The 4 Best Thanksgiving Side Dishes

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a sheet pan with olive oil and set aside.
• In a large skillet or braiser, melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter is mostly melted, add the honey and stir to combine.
• Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, until the garlic becomes fragrant
• Add the carrots and toss them in the garlic honey butter until well coated. Season with Kosher salt and a few cranks of black pepper.
• Toss the seasoned carrots a few more times. Then, turn off the heat and use kitchen tongs to transfer the carrots to the prepared sheet tray. Hold the remaining sauce in the pan.
• Roast the carrots in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the carrots are fork-tender.
• Transfer the carrots to a serving plate or tray. Pour the remaining Honey Butter Garlic sauce over the carrots. Sprinkle the nuts on top.
• Top the carrots and nuts with a generous sprinkling of chopped mint and parsley. Sprinkle on some flaky finishing salt, if you like.

• Start a pot with about 3 quarts of water to boil. Slice the roots and tips off of the two onions and peel off the papery outer layer. The with one cut side down, make a cut into one side. From the center to the edge. Basically making a slit in the whole onion.
• When the water is boiling, add 1.5 tablespoons of kosher salt. Then use tongs to lower each onion in the boiling water. reduce the heat to simmer the onions for about 20 minutes. They are ready to transfer to a plate to cool when they are slightly translucent and you can feel their squishier texture when you lift them out of the water with tongs.
• While the onions are boiling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees for toasting the sliced almonds. Spread the almonds on a small sheet tray and toast them in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes, just until they begin to turn golden and are fragrant. When the almonds come out, turn the oven up to 400 degrees F.
• Let the onions cool enough to handle. We need the smaller inside layers for the jeweled rice filling.
• To separate the onion layers, just use your fingers to go between the layers and gently let them fall apart from each other. The outermost layers will be large, so slice them in half to make two pieces. You want around 20 onion “shells.” Set the onion “shells” aside.
• The innermost layers will be too small to stuff, so dice those and we will use them in the jeweled rice filling.
• Mix the saffron with the lemon juice in a small bowl and set aside.
• In an oven-safe, 12-inch skillet (with a lid), sauté the diced innermost onion layers in 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. When the onions are translucent and soft, add the rinsed rice to the skillet and pour on half of the melted butter. Stir the rice in the butter and onion/olive oil mixture to coat the rice.
• When the rice is mixed in, add the saffron/lemon juice mixture and stir well to fully mix the rice into the saffron. Then stir in the cumin, cardamom and cinnamon stick.
• Add 1 cup of water, stir and bring to a vigorous simmer. Cover, let the mixture simmer covered for 3 minutes, until the water is absorbed. The rice will not be cooked through, but we want the water to be absorbed.
• Now, turn off the heat and stir in the toasted almonds, chopped pistachios, the dried fruit and the chopped parsley.
• Stuffing the Onions
• Set up your onion stuffing station. To minimize mess, leave the pan of jeweled rice on the stovetop. Directly alongside the jeweled rice, set a small rimmed sheet tray (this will catch our filled onions). Then on the other side of the sheet tray, set your plate of onion “shells.”
• Use a tablespoon to scoop the jeweled rice. Then, working over the sheet tray, hold an onion shell in one hand and scoop rice with your other hand. Go with about 2 tablespoons of rice per onion, adding a little more or a little less rice depending on the size of the onion shell. We want the sides of the onion shells to loosely cover the rice. The rice isn’t cooked through, so it will expand further.
• Nestle the filled onions on the sheet tray. At this point, once the onions are filled, you can cover the sheet tray and refrigerate to finish cooking at a later time or the next day.
• Baking the Jeweled Rice Stuffed Onions
• The oven should be preheated to 400 degrees F. Back to the now-empty braiser or pan (no need to wash it out). Pour in the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Spread the oil around to coat the surface. Now transfer the stuffed onions to the oil-coated pan. Nestle the stuffed onions in a circular pattern in the pan.
• Toss the cinnamon stick back in (if you want) and pour in one cup of water. Then sprinkle the onions with kosher salt and black pepper and drizzle the remaining half of the melted butter over the stuffed onions.
• Cover the pan and bake the onions for 30 to 40 minutes. My batch needed the whole 40 minutes. When they come out, taste test the rice for doneness. Drizzle the onions with olive oil.
• Sprinkle the onions with more chopped parsley to finish. If you want, you can sprinkle on a little more chopped nuts and/or dried fruit for garnish. I added a little more chopped dried fruit and flaky finishing salt.

• Start by placing a rack in the center position in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper.
• Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, pepper, baking soda and baking powder together in a large mixing bowl. Add the two sticks of cubed unsalted butter and toss to coat the butter cubes in flour. Then, with your hands, smoosh each butter cube between your pointer finger and your thumb to create flattened pieces of butter.
• Use both hands so it goes faster and work your way through until you don’t feel anymore cubes of butter, only flat coin-like pieces of butter. Next, add the minced fresh herbs, the fennel seeds and the thinly sliced scallions. Gently toss to incorporate.
• Loosely mix in the buttermilk with a fork until a shaggy dough forms.
• Turn the shaggy dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough a few times to incorporate any loose bits and flour.
• Now, shape this shaggy dough into a 10 x 8-inch rectangle, with the long side facing you. With a long knife, cut the rectangle in half, crosswise.
• Take one half and stack it on top on the other half. Turn the stacked dough so the long side is facing you again.
• Cut the stacked dough in half again. Then take one half and stack it on top of the other half, so you have four layers of dough stacked.
• Now, press this stacked dough back out into a 10 x 8-inch rectangle.
• Then, cut the rectangle into 12 equal pieces: a row of four across the long side and a row of three on the short side.
• Arrange the biscuits evenly spaced on the parchment-lined sheet tray.
• Place the biscuits in the freezer for 10 minutes.
• When they come out of the freezer, brush a light layer of buttermilk on the biscuit tops.
• Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking time.

Roasted Acorn Squash

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut acorn squash in half through the stem. Place halves on a rimmed sheet tray and drizzle olive oil over the cut sides. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and black pepper. Roast for 1 hour.
• Let squash cool until it’s easy to handle and with a utility knife, cut and peel the skin off. Discard the skin and slice each half in half again, and slice into 1/8-inch strips. Set aside.

Dressing

• Pour all ingredients except for the olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Whisk to combine and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, whisk in olive oil and keep whisking, let simmer for one minute. Remove from heat and pour dressing into a heat proof measuring cup.

Assembly

• In a large bowl, add 1/3 of the still-warm dressing to the prepped kale. Massage the dressing into the kale until the kale wilts slightly and changes to a darker green color.
• Add the sliced radicchio and sliced onion to the kale. Pour on a little more dressing and toss together.
• Add the roasted squash slices and pour on the rest of the dressing, gently toss to combine.