Saturday, November 27, 2010

Improvising Thanksgiving in Italy


Yesterday we had a wonderful "Thanksgiving Day" here in Italy, only a couple of days late as compared to all of our family and friends back home. With 10 people in our apartment, we pulled out the kitchen table to the dining room and every chair in the house was put to use. What a fun time it was! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, along with Fourth of July, and is uniquely American. A holiday that is all about getting together with family and friends, enjoying the company and focusing on the good things that we have in life. The reminder to be thankful that goes bone deep for our culture, if only for a day.

Not only was the day a great time, the days and weeks leading up to Thanksgiving were a lot of fun too. Putting on Thanksgiving in Italy is a challenge. It takes a lot of advance planning and quite a bit of last minute improvisation. Finding all of the ingredients, as well as making a lot more of the food from scratch, takes advance legwork but the result of a successful day make it so well worth it. And because it's so rare, and took so much effort, we value it a lot more than if we ran down to the store to pick everything up the day before.

Here's a little bit of the challenges and improvisation that we deal with here...

Turkey - You can't just run to the grocery store and buy a frozen turkey. At most you'll find a turkey breast in the butcher's case. Last year on our first Thanksgiving quest we learned that the only way to get a whole turkey was to order it from the local macelleria (butcher shop). This year we ordered the Turkey a couple of weeks in advance and picked it up Friday, freshly butchered for us (although a few pin feathers had to be removed - ever done that before?). The smallest one they could get was 6.5kg - about 14.3lbs. We couldn't have fit a bigger one in our small oven!

Cranberries - Cranberry sauce made from fresh berries is an important part of Thanksgiving dinner, a must have for me. Last year we discovered that cranberries don't exist in Italy - there isn't even an Italian word for them! Try describing a cranberry to someone who has never even seen or tasted one. Good luck with that. We've had them "imported" by visitors in November the last two years. We lucked out in the timing and the fact that we remembered to ask them to bring them for us in advance. So fresh cranberry sauce and cranberry relish was available this day.

Stuffing - A basic staple, this is one of the easier things to find ingredients for. A couple of twists were thrown in though... I put "sage" on the grocery list for the stuffing recipe I use and my husband bought fresh sage. Great, except the recipe called for dried sage. An internet search later, and I had a stuffing recipe with fresh sage and parsley. A quick run to the store for the parsley, and I was in business. (Thank goodness for the Internet, and that it wasn't a holiday in Italy - the store was open!) As I was making the stuffing I realized the bread cubes, instead of being unseasoned, were flavored with olive oil and salt. OK then, just a bit more Italian flavor. The stuffing came out great, rave reviews especially from my son... I want to use fresh sage every time now!

Mashed Potatoes - Yes, there are lots of potatoes in Italy. But not a lot of sour cream. Our friend Mike was making the potatoes this year and wanted some sour cream for the recipe he was making (not a low calorie feast here!). Here in Italy, not every store has the same things. You might find sour cream in one store out of ten. And that store may not have it in all locations, or all the time. It's crazy to us Americans! But my husband has found a good, consistent source of sour cream, so he bought some and delivered it to Mike a few days before Thanksgiving. It takes a village to make a Thanksgiving dinner.

Pumpkin Pie - I usually don't like pumpkin pie but this year I got it in my head that we needed to add this traditional dish. Pumpkin is not a hugely popular food here, you can't find canned pumpkin in the grocery store nor are fresh pumpkins readily available. I had a coworker who travelled here for work in November bring a few cans of pumpkin puree for me. So pumpkin in hand, I needed to make a pie.

OK - first off, crust. Hmmm, I could make crust from scratch but where to find shortening here? Is there such a thing as a pre-made crust? My husband sleuthed around at several stores, asked moms at school, and discovered a pre-made crust but it wasn't frozen and didn't come in pie tins. Our pie tins are in storage in the US, so we had to buy a couple of pans. The closest he could find were torta pans, which are sort of pie shaped, more like a cross between a shallow cake and a pie, and were bigger - 11 inches in diameter vs. the normal 9 inches.

Second, the pie filling itself. The recipe on the can said evaporated milk. Yeah, that was going to be impossible. So searching on the internet I found you could substitute regular milk with no problems. I was set. I started to make the pies Friday night. Cinnamon, check. Nutmeg, check. Ginger... no ginger. Hmmm, well I had Allspice. I figured a teaspoon of that wouldn't hurt. So by the time I was done I had two huge pumpkin pies (it took the filling recipe for three pies to fill these babies) that didn't really follow a recipe. After about 1.5 hours of baking (two very large pies in a very small oven = longer time), our house was filled with the delicious smell of pumpkin pies.

For whipped cream, we had to buy heavy cream and actually whip it ourselves. That was an experience too! I must admit, they turned out very tasty. Much better than a storebought pie, I think I actually like pumpkin pie now. And it only took one giant pie to feed our 10 people, so now I have to figure out what to do with this second giant pie... to work I think! My Italians colleagues could use exposure to this American treat.

In addition to all of that food, we had a yummy spinach casserole, brownies and blondies, salsa and guacamole, hummus and pita... all brought by our guests. And the perfect complement was the Italian prosecco (like champagne) and red wine we enjoyed. I think that tradition of Italian beverages must go home with us.

Our second and last Thanksgiving in Italy was a success. It was a truly authentic, American feast with great friends. The only thing missing was the long weekend....

Where ever you are in the world, however you celebrate being thankful, I wish you the same feeling of gratitude and togetherness that Thanksgiving brings to me. Happy Thanksgiving from Italy.

(Don't miss the "We are Thankful" blog hop and my postcard giveaway - both are still going on! And I'm musing on "Down Low" over at Mortal Muses today. Come by and say hi if you have a chance.)

25 comments:

  1. Yeah? ...well happy Thanksgiving from Denver. Sounds like fun. What do your Italian co-workers think of the pie? I can tell you, not having Thanksgiving anywhere but in the US, that store-bought pies usually suck by comparison.

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  2. What a mission, but it sounds like a mission accomplished :)

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  3. I never thought about how difficult it would be to do thanksgiving in another country, I love all your improvisations and it sounds like it was a fantastic success.

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  4. Gosh it's like a page out of "Eat, Pray, Love". Did you ever read that book? She did the same thing in Italy, too. Although the turkey didn't cook and they ate it for breakfast. It sounds like you made a wonderful and memorable day.

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  5. Your description of your American Thanksgiving holiday in Italy is great fun to read. Were all of your guests American friends you have met over there? It sounds like you and your husband work well together to get something done.

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  6. Wow and I thought I did a lot of running around to prepare. Sound like a mission that was a success.

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  7. @Diana - Yes, I've read Eat, Pray, Love - twice! I don't remember the Thanksgiving part though, so I must go find that part and re-read.
    @Technobabe - all of our guests were American citizens, but with backgrounds ranging from born in the US to French and Italian, and having lived many places around the world. It was very cool.

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  8. I have to say reading this brought me right back to the Italian Thanksgiving scene in Eat, Pray, Love! Sounds like you've had a marvelous and memorable Thanksgiving abroad, thank you so much for sharing this experience!

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  9. I loved the description of your Thanksgiving dinner. Ours couldn't have been much different and it was right here in the states. Since my daughter's kitchen is so small and her in-laws were here for only three days we decided to order our dinner. It came ready to cook (and reheat) in two huge boxes from the premier winery here. We had a fresh turkey to roast and a huge array of sides. I did make a pumpkin pie to add to their two desserts. It was absolutely delicious and a lot of fun to put together, but a lot less work. It turned out to be the perfect solution.

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  10. I'm so glad you had a great Thanksgiving even though you're in Italy. Your traditional Thanksgiving menu is very similar to our traditional UK Christmas menu. Turkey, Cranberry Sauce, Stuffing, but no pumpkin pie for us - Christmas Pudding instead. Stuffing with fresh sage sounds wonderful - I still have some in my garden although it may not survive the very cold weather we're having.

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  11. Wow, what a great and interesting post! I would never have thought that something so basic like sour cream would be so hard to get! I love all your improvisations and it really sounds like you had a wonderful weekend!

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  12. Truly wonderful post. Loved every detail. In my mind I was whisked back to under the Tuscan Sun. :)

    Enjoy the leftovers today. They are even better the second time around. ♥

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  13. :) Sounds like you had a bit of work on your hands :) It must have been wonderful!

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  14. Yes to the prosecco! That stuff is delicious, and it sounds like everything else was too. Great teamwork!

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  15. Sounds like all the hard work paid off! Gorgeous photo by the way!

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  16. wow!!! sounds like a lot of hard work to have thanksgiving over there!! lovely photo!!

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  17. WOW... Great job! That sounds like you had a lot on your plate. lol. Sorry had to crack that joke. Beautiful picture.

    xo, Supermom Alysha

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  18. "It takes a village to make a Thanksgiving dinner." =D

    I love this glimpse into such a different world than mine. Thank you!

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  19. Sounds like an awesome FEAST!! My son spent time in Italy last year, and he LOVED it.

    Blessings♥

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  20. What a beautiful picture and experience. Very nice blog!

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  21. What a fun post. I could imagine myself in the scene with you. What an adventure. I'd love to visit Italy. My moms side of the family is Sicilan.

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  22. Wow, impressive amount of work! Beautiful shot!

    Erika B

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  23. Sounds fun despite the challenges.

    Beautiful shot, btw - love the contrasting colors!

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  24. Hey...I know this is an old post, but I just stumbled across it and had to laugh. I once prepared Thanksgiving dinner for 25 people while living in Italy, and I do understand the challenges. Fortunately, we had friends who lived on an Air Force base and they could get us some things at the PX. Our guest list was a mix of Italians and Americans. I think they enjoyed it, but I don't think they "got" some of the dishes. LOL

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