Enjoy an Eastern European-Style Thanksgiving Dinner

This recipe for cherry-cranberry sauce combines two of the fruits Eastern Europeans love -- wild cranberries and sour cherries. Cultivated cranberries will work fine and, you can substitute fresh cranberries for the cherries making this a triple-cranberry sauce. This condiment goes well with turkey, duck, chicken, pork, ham and game meat, so don't save it just for Thanksgiving.

This creamy side dish combines pumpkin, onion, sour cream and dill. It's not something you see everyday. Polish pumpkins are naturally very sweet. If yours is on the bland side, add a little sugar to brighten the flavor.



Go to the next page for bread and dessert recipes.

Polish potato bread is firm enough to accommodate sandwiches made of leftover turkey AND cranberry sauce without falling apart. And its flavor won't compete with the meat the way rye bread would.

This recipe is a little different from most apple slices -- the pastry dough top has a crackly finish because it's brushed with egg white and sugar before baking (not a meringue).

For a dramatic presentation, leave the pears whole and remove the core from the bottom or slice them in half for easier core removal. For a pink color, 1 cup of the water can be replaced with 1 cup red wine.

Eastern Europeans have a love affair with the pumpkin, whose seeds were brought to them from the Americas. This custard recipe is another example of Eastern Europeans' fondness for hiding food in other foods.

I developed this recipe for pear custard pie when I had two beautiful Korean pears and half a package of thawed filo dough staring me in the face. I thought a sweet spin on Serbian burek would be just the ticket, and it was.

Polish puddings or kisiel are typically thickened with potato starch, and are somewhere between an opaque gelatin and a transparent pudding in appearance. What sets them apart is their fresh fruit flavor that's not too sweet.

You can say na zdrowie! as you lift your glass to toast your guests with this refreshing cordial that packs a kick.