Thanksgiving recipes from Minnesota’s best culinary minds

You’ve heard them on our air and maybe you’ve eaten at their restaurants or tried one of their recipes in your kitchen.

Well, for Thanksgiving this year, we asked some of Minnesota’s best culinary minds — many of them regulars on Appetites — to share what they’re thankful for this year and some dishes you can add to your Thanksgiving menu.

Find recipes and gratitude below from:

• Beth Dooley

• David Fhima

• Amalia Moreno-Damgaard

• Dara Moskowitz-Grumdahl

• Yia Vang

• Sameh Wadi

Listen to the full conversation by clicking play on the audio player above and check out the recipes below.

Beth Dooley

Beth Dooley is a James Beard award-winning cookbook author and food writer.

What she is grateful for: I’m so grateful for the friends I have that I can talk with openly and freely about what’s going on in my life and in our world.

Her favorite Thanksgiving dish: My grandmother’s stuffing that uses chestnuts. What goes into the stuffing is just leftover bread, tons of butter, celery, herbs, cream, turkey stock — and those chestnuts.

Recipe for Chestnut Stuffing

Serves 8 to 10

• 1/2 cup butter, melted

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, smashed

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage

• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1 cup white wine

• 2 to 3 cups turkey or chicken stock

• 1/2 pound chestnuts, roasted and shelled

• 1 large (16-ounce) sourdough loaf, torn into 1-inch pieces (about 9 cups), lightly toasted

Note: Chestnuts add their sweet, creamy nuttiness to this classic stuffing recipe. If you can’t find them (or don’t want to mess with them) feel free to leave them out or use toasted pecans instead.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish or casserole and set aside.

Film a deep skillet with the butter and set over medium heat. Sauté the onion, garlic, sage, thyme and a little salt and pepper until the onion is tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the wine.

If using the skillet, transfer the mixture to a deep casserole dish. Add the stock, chestnuts, and sourdough to the dish. Drizzle with a little more stock as needed.

Cover and bake until the stuffing is hot and the liquid has been absorbed and the stuffing is very hot, about 20 minutes. Remove the cover and continue baking, drizzling with some of the juices from a roasting turkey if you’d like. Bake until the top is crispy and browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.

To prepare chestnuts:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Using a sharp knife, score the flat side of the chestnuts with an X. Scatter them over a baking sheet and roast until the shells peel back, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Peel away and discard the leathery shells.

David Fhima

David Fhima is a James Beard award-winning chef at Maison Margaux and Fhima’s, among others.

What he is grateful for: That we get a chance to do something that should be the norm every day: sitting down, at least once a day, with our family and reconnecting. More than that, I’m grateful for being able to do it in this amazing country and for all the opportunities that we have.

His favorite Thanksgiving dish: Salmon and chickpeas, this is a dish that really explodes in your mouth and in your senses — but yet, it’s so simple to make. Beautiful chickpeas that are stewed for a long time in this beautiful tomato broth with all kinds of Moroccan spices. Salmon with the skin on that’s beautifully seared.

Recipe for Salmon and Chickpeas

• 1 salmon with skin

• 1 tbsp rice bran oil

• 4 oz fish stock

• 2 oz heavy cream

• 1 tbsp red charmoula

• 1 preserve lemon

• 1 tbsp butter

• 1 teaspoon salt and pepper

• 1 tbsp paprika

• 1 tbsp cumin

• 1/2 tbsp turmeric

• 2 whole garlic smashed

• 1 Roma tomato

• 4 oz dried chickpeas

• rice bran oil

Directions

For the chickpeas:

Coat pan with oil, bring to temp. Add spices and garlic, stir.

Once aromatic, add tomato.

Let simmer for 30 minutes, stir occasionally.

Add chickpeas without liquid, simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

For the salmon:

Start cooking the chickpeas with stock, cream, salt and pepper.

Sear salmon both faces.

Finish the base with butter.

Plate the dish, base first, salmon, line of charmoula, lemon on a side.

Amalia Moreno-Damgaard

Amalia Moreno-Damgaard is a chef, entrepreneur and author.

What she is grateful for: I am thankful for my health, especially my mental health, which in these days is so, so important. I am also thankful for the community that I am in.

Her favorite Thanksgiving dish: I like to be creative in the kitchen, especially around the holiday season. I like to create new dishes that are already traditional in our culture that are familiar with people. One of them is tamales. Tamales is a holiday dish but tamales can be prepared in so many different ways. So, I have this tamales hot dish that I absolutely love.

Recipe for Tamal Hot Dish

Makes one casserole or 12-15 tamales

• 2 cups fresh nixtamal

• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp kosher salt or to taste

• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth

• 1 cup vegetable shortening

• 2 cups shredded roasted chicken, pork, or cheese

• 1-1/4 cups red sauce (recipe below)

• 2 fresh or dried hoja santa leaves (sacred leaf)

• Cut 4 banana leaves to fit the baking dish, allowing a bit of overhang on the edges for easy wrapping.

Directions

In the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the fresh nixtamal with the baking powder, salt, and chicken broth to make soft, moist dough. Add the shortening and fluff the dough for 3 minutes at medium speed. Taste and adjust the salt to taste.

(Alternatively, put the ingredients in a deep bowl and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for 3 to 5 minutes.)

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Line a 6-cup (1.5 L) Pyrex dish (8x6”) with banana leaves, leaving enough to fold over the top.

Spread half of the masa mixture evenly across the bottom of the baking dish.

Layer the filling evenly over the masa layer, distributing the shredded meat or cheese and sauce.

Spread the remaining masa dough on top of the filling, smoothing it out with a spatula. Top with hoja santa.

Fold the overhanging banana leaves over the top layer of masa, covering it completely.

Cover the baking dish with foil and bake in a bain-marie for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and rest the casserole covered with plenty of kitchen towels for half an hour. Serve.

Recipe for Red Sauce for Tamales

Makes 1-1/4 cups of sauce

• 1 cup fresh pureed roma tomatoes or 1 (8 oz. can) crushed tomatoes

• 1 tbsp ground guajillo chile

• 2 tsp ground ancho chile

• 1 tbsp chili powder

• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tbsp shredded onion

• Salt to taste

• 1/2 cup chicken broth

Directions

In a small saucepan, mix all the first 8 ingredients.

Add the broth and stir well. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat and cook for about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens slightly.

Drizzle the sauce over the tamale casserole filling.

Dara Moskowitz-Grumdahl

Dara Moskowitz-Grumdahl is a senior writer at Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine.

What she is grateful for: I am so grateful for the people who set aside so much nature for us a hundred years ago in planning the parks. I am so grateful all the time for nature.

Her favorite Thanksgiving dish: I’m here with an anti-recipe. You’re going to get a big bag of that chopped up, pre-washed kale that’s in every grocery store. You’re going to microwave it. You’re going to go to your store-bought dressings, pour it over that, toss it all around — you’ve got warm kale salad. If you really want to go for it, you can throw some garnish on there.

Yia Vang

Yia Vang is chef at Vinai and Union Hmong Kitchen.

What he is grateful for: All our staff. Everyone has worked so hard and at times we weren’t sure about certain things coming through — funding and everything — as we built out a new restaurant. Everyone just stuck by.

His favorite Thanksgiving dish: When people drop off venison, my dad makes this Hmong-style venison stew and it’s just so delicious. It’s very iconic in a lot of Hmong families.

Recipe for Brandy Glazed Five Spiced Roasted Carrots 

• 4-5 carrots peeled and cut in half

• 1 tsp five spice seasoning

• 1 tsp salt

• 2 tsp canola oil

• 2 oz Breems Old Fashioned Brandy (or whatever brandy you prefer)

• 2 oz butter

• 1 Tbsp brown sugar

• 2 Tbsp finely chopped shallots

Directions

In a large bowl cut the carrots into smaller manageable pieces and toss with five spice, salt and canola oil.

Spread out on sheet tray and roast in oven for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

Pull out when done and let it rest.

For the Brandy glaze:

In a sauté pan add the butter and sauté the shallots until tender. Add brown sugar and then add Brandy.

Let it reduce into a glaze. Add butter and toss with roasted carrots.

Sameh Wadi

Sameh Wadi is a restauranteur and chef at World Street Kitchen and Milkjam Creamery, and proud dog dad.

What he is grateful for: I’m super thankful for the incredible people that I surround myself with from friends to colleagues, family and my teams at the restaurant. Without all of those incredible people, I would not be able to do what I do on a daily basis.

His favorite Thanksgiving dish: At my holiday table, we always have stuffing. I didn’t grow up with this stuff. Once I tasted this, it was like fireworks in my mouth. The way that I make it is influenced by my Middle Eastern heritage.

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