What a glorious Thanksgiving it was! Sure, these are photos from Canadian Thanksgiving and I’m just getting around to posting them now, but maybe I can inspire our southern cousins with spatchcocked BBQ-ed turkey, Ottolenghi’s roasted potatoes and Josée di Stasio’s pepperonata.
The reasons to spatchcock and BBQ a turkey are, in my mind, endless. Get your butcher to take out the backbone of the turkey and then lay it flat on the hot grill. It cooks a bunch faster (about half the time), the brining or salting keeps it tender, you get that smoky BBQ flavour, the skin will be perfectly crispy. I stuff salt under the skin, too, when I salt it. I probably used about 1/4 cup of salt rubbed all over and a little oil while I basted (it’s best to still baste so the skin doesn’t burn).
The downside is you can’t stuff it with stuffing, but you can make it on the side if you want, and even pour in some of the BBQ drippings for that greasy, flavourful feeling of overindulgence that rhymes with the holiday. 
The salad is mostly from my garden end-of-summer pea shoots (yes my second planting of peas were able to bear the August heat), lettuce, some amazing purple daikon from one of the Jean-Talon Market organic stands, cucumber, toasted almonds and dried cranberries.
And there was some kind of stewed plums or something in that silver dish, but you couldn’t pay me enough to remember what it actually was. Maybe something pickled? That sounds like me. 
Here are the recipes:
Spatchcocked BBQ chicken (follow the link to learn about spatchcocking and then either brine the bird or just coast it in a ton of salt for a couple hours, wash it off and stick the thing on the medium-high BBQ for about 40 minutes. Turn it over, lower the heat and cook until done (about another 45 minutes for an 8-person turkey…ish).
Pepperonata (stewed red peppers and tomato)
Roasted potatoes with cherry tomatoes and capers (make this recipe, subbing potato chunks for the other root vegetables. Throw in some coriander or cumin if desired)
Green salad of whatever you have, plus a red wine vinaigrette (whisk together 2 tbsp red vinegar, 1/2 tbsp Dijon, 1/2 tsp honey, pinch of salt and pepper, then whisk in 4 tbsp olive oil)
For dessert, I made a lemon meringue pie. Gluten free pastry and dairy free leon custard…mmm…
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