NO TURKEY!? THIS IS OUR FIRST ITALIAN THANKSGIVING

Our first Thanksgiving in Italy—and for Elena, it’s her very first one ever!
For Fillip, it’s hard being away from home this time of year, so we decided we absolutely had to keep the tradition alive, even if it meant making… some sacrifices!
Finding a whole turkey in Italy proved to be difficult. We decided not to stress about it and adapted to local realities by replacing the main star of the table with a whole roasted chicken. But all day long we kept calling it a turkey. XD

Our festive table is a real culinary bridge between three cultures:
U.S Roasted chicken, corn bread “muffins”, traditional broccoli salad, and, of course, pumpkin pie (made with local pumpkin!).
Russian: An Olivier salad and Russian tortillas with minced meat filling «blinchiki».
Italian: Gnocchi in a Gorgonzola with bacon.

In this video, you will see: Our trip to the local Italian grocery store for ingredients. The entire process of preparing the festive table.

When familiar ingredients are unavailable, you have to find local substitutes and modify recipes.
If you are interested in any specific recipe from our holiday menu (whether it’s our version of Olivier salad, the broccoli salad, or how we prepared the chicken, let us know in the comments! We’ll be happy to share our discoveries and hacks for ingredient substitutions.
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