Creating Traditions

By Linda Garrettson

It’s November, the month of perhaps the most defining culinary holiday event … the Thanksgiving dinner.

Here’s a list of some of the most traditional dishes we all might remember:

Roasted turkey with bread stuffing, mashed potatoes swimming in butter, gravy loaded with turkey drippings, jellied cranberries with those telltale rings from the can they came in, string beans in Campbell’s mushroom soup topped with store-bought onion bits, creamed corn, baked sweet potatoes with mini marshmallows and apple, pumpkin or pecan pie (maybe all three) for dessert.

Ring a bell with anyone?

There are other traditions, some with ethnic or regional origins. Italians might pair American turkey with macaroni (pasta), gravy (red sauce) and ricotta pie. Oyster stuffing can be a New England favorite. No Pennsylvania Dutch Thanksgiving is complete without dried corn, chestnut stuffing and lima beans drowning (as opposed to merely swimming) in butter.

Recently I’ve been blessed to share a quintessential Thanksgiving with a very special Norfolk family in the rambling home they grew up in. Five generations have created memorable traditions in that home. As an extended family member, who am I to start another?

I also didn’t want to create more mess in the kitchen or interfere with their traditional menu. But what could my contribution be? What recipe might have roots in early American fare, could be served easily and, oh yes, be something everyone loved?

I love challenges. It suddenly dawned on me: it had to be my most requested recipe—carrot ginger soup.

Cooked and served in an Instapot, it doesn’t compete with kitchen space, can be served as shooters so appetites aren’t spoiled for the main course, yet wakes up any taste bud that thought it was going to take a nap before dinner.

Minus the curry, it could easily have been on Pilgrim tables centuries ago. (Curry likely came to America a little later, thanks to the trade routes.)

Here’s my recipe for creating a new tradition. What will yours be this Thanksgiving?

New Traditions Carrot Ginger Soup
Yield 8 cups

Ingredients
4 cups carrots, coarsely chopped
4 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 cups apple cider, more if needed
½ cup water, vegetable broth or coconut water
3 small leeks, white part thinly sliced (or 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
2 tbsp curry powder
Dash of cayenne pepper
1 tsp sea salt

Method

• Heat the cider over medium-low heat in a large saucepan and add the chopped carrots and sweet potatoes. Raise the heat to a low boil and cover.
• Sauté leeks, garlic and ginger over medium heat in a separate pan in enough water or broth to keep them from sticking. Stir frequently until soft but not browned, about five minutes. Stir in the curry powder. Cook for another two minutes.
•Add the curry mixture to the vegetables and cider. Season and continue to cook until the carrots are fork-tender, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Puree with an immersion blender until smooth and serve. The soup can also be cooled a bit and pureed in a food processor or blender.