Here's the deal about Thanksgiving dinner at our house: it's the same every year, except for one thing.   Every year one thing changes.  

Sometimes we try something new and it stays forever, like the apricot jello mold that's been a guilty pleasure of our Thanksgiving dinner for at least fourteen years.  

Sometimes it's something that makes the cut for several years - like sweet potatoes with pecan praline - and then, for no real reason, falls off the menu never to be spoken of again.

And sometimes it's a mistake, like the pearl onions in balsamic vinegar, which turned out to be a dish that was far too full of itself.

The reason I change something every year, I realize, is that it makes me seem as if I'm up for change, that I'm not my mother, that I'm open to new ideas, that I'm flexible and full of surprises and with-it food-wise, even though the truth about Thanksgiving is the exact opposite - it's about ritual and tradition and the same-old same-old.   

This year, in our house, we're cooking our version of Suzanne Goin's succotash.    Of course Suzanne Goin doesn't call it succotash; in her book Sunday Suppers at Luques, she calls it sweet corn, green cabbage and bacon.   We call it succotash because we throw in some lima beans and way more butter:

Cut 6 thick slices of bacon into small pieces and cook in a casserole until crispy.   Remove and drain.   Melt 1 stick of butter in the remaining bacon grease and add 1 sliced onion and some salt and pepper.   Saute for a few minutes, then add half a small green cabbage, sliced, and cook until wilted.   Add 2 packages of cooked frozen lima beans and 2 packages of frozen corn.   Cook about 5 minutes, stirring, till the corn is done.   You can do this in advance.   Reheat gently and add the bacon bits.   (Of course you might be able to get fresh corn, in which case feel free to overreach.) 

(also published on the Huffington Post)

Apricot Jello Mold

The queen of all jello molds, almost good enough to serve to strangers.

4 small apricot jello
3 12-ounce cans apricot nectar
½ pint sour crean
l large can halved apricots
8-, 9- or 10-cup mold

Directions:

To 1 package of jello add 1½ cups boiling water and juice from one can of apricots. Pour half the mixture into mold. Lay drained apricots top side down into mold. Put into refrigerator.

Put aside the other half of the jello mixture for possible use at the end if there's room in the mold.

Heat l can nectar to boiling and add one package of jello. Mix well. Cool slightly and when mold in refrigerator is set, add this next layer. Again refrigerate.

Heat next can of nectar to boiling and add another package of jello. Then add in sour cream gently to avoid air bubbles. Add this layer again when other layers are gelled.

Again heat nectar and add jello. This is your last layer. Add and put back into refrigerator.

Now if you still have room in mold and the first layer hasn't all by itself become totally jellied but is still liquid, you can add this clear layer to the top of the mold and refrigerate.

Nora Ephron is a writer and director who lives in New York City with her husband, writer Nicholas Pileggi.  She is an excellent cook. 

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