Canadian Thanksgiving as Celebrated on the Upper West Side

My nephew is in town and is coming for Shabbat dinner with his Canadian girlfriend.  I realized after I had put the chickens in the oven that it was Canadian Thanksgiving.  It was too late to make the chicken any more Thanksgiving like.

So in honor of the Canadian girlfriend I roasted winter squash in olive oil and maple syrup.

Cooking for my nephew always takes a bit of thought. He is severely nut allergic.  I am one of those cooks that thinks that nearly any food can be improved with the crunch of nuts. I don’t want to kill my nephew though so I had to plan the meal carefully.

 

One food that is emblematic of Thanksgiving is cranberries. I had purchased the first bag of the year earlier in the week. I love cranberries and would keep a supply in my freezer at all times if I could.

 

I decided to make a cranberry pie. I started with a crust made with wheat germ, brown sugar and white flour and a pinch of salt. The wheat germ is for crunch not for it’s healthy qualities.  Brown sugar was added for it’s deep flavor. Nuts would have been nice in the crust, but a nephew in the ER from an allergic reaction  is not nice so we will skip the nuts for this week.

 

I patted the crust into the pan and then baked it for ten minutes

I find that fruit pies are better with a barrier with some fat content  between the fruit and the crust.  The barrier keeps the crust crispy. Since I love cranberries with chocolate I added this to the bottom of the crust.

It’s Israeli spreadable chocolate, a less fancy version of Nutella. The label suggests using this spread to fill cakes and sandwiches. Israeli kids live on it.

And then cranberries right from the freezer.

Mixed with a tablespoon of flour and about a cup of sugar.

Cranberries have such an intense flavor that I didn’t add anything else.

I baked the pie.

I may sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on the pie before I serve it.

 

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Shabbat Shalom!