Holidays on Nantucket are announced in a variety of ways. Decorations, indoors and out, will let you know what season’s being celebrated, whether it’s a pile of pumpkins placed casually but strategically around a yard, or one pumpkin placed on a window sill.
Come December, ornaments of fresh fruit, pine cones and a big velvet bow may adorn a wreath of greens on a front door. Bowers and garlands of evergreens, holly
and wintergreens frame windows and doorways, and strings of twinkling lights that wrap around trees and bushes tell another story. These are the visual cues. The aromas of holiday cooking get further into the details. Fill in the blanks and pinpoint the celebration.
Home cooks can choose from the bounty of the coolweather harvest to make dishes with recipes passed down through generations in combination with new dishes and ingredients. How about roasting a turkey with a pomegranate glaze? Seventeen years ago, I created a roast-turkey recipe for Bon Appetit magazine, and it was an opportunity to use, what was at the time, my new favorite ingredient. Pomegranate molasses is a tart, sweet and tangy syrup that elevates all the other components that share its inclusion.
For something different, try making a soup with sweet parsnips thickened with yogurt, flavored with pungent curry and garnished with crunchy parsnip chips. This and the following recipes are from my winter cookbook, “The Nantucket Holiday Table” (Chronicle Books, 2000).
In some homes, in late November, or sometimes December, depending on the Hebrew calendar, the smell of oil and onions signals that latkes are being fried. Almost any food cooked in oil becomes a part of the Chanukah table. My late sister Laura used to make latkes with a combination of root vegetables – parsnips, carrots and dill from her garden – instead of the standard recipe that just calls for potatoes.
Chanukah commemorates a victory of the Hebrews over the invading Syrians in Jerusalem, over 2,000 years ago. As the Hebrews began to restore their damaged temple they found only enough oil to fuel the lamps for one night. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight nights. Foods cooked in oil are a must to celebrate the Festival of Lights.
For something colorful as well as flavorful, make a sweet and sour side dish with beets, my take on the classic New England dish called Harvard beets. Much of the flavor here comes from the orange zest and juice, as well as the capers that are added to the dressing.
Instead of a traditional pie, bake a spice-and-spirits-filled cake that’s served with spicy ginger ice
dessert could be interpreted as an historic Nantucket combo. Just stretch your imagination a bit. According to Joseph Farnham, in his 1914 “Boyhood Days in Nantucket,” gingerbread on Nantucket “in the mid-nineteenth century . . . was not only baked at home, it was also available for sale at the Chase and Cook Bakery.”
He went on to say that “Ice cream at Nantucket was ever held as one of the delectable luxuries. We used to think – perhaps we were too arrogant – that so-called ‘Nantucket ice cream’ was a little bit better than anywhere else obtainable.”
Brew a cup of hot chocolate that’s infused with the darling flavor of the season, pumpkin spice.
The aromas of cooking food fill your home with the appetizing and warm scents that are invitational and say come in, sit down and enjoy a cozy meal at our table. The scents last the duration of the cooking time, plus a bit. ///
Susan Simon, author of “The Nantucket Holiday Table,” writes “In the Kitchen,” a weekly food column for The Inquirer and Mirror, Nantucket’s newspaper since 1821.
