My mother gave me two choices for Thanksgiving this year, go to Uncle Andre and Aunt Suzy’s house or invite my cousins over who recently moved here from Iran. The lazy part of me was thinking that this year I just don’t feel like cooking, so another year at the Andresian’s would be great, Aunt Suzy’s Thanksgiving dinners are the best. Then it hit me that it would be really cool to cook for my cousins, they just moved here from Iran and they’re probably experiencing some culture shock, so a traditional American holiday is much needed to help smoothen their transition. For the next couple of weeks I scavenged through all my magazines, Saveur, Bon Appetite and Gourmet, searching for the perfect recipes to play with.

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite American holiday, by that time of year the streets are laden with colorful fall leaves and that crisp, winter air that even us Angelino’s can feel, is quietly approaching. This time of year has that special feel to it, I often can’t stop staring at the colors on the trees while I’m driving, I always say to myself that I’ll grab my camera and come back to take a photo as I make a mental note of what streets I’m on. Sometimes the reminder of fall comes when I smell my neighbors fireplaces burning when I get home late at night, or the cornucopia of colors that take over the farmers market.

My family moved to the States from Iran in 1979.  We celebrated Christmas and Easter like most Armenians but Thanksgiving was my first, real taste of an American holiday. As we arrived in Los Angeles, we began our life long journey of having to assimilate into another new culture. When living the Diasporan life it’s a natural reflex to make sure you blend in without losing your identity. For my parents this was in the form of working, buying a house and reconnecting with relatives and friends from back home. My idea of being in America was eating Mc Donald’s, lots of donuts and pizza, and of course going to Disneyland and all the theme parks a little girl can conquer. Things were so much easier back then, it was the late 70s, we were refugees in a country full of promise and I didn’t have a care in the world.

Those first couple of years we had very little family here. I had no first cousins or grandparents yet, just extended relatives and a large circle of friends. Those friends include Andre and Suzy Andresian, who have become our Thanksgiving family for the past 30 years. My father and Andre grew up together in Esfahan, Andre’s wife, Suzy’s, Irish roots and delicious recipes couldn’t have been a better introduction to us of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

The smell of her Sauerkraut would pinch your nose as soon as you walked into their incredibly gorgeous house. The house is as close to an Italian villa as one can get in Los Angeles. The long hallways would trap the smells from the kitchen that would warm up the cold marble floors. Her turkey always had that perfect moisture on the inside and that crunch from the skin on the outside, she served it with sauerkraut, mash potatoes, a velvety gravy, cranberry sauce and her delicious beans. After dinner we would do the same thing every year. While we waited for dessert the kids would go the TV room and watch the Yogi Bear Christmas Special. Their house was so ginormous to me when I was younger, I would always get lost somehow. Although, I admit sometimes I would get lost on purpose so I could snoop around those huge rooms.

The house is quite magnificent. Recently restored, it’s a villa nestled in the woods of the Rose Bowl. So how can one resist an invitation to eat Thanksgiving dinner in a dining room fit for a museum?  In the past my contribution to her table was a Sweet Potato Pie whose recipe I had discovered a few years back.

So while the beautiful casa and incredible Irish cooking was tempting, this year I wanted to take the opportunity to reconnect with my cousins and use Aunt Suzy’s good cooking as inspiration. I’m not into Turkey whatsoever, it’s such a boring bird, but I couldn’t avoid cooking it, so I added a duck to the menu to show the Turkey what a real bird tastes like. For side dishes I made Provence herbed baby potatoes, almond and garlic sautéed green beans, apple corn bread stuffing, cranberry orange chutney and a delicious vegetarian Shepherds pie whose recipe I found in Gourmet.

Two pies made it to my table this year, I love pies because I’m so drawn to the interconnectedness of circular things. Pies are generous, they hold a lot inside of them like burritos, but I haven’t baked too many in my life. This was my first year cooking a savory pie since culinary school, but this Vegetarian Shepherds Pie recipe was really mouthwatering so I had to indulge.

The second pie was the Sweet Potato Pie whose Marshmallow Meringue and graham cracker crust make it so yummy. This was my third year in a row baking this pie and I’ve tweaked the original recipe. I added ginger snap cookies as well as candied ginger to the crust and vanilla and cardamom to the filling. It has made a pretty good difference to the taste, the ginger gives it a spice while the cardamom adds floral qualities and vanilla makes it nice and vanilla-ee.

The Thanksgiving festivities turned out wonderful. My Shepherds pie was a little more watery than I wanted but overall everything was on point and delicious, especially the duck. During dinner, I raised my glass to make the first toast to my cousins, I went on about how since this was their first Thanksgiving with us in America, I was very pleased to have given them there first taste of Thanksgiving. My cousin Roubina then looked at me, raised her glass, and said in Armenian, “That’s very sweet of you Lucie, but this is our second year in America and our second Thanksgiving.”

The smile on my face turned into an open mouth at which point I looked at my mother with that “how could you not have told me this” look.” For two weeks she had heard me yapping about how nice its gonna be to share this experience with our newcomers. I was a little embarrassed for being so out of touch and naturally they all laughed at me, but it’s okay, what matters is that their arrival has added a few more pieces to our family’s American puzzle.

Sweet Potato Pie with Marshmallow Meringue

Yield: 10 servings

Crust:

3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (made from about 7 1/2 ounces graham crackers, finely ground in processor)

1/4 cup Ginger Snap cookies (finely ground in processor)

2 – 3 pieces candied ginger (ground in processor)

6 to 7 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

3 pounds medium red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams)

1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

2 large eggs

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg, Cardamom

1 tsp of vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste (extract as substitute)

1/4 tsp salt

Marshmallow Meringue:

1 7-ounce jar Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme

3 large egg whites

1/8 teaspoon salt

¼ cup of sugar

preparation

For crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix ground graham cracker/ginger cookie crumbs and in a medium bowl. Add 6 tablespoons melted butter and stir until crumbs feel moist when pressed together with fingertips, adding 1-2 tablespoon melted butter if crumb mixture is dry. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish, building up sides 1/4 inch above rim of dish. Bake crust until set and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Cool on rack.

For filling: Preheat oven to 350°F. Pierce sweet potatoes all over with fork; place potatoes on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until potatoes are very tender when pierced with fork, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool slightly. Cut potatoes open and scoop out pulp. Transfer pulp to processor and puree until smooth. Set aside 2 cups sweet potato puree for filling; cool completely (reserve any remaining puree for another use).

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine 2 cups sweet potato puree, sweetened condensed milk, and all remaining ingredients in food processor and blended until smooth. Pour filling into crust. Bake pie until puffed around edges and set in center, about 50 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool. Refrigerate pie at least 4 hours or overnight.

For marshmallow meringue: Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Using rubber spatula, scrape marshmallow creme into large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt in another large bowl until foamy. Add sugar, a little at a time, and beat until stiff and glossy peaks form, this can take a few minutes, make sure egg whites are stiff. Add 1/2 cup beaten egg whites to marshmallow creme and stir with rubber spatula or spoon just until incorporated to lighten (marshmallow creme is very sticky and will be difficult to blend at first, but blending will become easier as remaining whites are folded in). Fold in remaining whites in 2 additions just until incorporated. Spread meringue over top of cold pie, mounding slightly in center and swirling with knife to create peaks.

Bake pie just until peaks and ridges of marshmallow meringue are lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Let stand at room temperature until meringue is cool.

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