Thanksgiving is a holiday with such a long tradition, it is often difficult to introduce anything new into the mix. The staples – Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, pumpkin or sweet potato pie – are always going to be expected by those around your table. Finding a new recipe to add to the mix is not an easy task. For this year I finally settled on this delicious Vegetable Focaccia. It is tomato based, has lots of fresh vegetables and can be added to your meal as a substitution for a basket of bread at the table.

I was given a can of Hunt’s Onion, Herbs & Spices to try out, and the sweet flavourful sauce worked beautifully with this recipe. Hunt’s tomatoes are picked at the peak of ripeness, and it shows when you highlight it in a recipe like this one. 

The tender dough is loaded up with tasty sauce, and healthy and delicious toppings that will compliment your traditional Thanksgiving dinner perfectly. Feel free to mix up the vegetables and add anything that your crew will devour!

PAM Cooking Spray

1 pizza dough or tube Italian bread dough

2 tablespoons olive oil  

1 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese

1 cup chopped broccoli, cooked

1/3 cup sundried tomatoes, julienne

1 cup Hunt’s Onion, Herbs & Spices Tomato Sauce

Preparation: 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with PAM and stretch dough onto pan.
2. Using your fingers, make holes throughout the dough. Drizzle dough with olive oil and bake until just beginning to turn golden, about 15 minutes.
   
   

3. Remove pan from oven and spoon Hunt’s tomato sauce over top, spreading evenly all the way to edges. Add broccoli, onion and sundried tomato then sprinkle with cheese. Return pan to oven.

   

4. Bake until nicely browned on edges and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Cut into rectangles and serve warm or at room temperature.

Katherine’s Recipe – Potatoes Pomodori au Gratin

I love to make a traditional Thanksgiving feast with all the fixings: roast turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin pie. But once in a while, I tire of the same old side dishes with my bird, and I branch out to find something new. A few years ago I found a wonderful, decadent recipe for scalloped potatoes in one of those magazines that the cheese marketing board puts out. It goes basically like this: slice potatoes thinly, layer with thinly sliced onions and grated parmesan cheese in a casserole dish. Top with several dollops of butter, pour 500mL of heavy cream over it all and bake into a wonderful, bubbling, golden-brown dish of delicious.

So that was a favourite for a few years. Obviously.

And then I decided to put a twist on the old stand-by potato side dish. I searched around through my collection of cookbooks and also found a few promising recipes on the internet. And then I did what I always do: I merged together all the elements of the different recipes that I liked, and created my own new and unique dish. I call it Potatoes Pomodori au Gratin. Which is a mash-up of English, Italian and French basically meaning potatoes and tomatoes with melted cheese on top.

It’s a nice break from the total-refined-carb situation that is the brimming bowlful of mashed potatoes, or the fat farm scalloped potato dish I favoured for a few years there.  But it’s still got everything you need a Thanksgiving side dish to be: it’s warm, it’s filling and it makes you feel good, from the inside out. Indeed: it’s a perfect comfort food.

So this year when you sit down with your family for a harvest feast, why not make up a batch of Potatoes Pomodori au Gratin? It’s got lots of what’s good for you in it: plenty of vitamins and antioxidants from the tomatoes, and the flu-fighting prowess of garlic, too! Here’s the recipe:

Potatoes Pomodori au Gratin

Ingredients:
PAM cooking spray
6 medium potatoes, sliced into ½  inch rounds
(keep the skins on for a more rustic, harvest feel as well as to seal in those vitamins!)
1 medium onion, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 cans tomato chunks (I used 2 can of Hunt’s Original Diced Tomatoes)
1 1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon Hunt’s Herbs and Spices Tomato Paste

1/4 cup water

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 teaspoon each salt & pepper

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Preparation:
1.  Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until they caramelize.

2.  Add the garlic and sauté for one minute.

3.  Add the Italian seasoning and the tomatoes. Stir until well mixed.

4.  Add the tomato paste and water, stir again to blend thoroughly. Bring to a low boil on medium-high heat then lower heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.

5.  Spray a casserole dish with Pam, arrange potato sl
ices in a single layer.

6.  Pour half the tomato mixture on top, then arrange a second layer of potato slices.

7.  Pour the remaining tomato mixture over the potatoes and top with grated cheese.

Over the next three weeks you will be in the judge’s seat as you decide which of our two chefs has done the best job with three fabulous recipes featuring Hunt’s products. Your job is simple: check in each week and read both Gav and Kath’s recipes, compare the pictures, and then vote by telling us what you think! We will be giving away a fabulous slow cooker prize package.  Click here for details (link).  Your comment below is your entry to win this fabulous prize for your kitchen. For each comment up to a maximum of 100, Hunt’s will donate one can of tomato product to the Cook-off winner’s (Gav’s or Kath’s) local food bank.  Now it’s your turn!  Tell us who did it best, Kath or Gav, in the comments below!

Kath and Gav were provided with Hunt’s tomato products for participation in the Hunt’s Tomato Cook-Off. All content is true, based on their personal experience.  

Click here for Contest Rules and Regulations.

UrbanMoms.ca members are eligible to win so don’t forget to sign-in.  Not a member yet?  Click here to join.