Recipe: Caitlin Peabody’s Thanksgiving Favorite
For Corps de Ballet dancer Caitlin Peabody, the perfect Thanksgiving blurs the line between holidays. “The parade is on from start to finish,” she said, adding that she’ll accompany it with coffee and maybe even a mimosa in the morning. The traditional day also includes an obligatory viewing of The Miracle on 31st Street. “I always have to watch that too at some point…By the end of the night only Christmas music is playing back home.” This year, Caitlin will be spending Thanksgiving with her boyfriend’s family in Greensburg and, to keep the taste of home, she’ll be bringing her mom’s (Mama Peabs) Creamed Onions recipe – “A must for me every year, no matter where I’ll be.”
Creamed Onions
-1 frozen bag pearl onions or 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. larger boiler onions (which are the better choice)
-1 Tbsp butter
-1 Tbsp flour
-1/4 tsp. salt
-1/8 tsp pepper
-1 cup milk
*if making a larger portion, or if you prefer a greater sauce to onion ratio, make it 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup flour
1. For boiler onions, blanch onions for about 1 minute. Skins will remove easily after this.
2. Boil onions until soft, drain. Set aside.
3. In a skillet, melt butter. Whisk in flour, avoiding clumps from forming. Add salt and pepper.
4. Slowly whisk in 1 cup milk, adding gradually. Cook continue whisking until a thick sauce forms.
5. Mix in onions.
“I’m usually a cook who doesn’t measure. But for my mom’s creamed onions I measure everything perfectly. They have to be just like growing up!”
Top: Caitlin with her parents in Pittsburgh.
Above: Caitlin with friends Aimee DiAndrea and Sam Townsend, her best friend since third grade.