Chef Judy Joo's favorite Thanksgiving recipes
Though she lives in London, chef Judy Joo normally travels to Los Angeles for a big Thanksgiving celebration at her sister’s house. As many as 50 people fly in from around the world for a multicultural feast featuring traditional American foods, Korean recipes, Korean American favorites, and even a few Japanese dishes.
The turkey comes with a side of kimchi, a platter of sushi, sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows, and Ritz cracker-topped creamed corn casserole. “It is a gastronomical delight,” says Joo. Then she laughs, “or disaster, depending on how you look at it.”
Thanksgiving is Joo’s favorite holiday, “Mainly because I love to eat,” she says. This year, staying put in London’s lockdown with only her boyfriend, Joo plans to make her holiday meal for two just as special – and she shares tips and tricks to make sure that everyone else can do the same.
Video Transcript
JUDY JOO: Hi, I'm Judy Joo, and I'm counting down to Thanksgiving. And I'm going to show you my favorite tips and tricks to make the perfect Thanksgiving dinner.
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I'm going to show you three easy recipes that all are just jazzed up a little bit-- mashed potatoes with cheese, macaroni and cheese with kimchi, and a twist on a classic apple pie. Now, one of my favorite recipes is mashed potatoes. These potatoes have been boiled. I've drained them.
And I've got a potato ricer. This is a tool that I really suggest investing because it really makes a difference. This is a good workout. Oh!
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But you want to keep the potatoes warm after you make them because otherwise they have a tendency to get really gluey. So just keep them in a warm place covered with some plastic wrap. That is a gorgeous mashed potato. Enjoy.
So the macaroni and cheese is a classic mac and cheese, but I'm going to make it with a real béchamel sauce and also a bunch of different cheeses. And I like that nutty flavor, so I'm just using a really fine flour here. Just going to dry toast it.
I'm going to add a whole whopping mix of cheeses. I've got blue cheese in here. I've got cheddar cheese. And I kind of cleaned out my entire cheese drawer.
If you want to make this ahead of time, some great time-saving tips are you can make your macaroni and boil that and just keep it in the fridge. Now, the ingredient of the day, the special ingredient, is chopped kimchi.
Now, that's going to go in. That's going to add some really great tang. Cheese and kimchi goes so well together. And that is kimchi mac and cheese. Excellent. Kimchi mac and cheese for your Thanksgiving table.
That's going to start out with a mix of apples. I've got some Pink Ladies and Granny Smith here. But you want a mix of sweet and sour.
I'm going to use a food processor to make our crust. You want to make sure that all of your fats are cold-- butter, very, very, very, cold. I have some ice-cold water. I'm going to put a little bit in now. And also a little bit of cheddar cheese. And then we're going to process this.
So that's my dough, and I'm going to chill it. And I'm just going to put my other sheet on top now. And now I've got just egg wash here. Just going to brush the top with just an egg white.
Then on top, I've got demerara sugar, and sprinkle that. And then I'm going to just cut an X in the top as a vent. So after about 25 minutes, this is our deep dish apple pie with a cheddar cheese crust. That looks absolutely amazing. I'm so excited to eat this big scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I hope you have a fantastic dinner with your friends and family. And good luck and happy cooking.
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