Update: On Thanksgiving, our huge meals weren't always well-planned or executed

For our Thanksgiving meal today, I prepared a luxurious salad of Red King Crab with diced celery, onion and sweet pepper, all dressed in Dijon mustard, fresh lemon juice and cumin, above. I also served an egg-white Frittata with salted codfish, slices of tomato and pre-boiled sweet potato, and a bit of pesto, below.

UPDATE: I've added more Thanksgiving day food photos to this post. 

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Our past Thanksgivings have always been a celebration of family and how fortunate we are, but they haven't always been well-planned or executed:

In 2018, overeating on year-end holidays

In 2016, I was bitten by the food-shopping bug

In 2014, a turkey free Thanksgiving

In 2013, I ate the whole thing

In 2011, soft-tofu stew instead of turkey

I started the frittata on the stove, pouring 4 cups of egg whites, salted codfish, grated cheese and seasonings into a pre-heated 10-inch non-stick pan with olive oil. After adding the sweet potato and tomato slices and allowing the crust to set, I moved the pan into the oven, where the frittata spent about 20 minutes under the broiler. I added Costco Wholesale's Basil Pesto as the frittata cooled on the counter.

I finished my meal with an organic spring mix salad with Campari Tomatoes as our guests and my wife and mother-in law loaded their plates with roast turkey, ham, curry goat, and rice and peas.

I also had a small plate of garlic mashed sweet potatoes with extra virgin olive oil and a dozen seasonings, including curry powder, cinnamon, cumin, red-pepper flakes and a little maple syrup.

We toasted our good fortune with Kirkland Signature Prosecco, a sparkling white wine from Italy. I also had a couple of glasses of Kirkland Signature Cote du Rhone Villages, a red wine from France. Both were from the Costco Wholesale warehouse in Wayne.

  

The Bottom Line

Our biggest expense was the Red King Crab Legs and Claws from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro ($21.99 a pound for a total of $52.78).

About 2.4 pounds of legs and claws yielded enough salad as an appetizer for 6.

A 10-pound, antibiotic-free turkey from Goffle Road Poultry Farm was $34.85.

We also got 4 duck eggs for $1.25 each. They have bigger yolks and thicker shells than chicken eggs.

See: Where I shopped for Thanksgiving

On Wednesday morning, I fried one sunny side up, breaking the yolk over organic whole wheat fusilli in marinara sauce with anchovies and sardines (photo below). Delicious.