Meal Plan: Italian Thanksgiving

I’m always on the fence about Thanksgiving. Since it’s not an Italian holiday some years I feel like celebrating it, and other years it just slips by. When the kids were little, we would head up to Umbria and celebrate it on the following Saturday, with a group of friends. Then, as the kids got older and life got more complicated, Thanksgiving became a hit or miss kind of holiday.

Last year, since I was in mode ‘celebrate anything that is there to celebrate’ I went all out. Even though we were in lockdown, and that meant we couldn’t invite anyone over, I still set the table and made a traditional Thanksgiving feast. Actually, since there were just three of us I decided the only concession I would make was to not roast an entire Turkey. Instead I ordered a boned turkey leg and had my butcher stuff it for me. In the end it was still more bird than we could possibly eat, but it was delicious. And leftovers, right?

Just in case you are still thinking about what to cook this Thanksgiving, here is a meal plan that has a few Italian options. Since this is Thanksgiving the traditional Italian order and number of courses obviously flies out the window. But I did include an aperitivo since last year we actually went to our neighbor Patrizia’s house for a first course outside. At the time (remember way back when there were no vaccines?) we were limited to gathering outside, but that didn’t stop Patrizia. She made the most delicious pumpkin soup and served it in little, covered, pumpkin-shaped personal tureens. The tureens kept the soup warm and the soup kept us warm. And in that year of not spending time with anyone in real life it was the best part of the dinner. Patrizia graciously shared her recipe below. Since it is super light, it makes the perfect small first course.