From bird to pie

As soon as the weather turns crisp, we begin planning our harvest feast. In New England, you don't go changing something on a whim, so even though the Thanksgiving menu has many possibilities, our meal still has to include things we've been making for years.

We got together recently to streamline a Thanksgiving spread of favorites. We cooked at Sheryl's house, which has one oven - and no dishwasher - a good place to see if an ambitious menu works.

We had gone separately to our favorite farmstand, where we always buy too much. Winter squashes with their hard-to-resist colors are particularly tempting, so we both returned with more than we needed. Julie particularly likes delicata squash, but we'd already decided to roast and then puree sugar pumpkins. This year we found blue pumpkin-shaped squashes with deep, curved pleats - they're about the size of jack-o'-lanterns. We bought them, of course. They'll be the centerpiece instead of flowers, along with a "cheese" squash in a pale, peachy tone.

The menu - and all of our cooking projects - evolve from what we see in the markets. Fall is the best time of year to cook. There aren't as many vegetables growing regionally, but neither are there as many temptations outside the kitchen. Because there's never enough fridge space, you can store extra food on an enclosed porch or even on shelves in the garage as long as it's cold, but not below freezing, outside.

We spread out our riches, using all the surfaces in the house. And then we get to work. The challah for the pan stuffing has been sitting out overnight to dry a little. We'll bake the stuffing in a dish beside the bird, because although everyone loves a stuffed turkey, the cooks need their rest. Stuffing the bird before roasting means rising too early; we put our feet down years ago on this issue. Anyway, with lots of onions, celery, portobellos, and dried cranberries, the stuffing is loaded with flavor, moist inside, and crusty on top.

This year, Julie decided to make a corn flake stuffing she learned about from food historian Barbara Haber. We had a little stuffing rivalry over which recipe we'd make. But since Julie is cooking for her family and Sheryl has a separate feast with hers, pan stuffing will reign in one household, corn flakes in another.

Timing is everything Thanksgiving week. Since oven space is a problem in most kitchens, we compensate by preparing a lot of dishes completely the day before. The turkey is timed so that it is ready an hour before you want to carve it (it's perfectly fine resting in a warm spot during that time). All the side dishes can go into the oven during that last hour. We bake them together at 400 degrees - and completely ignore what the recipe instructs. A lot of dishes in one oven can bring the temperature down. If something is browning too much, you can cover it with foil.

In past years, we've made Brussels sprouts with dried cranberries, mashed potatoes, a vinegary Montreal slaw from Julie's hometown, and sweet potatoes candied with marmalade.

This year, we'll make an olive spread with lavash crackers to greet hungry guests on arrival. Then for dinner, there will be roast yellow potatoes with wedges of onion, pureed sugar pumpkins, green beans sauteed with almonds, and a chocolate pecan pie in an easy chocolate wafer crust.

The plan gives you a busy early week. But it leaves you pretty free on the morning of the holiday, so you'll have enough time to set the table, organize the dishes, put your feet up, or go to the gym (that's us). Because once the doorbell rings, there's no respite for the cook.