Giving thanks in extended family proportions

Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday because it offers tradition with many possibilities of reinvention. There are so many ways to celebrate: a quiet four-day weekend at the beach, a cabin with friends in the mountains. Maybe over the river and through the woods to visit distant family orluxury of luxuriesstaying home with people you love and having a simple get-together.

Local author Lee Smith used to host, with her husband Hal Crowther, a Thanksgiving Day softball game. They issued photocopied invites that said something like “put that bird in the oven and get out of the kitchen for a while,” which I thought was excellent advice. Streamlining the feast prep without sacrificing quality or taste can be accomplished by potlucking or by make-ahead recipes, and ensures that whether we are guest or host, we relax, have fun and feel grateful.

Holidays can be stressful. Getting around to more than one family member’s table, packing up the kids with their diapers and toys. Hoping that unruly middle-schooler who’s dear to your heart will refrain from texting at dinner for once, and that Uncle Bruce won’t make a scene. All the more reason to spread the work around. I’ve been to Thanksgivings where the hosts assign who-brings-what and it worked wonderfully. This seems an intelligent approach and one, moreover, which allows for requesting that the ingredients be local and the recipes specific.

We’ve assembled a simple menu based on locavore recipes published in these pages, along with a couple of new ones. When looked at as coordinated selections fit for a feast, it’s astonishing how many ingredients are reliably local: the bird itself, along with a neighborhood merlot, starter soup of winter squash, sweet and white potatoes, greens, cornmeal, pecans, pumpkins and corn (if you froze enough during peak season, which I didn’t, so we won’t have corn pudding this year). I admit it is hard to pass on cranberries, which are not native to the Southeast, but a bag or two (not the cans!) cooked up with North Carolina apples won’t leave too much of a carbon footprint. And if you’re like me and didn’t put up enough green beans to serve that favorite side at the gathering, we’re in luck: Fall braising greens, kale and tender lettuces are back in season.

I’m not a big fan of doctored sweet potatoes, truthfully; just baked in their skins, split and buttered, they don’t need doctoring. Mashed storage potatoes are the gravy companions; pumpkin and pecan tarts, and/or apple crisp (if you need that many desserts), and locally roasted coffee make a fine finish. When assembled, this menu is straightforward and the cooking simple, highlighting the natural goodness of our own fresh hometown foods.