Thanksgiving pies!

With two of my favourite recipes

Welcome to newsletter #45!

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And now on to the PIE!

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, hands down my favourite of the holiday feasts. I love the turkey, I love the stuffing, the rutabaga mash, the cranberry sauce, the gravy… the works!

After half a century of Thanksgiving celebrations, I’ve come to the conclusion that sticking to the same recipes year after year results in less stress in the kitchen. So I’ll make plain Brussels sprouts with butter instead of sautéing them with chestnuts and pancetta. Instead of gussying my mashed potatoes up with cheese or roasted garlic, I’ll keep them pretty plain too. I basically concentrate on high-quality ingredients over highfalutin flavour combinations, sticking to all the recipes in my cookbook, Chez Lesley (alas, the English edition, Make Every Dish Delicious, is only coming out on October 18th AFTER Canadian Thanksgiving).

When it comes to dessert, I sometimes bake an apple pie or pecan pie. But those are optional. To me the only finale to a great Thanksgiving meal is either a sweet potato pie or a pumpkin pie. Basically it needs to be orange, velvety, and served just slightly warm with either whipped cream or ice cream. Heaven!

Sweet potato pie with whipped cream and chopped pecans.

Yet as simple as these pies look, they require some finicky steps to achieve greatness. Here’s some advice, followed by two of my favourite recipes.