so the outer florets are tender and the inside parts are a little firmer, for textural interest.

• Present it at the table, Norman Rockwell style, before carving and serving. I like to cut it into 6 to 8 wedges.

I have several other whole-roasted-veg recipes in the book, because even at non-holiday tables I think presenting a dish that way is so exciting for vegetable lovers. They include whole roasted beets enrobed in a mole sauce (actually, two choices of sauce, one for red beets and one for golden), whole roasted cabbage with white beans and potatoes; and whole roasted celery root glazed in apple cider. I gussied up that last one for The Washington Post’s Thanksgiving package last year by wrapping it in phyllo like the best kind of holiday present ever.

You’re welcome!

I break for animals:
Chopin

Recipe: Whole Roasted Cauliflower With Romesco

This is most dramatic when done with green romanesco cauliflower, whose striking fractal pattern is preserved when it’s cooked whole, but it’s just as delicious with any variety. Rather than needing boiling or blanching first, the cauliflower is first steamed with its own moisture (and a marinade) in a covered Dutch oven, then roasted uncovered to finish and brown. This makes more romesco sauce than you need, but you’ll be glad to have it as a dip or to slather onto toast or sandwiches or dollop onto other roasted or steamed vegetables.

4 to 6 servings // Time: Weekday // Storage: Refrigerate for up to 5 days. Freezing is not recommended.

For the romesco sauce:

• 3 large red bell peppers (1¼ pounds/567g total), cut into 2-inch chunks

• 1 cup lightly packed (57g) bread cubes (from 2 to 3 small slices)

• 2 large plum tomatoes (8 ounces/227g total), cut into thick slices

• 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled

• 1 cup (142g) raw almonds

• ¼ cup (60ml) olive oil, plus more for serving and storage

• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste

• 2 teaspoons sweet or hot smoked Spanish paprika (pimentón dulce or picante)

• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar, plus more to taste

For the cauliflower:

• 6 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling

• 4 garlic cloves, finely grated or pressed

• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

• ½ teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika (pimentón)

• 1 large head cauliflower (2 to 3 pounds/910g to 1.4kg), romanesco if you can find it

• ⅓ cup (35g) slivered or sliced almonds, toasted

Preheat the oven to 500°F (260°C). Put a Dutch oven or large ovenproof stockpot in the oven while it heats. (If you don't have one big enough to accommodate the cauliflower, use foil instead of a lid.)

Make the romesco sauce: On a large sheet pan, toss together the bell peppers, bread, tomatoes, garlic, almonds, olive oil, and salt. Roast, stirring occasionally, until browned in spots and the garlic is tender, about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Peel the garlic and add to a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and puree until mostly smooth but with a little chunky texture. Taste and adjust salt and/or vinegar. Drizzle with olive oil before serving.

Make the cauliflower: While the romesco ingredients are roasting, in a large bowl, whisk together the oil, garlic, lemon zest, salt, and smoked paprika. Trim the cauliflower's stem end so it can stand upright. Transfer it to the bowl with the marinade and brush the cauliflower all over with the oil mixture.

Remove the pot from the oven and gently place the cauliflower inside. Cover and roast for 20 minutes. Uncover and continue roasting until a skewer goes in easily, 10 to 15 minutes. 

To serve: Spread 2 cups of the romesco sauce onto a serving platter. Nestle the cauliflower in the middle of the sauce, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with the almonds, and serve warm. (Cut into wedges, if you'd like, or let guests spear off their own florets and swipe them through the sauce.)

Recipe from “Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking” (Ten Speed Press, 2024), copyright Joe Yonan.

More favorite Thanksgiving recipes

These are gift links to the recipes at the Post. Note that they require you to register but not subscribe. Gift links are free to access for 2 weeks, so if you want to come back to any of these recipes but don’t subscribe or want to subscribe, I suggest you find a way to save them!

Persian-Style Stuffed Delicata Squash With Broccolini and Carrots

Roasted Portobello Mushroom, Pecan and Chestnut Wellington

Phyllo-Wrapped Celery Root With Cider Glaze