Thanksgiving Recipes with Professor Covington
By Jared Covington
Jared Covington is a professor at Southern Virginia University and teaches marketing classes as a part of the business program.
If you have ever taken one of my classes, you know I spend inordinate amounts of time obsessing over obscure music, geeking out over pop culture and highlighting favorite foods and recipes, often all at the same time. As such, I was thrilled when The Herald invited me to share some of my favorite Thanksgiving foods.
In our home, Thanksgiving is always a weird mix of tradition and experimentation. Yes, we love having the traditional turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pies. But we also use this holiday as a great excuse to try new twists on these traditions, as well as to attempt more involved recipes that we may not have time to try at any other point during the year. Sweet Potato pavé that takes two days? Done that. Fermented Cranberry-Raspberry Molé that takes 2+ weeks to complete? Every year.
That being said, while we do try A LOT of new things, there are some dishes that are so good that they have become regular parts of our holiday traditions. Here are three of our favorites that you should try:
Moroccan Spiced Turkey
A few years back, I found a great deal on an authentic tagine, bought it, and began learning to cook Moroccan cuisine. I soon found myself, though, with a lot of extra North African spices, so I decided to use them to flavor our turkey. It was delicious!
Basically, you cook your turkey as you would any other turkey, but use an intense spice rub and citrus to bring some different flavors. This recipe from Food & Wine does a great job of outlining the process and the mixture of spices. Out of caution, I made two turkeys that year, in case our guests were not fans of the Moroccan version, but no one even touched the more traditional, bacon-wrapped bird!
Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts
I know. I know. Brussels Sprouts — you either eat them because your parents made you, or because you don’t want to offend your host. But brussels sprouts really can taste good, especially as a base for other amazing flavors, like bacon and maple!
Simply take one pound of brussels sprouts; wash them; trim off any loose leaves; and cut them into halves. Then, add them to a large bowl, and mix in 8oz chopped uncooked bacon, ½ cup real maple syrup, 1 teaspoon of any vinegar, a pinch of salt and a dash of your favorite hot sauce.
You can put these on a lightly oiled sheet pan and roast them at 425° for ~20 minutes, until the bacon is crispy and the vegetables are slightly charred, or throw them into your air fryer for 20 minutes at 375°.
Enjoy them right out of the oven, or add some more hot sauce and a bit of parmesan, if that is your thing.
Salted Caramel Apple Pie
Before moving to the United States, my wife had never had apple pie — ever! But after our first Thanksgiving together, she became its #1 fan. While just about any apple pie is a good apple pie, our favorite version comes from this recipe my friend Tara created. We generally prefer a mix of pink lady and granny smith apples, but it will work with whatever apple you have on hand.
BONUS/PRO-TIP:
One year, my daughter’s kindergarten class asked me to put together a music mix for their Thanksgiving party. When you find yourself hanging with younger family members and need something to keep them entertained, put this on and have an impromptu dance party!
