Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Moe that mash sounds great and the Tourtiere would be interesting.
Thanks Stan, the Turnip mash is a compromise, before my youngest daughter picked up the mantle a couple of years ago the wife and I had always usually hosted all of the family holidays since we've been together (just short of fifty years) and we have followed the same meal plan that our parents and grandparents before them for Thanksgiving, basically it's the "traditional" turkey dinner with all the fixings that most folks serve across the country and especially up here in New England.
I think that more than the good food, following in the tradition that our folks that went before us triggers memories of those people who have passed and are missed from the table, we (folks my age) were used to eating home grown food of which included most of the root veggies, most younger people today don't have that experience and are prone to push away from certain foods such as green peas, home made cranberry sauce, and turnips all of which have tart tastes.
So to try to appease everyone I've taken to sweetening the turnips by adding carrots and sweet potatoes to the pot, I cook them in equal volume together in the same pot until fork tender then drain them well and let them sit in the strainer for a few minutes to let most of the moisture evaporate, then I mash them with a hand masher so that they still have some texture, I add some salt, butter, a bit of maple syrup, a pinch of cinnamon, and some freshly grated nutmeg to taste, those of us who have acquired a taste for turnips can still pick out the tase in the mix, and those who haven't can still enjoy the sweetness of the carrots, sweet potatoes, and warm seasonings.
As far as the French Canadian meat pie goes, it's a holiday staple in our family, the tradition was to serve Tourtiere at Christmas, served after Midnight Mass on Christmas eve in most French Canadian homes, every family had it's own recipe handed down from generation to generation and is still alive today.
I'm not going to post my family recipe, but I will suggest that you do a search online for French Canadian Meat Pie or French Canadian Tourtiere, you'll get allot of recipes from easy to complicated, All Recipies has a couple of good ones and Chef John has a great video recipe for Tourti'ere on U-tube.
Another deviation from the norm in our family is the stuffing (dressing), stuffing is usually made with some sort of bread, broth, and different seasonings and stuffed into the bird before cooking, we no longer stuff the bird with stuffing, instead we stuff the bird with ruff cut celery, onions, and oranges to add moisture and subtle flavor, and our dressing is made in a skillet on the stove top and served as a side, it has basically the same ingredients as the meat pie (ground pork, ground beef, and mashed potatoes, and meat pie seasonings, but with the addition of Bells Poultry Seasoning, Tourti'ere is usually served topped with a tomato ketchup or beef flavored gravy, either way is delicious.
