Here's the deal about Thanksgiving dinner at our house: it's the same every year, except for one thing. Every year one thing changes.
Sometimes we try something new and it stays forever, like the apricot jello mold that's been a guilty pleasure of our Thanksgiving dinner for at least fourteen years.
Sometimes it's something that makes the cut for several years -- like sweet potatoes with pecan praline -- and then, for no real reason, falls off the menu never to be spoken of again.
And sometimes it's a mistake, like the pearl onions in balsamic vinegar, which turned out to be a dish that was far too full of itself.
Anyway, here's what we're doing on Huffington Post: the First Annual "Tell Us What You're Cooking This Year For Thanksgiving Dinner That You Didn't Cook Last Year."
Send in your recipe. Send in the thing you've never cooked before on Thanksgiving day, the thing that proves conclusively that you're up for change, that you're not your mother, that you're open to new ideas, that you're flexible and full of surprises and with-it food-wise, even though the truth about Thanksgiving is the exact opposite -- it's about ritual and tradition and the same-old same-old.
This year, in our house, we're cooking our version of Suzanne Goin's succotash. Of course Suzanne Goin doesn't call it succotash; in her book Sunday Suppers at Luques, she calls it sweet corn, green cabbage and bacon. We call it succotash because we throw in some lima beans and way more butter:
Cut 6 thick slices of bacon into small pieces and cook in a casserole until crispy. Remove and drain. Melt 1 stick of butter in the remaining bacon grease and add 1 sliced onion and some salt and pepper. Saute for a few minutes, then add half a small green cabbage, sliced, and cook until wilted. Add 2 packages of cooked frozen lima beans and 2 packages of frozen corn. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring, till the corn is done. You can do this in advance. Reheat gently and add the bacon.