What we’ll miss this Thanksgiving: Family dishes packed with memories. So we’re making them to bring distant loved ones home.

It seems that every day for weeks, as coronavirus case numbers keep going up, the warnings have been mounting: Stay home. Don’t gather in big groups. Don’t travel. For many of us, that means that Thanksgiving will be very different this year. But as we have throughout the coronavirus pandemic, we’ll adapt.

As we contemplated the people we will miss this holiday, we also thought about how the dishes on the table reflect the specialness of the people who make them. Why not conjure those family members and friends by preparing their signature recipes? And so we asked Features reporters and editors in to share their favorite Thanksgiving dishes and the tales behind them. We invite you to do the same, with these dishes, or your own family gems.

How clam chowder united two families

A dozen years ago, I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner in Chicago that brought both sides of our family together for the first time: my in-laws from Rhode Island and my family from Michigan. As I planned the menu, I fretted about balancing traditions. My brother would get his cauliflower casserole, and I’d find a way to serve some shellfish to honor my husband’s roots. I landed on clam chowder, which as any good Rhode Islander knows, should be served clear: No cream to cloud it, no tomatoes to disguise it.

Not long before, my husband’s grandfather had died, but I knew I couldn’t make his clam chowder. Even if I possessed his decades of skill, Chicago is just too far from the ocean to stock the kind of shellfish you’d need to make his rich, peppery broth. I knew this from an earlier attempt to make a chowder from “The New Boston Globe Cookbook.” It turned out as bland as frozen clams. So I decided to liven it up with another Rhode Island staple: linguica, a Portuguese sausage. Since then, this version has become our go-to clam chowder, even when we’re back in New England.

This year, we will celebrate together in Chicago with our daughter, but apart from our families in Rhode Island and Michigan. It won’t be the same, but we will make something new of it. Which is, itself, something to be thankful for: Our traditions are our own to honor, to invent.

— Jennifer Day

Rhode Island clam chowder

Prep: 15 minutes

Bake: 55 minutes

Make: 8 servings

Note that the salt content of clam broth and linguica can vary significantly, so use your sense of taste to guide seasoning. Frozen chopped clams are available at most local Whole Foods. Linguica, a Portuguese sausage, can be difficult to find in the Midwest; Paulina Market, 3501 N. Lincoln Ave., typically carries it.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound linguica sausage

1/4 u00bc onion, minced

4 cups chopped sea clams

4 cups bottled clam broth

2 cups water

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 bay leaf

4 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 u00be-inch dice

Salt and pepper, to taste

1. In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, heat oil over medium flame. Brown sausage on all sides. Remove from pot and slice into 1/4 u00bc-inch-thick coins.

2. Meanwhile, saute onions until softened in remaining oil and sausage fat.

3. Add clams, broth, water, butter and bay leaf to pot and turn up the heat to high. Bring to a boil.

4. Stir in potatoes and sausage; return to a boil. Taste the broth and add pepper and salt as necessary. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender, but not falling apart.

5. Remove 1/4 u00bd cup of the potatoes and place them in a bowl. Mash with a fork and stir them back into the chowder. Remove bay leaf and adjust seasonings as necessary.

Nutrition information per serving: 328 calories, 15 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 62 mg cholesterol, 22 g carbohydrates, 1 g sugar, 24 g protein, 1,162 mg sodium, 2 g fiber

Mashed potatoes with a magic touch

Perhaps I’m going to out-Midwest myself when I say that these potatoes are a major part of why I look forward to Thanksgiving each year. My mom has always been committed to cooking this glorious, rich side dish only once a year, thanks to the heaps of butter, sour cream and cream cheese folded in. As kids, my sister and I would race to peel our bags of potatoes, and then eagerly await the moment when we’d be called upon as taste testers to sample the result.

My mom grew up in the same idyllic small town in Ohio that I did, the rascally youngest of four living just down the street from her Czech immigrant grandparents. The culinary heritage passed down to me centered on hearty soups and lashings of gravy — any cousin that asked for just a light dousing on her turkey was lovingly teased as probably adopted.

While my mom has spent years trying to replicate her grandmother’s chicken paprikash, she told me recently that her Thanksgiving mashed potatoes originated from a Martha Stewart recipe. She has tweaked it over the years, adapting it for larger and larger holidays as our family expands, and given me the recipe — although her pink 4x6 index card contains only ingredients, no steps. Luckily, it’s a fairly simple process, and she’s only a call away. In the couple of times I’ve made these mashed potatoes, they’ve never quite had the same magic touch that only mothers know. Maybe in a few years I’ll have it down pat.

— Ariel Cheung

Thanksgiving mashed potatoes

Prep: 35 minutes

Bake: 20-30 minutes

Makes: 8-10 servings

1 head garlic

2 teaspoons olive oil

10 pounds Idaho or russet potatoes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

8 ounces cream cheese

8 ounces sour cream

2 to 2 1/4 u00bd teaspoons salt, to taste

2 teaspoons pepper

1. In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, boil 6 quarts water, or enough to cover potatoes.

2. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 375 degrees. Chop off the top 1/4 u00bd inch of a head of garlic before wrapping in aluminum foil. Drizzle the olive oil over the garlic cloves, close the bundle of foil, and roast in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until garlic is fragrant, golden and soft. Remove and let cool. Remove the cloves out of the skins by squeezing them through the cut ends with your fingers.

3. Peel potatoes and dice into 1/4 u00be- to 1-inch cubes. Add to boiling water, allowing the water to return to boiling before lowering to a simmer for about 15 minutes.

4. Once potatoes give easily when poked with a fork, drain in a colander. Let cool for 10 minutes, or until potatoes can be easily handled.

5. Using a potato ricer, shred diced potatoes for lightest, fluffiest results. If you don’t have a ricer, a pastry blender or fork can be used to mash them.

6. Using either the rinsed-out stock pot or Dutch oven, or a slow cooker for easy transport and serving, add butter (use the ricer again for easier blending), cream cheese, sour cream and garlic.

7. Add riced potatoes and mix, gently heating the combined mixture over the stovetop or in your slow cooker. Potatoes can stay in the slow cooker on low heat for several hours. Serve with gravy, an extra pat of butter and additional salt and pepper to taste.

Nutrition information per serving: 669 calories, 31 g fat, 19 g saturated fat, 87 mg cholesterol, 90 g carbohydrates, 5 g sugar, 10 g protein, 595 mg sodium, 8 g fiber

Bringing Italian flavor to the American table

Looking back, it seems surprising to me to have a baking dish full of cannelloni on the already overachieving Thanksgiving table. But mom was Italian, born and raised, so at some point in our childhood it joined the turkey, stuffing, creamed corn and other dishes. Maybe she wanted something from her own family memories on that Midwestern menu as we gathered with my dad’s parents in our small Ohio village.

Cannelloni are crepes (crespelle in Italian), filled, sauced and baked. Hers were stuffed with ricotta, and I loved them. But it’s been years since I have had them, and I had never made them. But this strange year, I keep thinking about them.

With Mom long gone, I turned to my brother, Paul, the only one among us four kids who had the recipe — typed up on an index card in mom’s clumsy hunt-and-peck style, and cryptic to the point of consternation. For the crespelle (which she titled “shells”), she typed: “Mix all ingredients, make a very thin pancake.” That’s it, the totality of her directions to mix AND cook them. Fortunately, Paul has worked on the recipe over time, refining the ingredient amounts and working out the how-tos — which he gladly shared with me. My crespelle-making lacks style and finesse, but the finished cannelloni? They remind me of Mom’s — and of the whole family.

— Joe Gray

Cannelloni

Prep: 35 minutes

Cook: 1 hour

Makes: 8 servings

Tomato sauce:

1 can (28 ounces) whole Italian plum tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Crespelle:

3 eggs

2 cups flour

1 cup water

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Filling:

1 pound ricotta, drained

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

5 ounces mozzarella, freshly grated, about 2 cups

1/4 u00bc cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1/4 u00bc cup finely chopped Italian parsley

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon butter

1. For the tomato sauce, remove the tomatoes from the can, leaving the juice behind, but reserving it. Chop the tomatoes on a board until fine, but still with texture. Or pulse in a food processor.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet; add the garlic. Cook until the garlic becomes aromatic, 1 minute. Pour in the chopped tomatoes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens a bit, 10 minutes. (Add some reserved juice if you like a looser sauce.) Season with salt. Reserve.

3. For the crespelle, whisk the eggs together lightly in a bowl. Whisk in the flour, water, salt and pepper to taste, taking care to break up any lumps.

4. For the filling, stir ricotta, eggs, mozzarella, 1/4 u00bc cup Parmigiano, parsley, salt and pepper to taste together in a bowl until well combined. Set aside.

5. Heat a small skillet over medium-high. Holding the butter with your fingers, run it over the bottom of the hot pan so that it melts and coats it with a thin film. Pour about 3 tablespoons batter into the skillet, immediately swirling the pan to spread the batter into a thin round, 6 to 7 inches wide. Cook until it sets, about 1 minute. Flip. Cook the other side just until firm, 1 minute or less. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining batter, coating skillet lightly with more butter as needed.

6. Heat oven to 350. To fill the crespelle, place one in front of you on a work surface. Spoon a generous amount of filling (about 3 tablespoons) onto one end. Roll the crespella around the filling, tucking the other end underneath the roll. Ladle about 1/4 u00bd cup tomato sauce into the bottom of a large baking dish. Put the filled crespella into the dish. Repeat with remaining crespelle and filling, tucking the rolls snugly together in a single later. Ladle the remaining sauce over the top evenly. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons Parmigiano.

7. Bake until hot and the sauce bubbles and cheese melts, 30 to 35 minutes.

Nutrition information per serving: 512 calories, 30 g fat, 15 g saturated fat, 290 mg cholesterol, 32 g carbohydrates, 3 g sugar, 28 g protein, 1,244 mg sodium, 3 g fiber

Finally grateful for grandma’s devotion

I’m pretty sure, before she died, my grandmother cut corners whenever she made Indian pudding for Thanksgiving. The recipe required standing at a stove for what seemed like six days. Actual baking time was a more reasonable 14 hours. At least I felt that was reasonable, and whenever her pudding appeared before it should have, if I suspected my grandmother was not pulling her weight, I complained. I was not thankful for the work and patience she devoted. (Truth is, the baking time for most contemporary Indian pudding recipes is closer to three hours.)

But then, the dish itself, a New England stalwart, always felt like a meal out of time. It’s made with molasses, served at a temperature best described as lava and that name, Indian pudding — it’s so 1645. If it tastes like warm nostalgia, that’s because Indian pudding was nostalgia. Colonists in New England, uptight and uncertain of the future, missed the hasty puddings of their English childhoods. But they lacked the flour. What they had was a cracked Rhode Island cornmeal harvested by the Narragansetts.

The colonists improvised a literal mash of cultures into a rich, wiggly, molten gruel. My family sometimes added ginger. A friend whose blood was pure Brahmin swore pumpkin and maple syrup were key. Either way, it’s dessert, best when topped by a single scoop of coffee ice cream. Try it. Do your best. But without my grandmother to stand at your stove all day, the results may be varied.

— Christopher Borrelli

Indian pudding

Prep: 15 minutes

Bake: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Make: 6 to 8 servings

From the new edition of “Joy of Cooking” (Scribner, $40). The dish often takes longer than the quoted time, so start it sooner than later. For the water bath, place a large baking pan on the oven shelf. Place the pudding in its baking dish into the pan. Pour hot water into the baking pan until it comes halfway up the side of the baking dish.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Generously butter a 1 1/4 u00bd- to 2-quart baking dish.

Measure into a large, heavy saucepan:

1/4 u2154 cup cornmeal

Stir in, very gradually at first to prevent lumps:

4 cups whole milk

Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in:

1/4 u2153 cup sugar

1/4 u00bc cup molasses

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 u00bd teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 u215b teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg

1/4 u215b teaspoon salt

Turn the pudding into the prepared dish. Bake in a water bath until the center looks firm, but still slightly quivery when the dish is shaken, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. A dark crust will form on top. Serve warm with:

Vanilla ice cream or cream

Nutrition information per serving (for 8 servings): 230 calories, 8 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 66 mg cholesterol, 32 g carbohydrates, 22 g sugar, 6 g protein, 112 mg sodium, 1 g fiber

The epitome of longing, no matter how small the slice

I am two things at my family’s Thanksgiving party — the designated baker and the designated dessert server, which means I’m responsible for making each piece of pie smaller and smaller so there’s enough to go around. And when it’s cheesecake I’m slicing, the crowd multiplies and I instantly start regretting not making two.

Whenever someone asks me for the recipe, I always preface it with “Oh, it’s my mom’s recipe,” before texting it over or clumsily listing off ingredients. I made one tweak, however, by adding a few tablespoons of sour cream and a tiny scoop of flour. The flour makes it firmer, but it’s still light, silky, fluffy and creamy in the way only a perfect cheesecake can be.

If I’m being honest, it’s the one dessert I know I’ll never mess up, which is why it was also the first dessert I made for my in-laws after moving to Massachusetts. It was such a success that I naturally started showing off and made cheesecake for every potluck and dinner party — Thanksgiving included — my mother-in-law hosted.

Over the years, my mom’s little recipe has garnered much deserved fame. But now that I’ve moved back home to Illinois, the list of people who’ll miss those thin slices of cheesecake only gets longer. It’s such a small thing, yet moments like that really emphasize the notion that it’s not how much of something but rather who you’re sharing it with. And surely that applies to more than just pie.

This year, I’m making cheesecake for just my immediate crew (including a 2-year-old nephew with a major sweet tooth) and I hope you’ll make it for yours.

— Zareen Syed

The only cheesecake recipe you’ll ever need

Prep: 20-25 minutes

Bake: 50 minutes

Chill: 5 hours to overnight

You can pair this cheesecake with any topping you like — melted chocolate, blueberry compote, stewed apples — or a mixed berry swirl that’s just as satisfying to create as it is to look at.

15 graham cracker sheets

2 tablespoons sugar

1 stick butter, melted

3 blocks (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened at room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 tablespoons sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon flour

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Using a food processor, pulse graham crackers and 2 tablespoons sugar into fine crumbs. Pour into a bowl and mix in the melted butter.

2. Use the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan to trace a circle on a piece of parchment paper. Cut out the circle; use it to line the inside bottom of the pan. Grease the inner sides of the pan with butter. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake, 10 minutes. Set aside to cool while you make the filling.

3. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a handheld electric mixer), beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add sugar; beat until it’s nice and creamy. Stop the mixer; scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl using a rubber spatula. Continue mixing, 1 to 2 more minutes. Scraping and mixing ensures a really smooth filling.

4. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating to incorporate into the mixture; scrape down the sides of the bowl in between each one.

5. Add sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Add flour; mix until flour dissolves and filling is silky and free of lumps.

6. Pour into cooled graham cracker crust.

Berry swirl:

1/4 u00bd cup frozen mixed berries, thawed

1 tablespoon raspberry or any mixed berry jam

1/4 u00bd teaspoon sugar, or to taste

1 tablespoon water

1. Place berries, jam, sugar and water in a blender and puree. Strain into a bowl, discarding the seeds. Carefully spoon berry sauce in small drops onto cheesecake. Using a wooden skewer or toothpick, drag the sauce drops around in circles to create a swirl effect. You’ll have plenty of sauce left over to serve on the side.

2. Bake cheesecake in a warm water bath to prevent any cracks and for even baking. Boil water in a kettle or pot. Place the cheesecake pan in the center of a double layer of foil. Lift edges of foil up and press tightly around the sides of the pan. (This is so moisture doesn’t leak inside.) Place the whole thing inside a much larger roasting pan and transfer to the center rack of oven. Carefully pour hot water into the roasting pan until it’s halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan. Bake, 50 minutes.

3. The cheesecake will be slightly jiggly in the center when you take it out. Cool completely, and chill in the fridge for at least 5 hours or overnight.

Nutrition information per serving: 476 calories, 35 g fat, 21 g saturated fat, 152 mg cholesterol, 34 g carbohydrates, 29 g sugar, 7 g protein, 270 mg sodium, 0 g fiber

———

©2020 the Chicago Tribune

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.