A Feast of Sides

As much as I love the turkey--and I do make one mean turkey (recipe coming soon... perhaps)--it's the sides that really make Thanksgiving. Every year I try something new. The pierogis , which are now a holiday staple were once, years ago, a "new thing." They were an experiment on the first Thanksgiving that my brother came to visit and they took hours. More than five hours. The next day, my arms ached.

Quails have been a bit of a theme these past two years. Last year, I made glazed quail that I arranged around the turkey like tiny little roasted babies, nestled 'neath their roasted mother. It was pretty beautiful.

This year, I thought I'd try quail eggs. Sadly, it was not to be. I had planned on making Scotch eggs, but ran out of time. Instead, I hard boiled them and we made a salted butter and truffle dip for them. Needless to say, they were delicious. But--seriously--everything made with truffles is delicious (within reason, obviously, I'm fully aware that there are bad cooks out there).

Our good friends supplied the absolutely delicious bean dip, bread pudding and spinach dip.