Together time: Thanksgiving family recipes from Florida’s Four Seasons Palm Beach & Miami

Thanksgiving meals are all about families cooking together and sharing their favorite dishes to create one extra-special feast with lots of variety. This Thanksgiving, we (that’s Jose Gamez, executive sous chef at Florida’s Four Seasons Hotel Miami, and me, executive chef at Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, put our heads together to create these kid-friendly—but still pretty sophisticated!—classic Thanksgiving-with-a-twist family menu ideas.

The line-up includes soup, salad, a stuffed turkey and a side dish of squash to satisfy everyone at your table. Get your camera out, too. Chef Jose says, “We make sure to snap pictures of my son helping prepare the food so we can share the experience with loved ones.”

(If you want to show off your junior chef working on these recipes, tweet your photo with the tag #FSFamily or post on our Facebook page.)

Slow-Roasted Stuffed Turkey, Four Seasons Hotel Miami, Executive Sous Chef Jose Gamez

I love getting this dish ready with my eight-year-old son, Leonardo. It’s become a tradition at our house. We warm up apple cider and it gets everyone excited and in the holiday spirit.

1½ TB butter
1 cup white onions, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
1 TB fresh thyme, chopped
1 TB fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 TB fresh sage, chopped
2 cups ground chestnuts (see directions below)
2 TB chopped garlic
1½ lbs butter
1 lb croutons
Salt and pepper, to taste
One 15 to 20 lb whole turkey; thawed (if frozen), rinsed and patted dry

1. Look for a bag of peeled, frozen chestnuts, available in the frozen food section of some grocery stores or from online vendors. Thaw, then toast the nuts for five minutes in a 350 degree F oven. Allow to them cool, then chop in a food processor until they are finely ground.

2. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Cook the onions and garlic over very low heat until they are very tender, but not browned, about 10 minutes.

3. Add the herbs and chestnuts to the pan.

4. Season with salt and pepper, and fold in the croutons.

5. Stir in the chicken stock and make sure all the ingredients are well mixed.

6. Place the stuffing into the turkey cavities and secure with oven-compatible ties or pins. Roast the turkey at 325 degrees F for two-and-a-half hours, then turn the turkey and continue cooking, reducing the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. Cook for approximately two-and-a-half hours more. The turkey is fully cooked when the internal temperature is 160 degrees F. Serves four to six.

Maple Roasted Butternut Squash ‘Moons,’ Four Seasons Hotel Miami, Executive Sous Chef Jose Gamez

Fresh orange juice, brown sugar and maple syrup make this a treat for kids—plus, roasting brings out the natural sweetness of the squash. What a way to enjoy fresh produce!

2 butternut squash
¼ lb unsalted butter
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup orange juice
Salt, to taste
Non-stick cooking spray

1. Peel the butternut squash. Then cut the squash in half vertically. Scoop out and discard the seeds, and slice the squash into ½-inch thick “moons.”

2. Place the cut squash on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Drizzle the squash with the syrup, olive oil and orange juice.

3. Put a dollop of butter on each of the squash pieces and then sprinkle with brown sugar and salt.

4. Bake at 325 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes or until the squash feels fork tender. Serves four to six.

Garden Granola Arugula Salad with Toasted Coriander Dressing, Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, Executive Chef Darryl Moiles

This is not your every-day salad: it has unique ingredients and complex flavors, but is also simple and well-balanced. And it’s one that my kids, Braden, 10, and Andrew, 17, love to eat—they inspired me to add the grapes. When you’re working with kids, consider putting the ingredients mise en place (everything ready in its own individual dish) so the kids can just dump them in as needed. This dish travels well for a potluck Thanksgiving meal, too; pack the dressing, granola and produce separately, and toss it together just before serving.

1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tsp coriander seeds, toasted, ground
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 TB sugar
3 TB slivered almonds
3 TB pine nuts
3 TB instant oats
5 cups arugula, stems removed
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and sliced very thin
2 cups roasted cauliflower florets
1 TB extra-virgin olive oil (first amount)
1 lb large red grapes, halved; seeded, if needed
1 cup baby basil
3 tsp aged Balsamic vinegar
3 tsp extra-virgin olive oil (second amount)
Optional garnish: edible flowers

1. Whisk the yogurt and ground coriander in a small bowl to form a thick dressing; season with salt and pepper. Set aside in the fridge.

2. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

3. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the almonds, pine nuts and oats. Let stand for five minutes. Spread out the mixture on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake the mixture until golden brown and crunchy, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. When cool, break the granola into clusters.

4. Remove the cauliflower stems and discard. Cut the cauliflower into florets (quarter-inch pieces). Toss lightly with one tablespoon of olive oil and salt, and roast on a sheet pan for five minutes.

5. Spread a spoonful of dressing in the center of each plate. Scatter the arugula, apple slices, cauliflower florets, baby basil and grapes around the dressing. Drizzle the salad with aged Balsamic and olive oil; season with sea salt and pepper. Top with the toasted nuts and oats mixture. Serves four to six. Optional: garnish with edible flowers to add color and make the dish look even more special.

Tuscan-inspired Florida Seafood Soup, Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, Executive Chef Darryl Moiles

This is a warm, simple way to start off your Thanksgiving meal, or it’s also an easy and hearty dish to have while you’re in front of the TV, cheering on your football team. Head to your favorite fish market to select your seafood with the kids. Or if you’re fortunate enough to live by the ocean, take your family fishing so they can catch their dinner.

2 cups fregula (a form of pasta that resembles coarse couscous) or large couscous
4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 TB extra-virgin olive oil
5 8-oz pieces of Florida snapper, cut in half (or local snapper available in your area)
2 cups white wine
4 cups tomato sauce (homemade or store-bought—Classico’s Tomato and Basil is good)
2 dozen Florida Sunray Venus clams (or local clams available in your area)
1 cup fresh Florida rock shrimp (or local shrimp available in your area)
4 TB chopped tomato
3 tsp pine nuts
4 tsp currants
15 caper berries, sliced thin
25 green olives, sliced thin
1 TB chili flakes
¼ cup scallions, sliced on an angle
Optional garnish: lobster stock and fresh lobster pieces, plus crispy fried onions

1. Cook the fregula or couscous according to the package directions and set aside.

2. In a large frying pan, sauté the garlic in the extra-virgin olive oil until it is light brown.

3. Add the snapper, skin side down, and pan-sear for approximately two minutes. Flip and cook until done, approximately two more minutes. Make sure to not burn the garlic. Remove the snapper from the pan and place in serving bowls.

4. Deglaze the pan with the white wine (i.e., add wine to the hot pan and gently scrape up the garlic pieces). Cook for about one minute; this cooks out the alcohol.

5. Add the tomato sauce, clams, shrimp, chopped tomato, pine nuts, currants, caper berries, green olives, chili flakes and cooked fregula. Cook over low heat, covered, until the clams open, about three minutes. Don’t let the mixture boil.

6. Ladle the soup over the snapper into the bowl and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and scallions. If you want to take it up a notch, garnish with a little lobster stock and fresh lobster pieces along with crispy fried onions. Serves four to six.

Read more on Palm Beach in Four Seasons Magazine.

Read our Concierge Recommendations for Palm Beach in Four Seasons Magazine.

Read more on Miami in Four Seasons Magazine.

Read our Concierge Recommendations for Miami in Four Seasons Magazine.