Olive Oil & Delicious Thanksgiving Recipes

Healthy & Delicious Ideas for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving gives us a time to bring together friends and family while giving thanks for everyone and everything in our lives while enjoying wonderful food. Thanksgiving is a time when the cooks of the family shine and bring forth their best recipes to dazzle and tantalize the palettes of those seated at the Thanksgiving table.

Every family or group has its own traditions surrounding Thanksgiving. Some people celebrate at lunch and others at dinner, but generally, a turkey, stuffing, potatoes, vegetables, rolls, and dessert are part of the meal. Sometimes people create a meal other than traditional Thanksgiving fare, but for the purpose of healthy and delicious Thanksgiving recipes, we will focus on the turkey, potatoes, and stuffing using olive oil in our holiday recipes.

Mouth-Watering & Moist Thanksgiving Turkey

One of the wonderful tricks of ensuring that you have mouth-watering and moist Thanksgiving turkey is using olive oil instead of butter for your rub, basting, and rubbing the inside cavity of your Thanksgiving turkey. usually, many people use butter to rub down the inside cavity of their turkey, but olive oil is a great substitute and tends to cling to the cavity better and create more moisture.

Herb Infused Turkey Recipe

The ingredients we mention can be increased if you have a larger turkey. This herb basting sauce will generally be enough for a 12-14-pound turkey, so please adjust amounts upward if you have a larger turkey like our family roasts, such as a 20-22-pound turkey.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Tastealotta Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups water or more for the bottom of your roasting pan

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Clean your turkey and discard giblets, neck and organs or use for gravy. Rub down the inside cavities of the turkey with olive oil.
2. Stuff your turkey if you wish, recipe to follow.
3. In a bowl, combine the olive oil, minced garlic, dried basil, dried sage, crumbled rosemary, sea salt, and pepper. Using a basting brush, apply the herb mixture to the outside of the turkey.
4. Pour the water in the bottom of the pan.
5. Tent your turkey with aluminum foil, place in the preheated oven. Keep the foil covering the turkey until the last half hour of cooking.
6. Bake until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the thigh meat measures 180 degrees. Allow the turkey to stand for 20-30 minutes before carving.

Olive Oil Turkey Stuffing Recipe

Last year I shared one of our family’s favorite recipes for Thanksgiving stuffing with sausage and apricots. This year I’m sharing one of our alternative favorites that are vegetarian stuffing so I can put a little in a baking pan for the vegetarian members of our family. Olive oil makes for a moist and delicious stuffing for the turkey that helps the turkey retain its moisture.

Ingredients:

• 1 large package of sourdough croutons, more if you have a larger turkey
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Tastealotta Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 leeks, halved and then thinly sliced
• 4 celery stalks, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped sage
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups vegetable broth, substitute chicken broth if no vegetarians if you wish
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1/4 cup half-half

Directions:

1. Place the croutons in a large bowl.
2. In a large frying pan pour the olive oil and add the leeks, celery, garlic, salt, and pepper, and sauté for about 5 minutes, turning the heat to low about halfway through sautéing.
3. Pour the leek mixture over the croutons and sprinkle with the sage, parsley, rosemary, and thyme.
4. Use your hands or salad tongs to toss the mixture until well coated.
5. Pour 1-1/2 cups of the broth over the stuffing mix and toss to coat the mixture evenly.
6. Whip the eggs and half and half and pour over the stuffing mixture and toss to coat.
7. If the stuffing mixture seems a little dry you can add a little more broth.
8. Stuff your turkey and the leftovers can be put in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan rubbed with olive and covered with foil to bake.
9. The stuffing that is being baked separately can be baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and you may remove the foil in the last 5-10 minutes for a crisp top.

Mashed Potatoes with Olive Oil & Bacon

A mainstay to most Thanksgiving celebrations is mashed potatoes. Thanksgiving takes mashed potatoes to an art form. We offer a new twist on a Thanksgiving staple below, using olive oil and the addition of bacon. Please double the recipe below if you have a larger group to celebrate Thanksgiving with, leftovers are always well used for many tasty meals after Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes, these produce the richest mashed potatoes, these should be chopped. We like our unpeeled.
• Sea salt to taste
• 1 pound uncured, no nitrate bacon
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced finely
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup Tastalotta Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Add the potatoes to a large pot of slightly salted pot of cold water. Cover the pot and bring to a boil and reduce to simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15-20 minutes.
2. Add the bacon to a large frying pan and cook well, remove from the pan and drain, then crumble. Retain drippings for sauteing the onion,
3. In the remaining bacon grease, sauté the chopped onion till translucent, but not brown.
4. Drain the potatoes using a colander.
5. Mix the half and half, milk, olive oil, and chopped parsley in a small bowl.
6. Add the potatoes back to the large pot and mix with the liquid mixture above.
7. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes till a fine consistency.
8. Add the crumbled bacon to the potato mixture, continue to cook until thoroughly heated.

Using olive oil in your traditional Thanksgiving recipes adds a healthy element to one of our largest meals of the year and gives traditional recipes such rich flavor. We wish you a fabulous Thanksgiving and be sure to stop by Tastealotta for your favorite items that make your Thanksgiving special.