'Elena's Elevator Eats: Thanksgiving Edition' Cranberry Cornbread Muffins, Spiced Nuts, and Trevisano Salad
Because if you have great neighbors, you feed them.
Thanksgiving Weekend Recap:
Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I am in East Hampton with Xander’s family this year. For the past three years his family has been having Thanksgiving dinner at Toppings Rose House. The food is Jean-Georges, so you know it is going to hit every time. Xander’s aunt and uncle hosted us and she absolutely crushed it with the tablescape. I called it a while ago, but grapes are having such a moment on tables this fall. Obsessed with the red and burgundy notes. Never mad about a tablescape you can eat. I like to call it “edible decor”… the best kind of decor ;)
One of my favorite details was the place cards. For each person, his aunt got us a bread plate with our astrological sign. Our place cards described our astrological sign. How cute?!
Speaking of cute, the cutest part of the entire night was spending time with baby Emmett (the first baby boy in the next gen). Xander’s cousin Max and his wife Katharine are new parents. They live in California, so seeing them was such a treat. He’s only four months old and he’s already so cute. Can’t get enough of that little smush.
Elena’s Elevator Eats - Recipes:
Anywho, as many of you know, I live in an elevator into unit building. I’m really lucky to have some amazing neighbors and I wanted to do a little something nice for them to show my gratitude. So, the day before Thanksgiving, I decided to wake up on the earlier side and give them some Spiced Mixed Nuts and Cranberry Cornbread Muffins. I developed these recipes a while ago for Food Network, but they are so simple and some of my go-to recipes around the holiday season. Such a great way to use up leftover cranberry sauce too.
click on the names of the recipes below to take you to my full recipe writeup on Food Network :)
Cranberry Cornbread Muffins: These muffins are made with olive oil and Greek Yogurt: two kitchen staples in my household. The olive oil adds great fruitiness and the yogurt creates a super tender crumb. In the recipe I give instructions on how to make your own cranberry sauce but you are also able to use leftovers!
Spiced Mixed Nuts: This is stupid easy to make and so much better than those sugary nuts holiday nuts (in my opinion). They have a super-simple yet vibrant spice mix of fennel, chili flake, garlic powder, salt and pepper. they’re tossed in a maple syrup and butter mixture before the spice mix is dusted on. They bake for 20 minutes at 350°F and they are highly addictive. The perfect balance between heat and sweet. If you want to make these nuts alongside me, you can tune into this previously recorded live cooking class I did making them!
Plus, I will never get over this comment from someone that made them. This is what it’s all about!!!
Creator Friendsgiving:
Last but certainly not least, the other week (actually the night before our last Lineup Dinner of Season 8) I was invited to an epic and I mean EPIC Friendsgiving with a ton of NYC culinary-focused content creators. It was such a lovely night — thanks Emerald and Ryan! Each one of us brought our own Thanksgiving dish. There was a shared note to ensure the meal was cohesive which I both appreciate and suggest to anyone hosting a potluck-style dining experience.
I brought a trevisano salad (an elongated version of raddichio) with aged shaven pecorino, chopped roasted and salted pistachios, and slivered dates. I used the dressing from my latest substack post: Miso Vinaigrette. I am honored to say it was a big hit at the event. I am a bit of a salad queen if I do say so myself. The trick is to dress the leaves separately from the rest of the ingredients on this salad and then layer the toppings on after. This allows you to have an evenly distributed amount of toppings in every bite. Very important.
trevisano salad with pecorino, pistachios, dates and miso vinaigrette
serves: 8-10 people
ingredients:
2 medium heads (8 cups chopped) Trevisano or Raddichio lettuce
kosher salt, to taste
1/3 cup shaven aged Pecorino romano cheese
1/4 cup chopped roasted and salted pistachios
1/3 cup pitted and slivered dates
method:
Place lettuce in large mixing bowl, add in half of the dressing, season the lettuce with salt and using your clean hands, toss to combine. Taste, adjust the amount of dressing as you please until desired flavor is achieved.
Transfer half of the leaves to a platter, top with half of the toppings. Repeat with remaining lettuce and toppings to garnish.
Drizzle with remaining dressing (optional) and Enjoy!
That’s my holiday update! A lot more to fill you in on, but I’ll save that for next week. I want to close out by expressing my gratitude for all of you and this community. Because of you I am able to do what I love every day and it is the greatest honor that I do not take lightly. Thank you for your support and belief in me. You freakin’ rock.
xx, Elena
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