TODAY invited viewers to submit their best recipes for Thanksgiving side dishes and desserts. The three winners flew to New York City to demonstrate their recipes live on the show. Here are the recipes.
Recipe: Savory bread pudding (on this page) Recipe: Sticky and sweet potatoes (on this page) Recipe: Spaghetti squash and caramel pie (on this page)Anita Bandy is a foodie, mom and attorney who loves to cook. Here's her savory bread pudding recipe that she said took her two years to perfect. It started off with just caramelized onions, then she added fennel and sun dried tomatoes. She said it gets better every time she makes it, calling it "a simple stuffing made gourmet."
Recipe directions:
Sauté onions, garlic, two to three sprigs of thyme, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper in half of a stick butter and one tablespoon olive oil until onions are caramelized, or a golden-brown color. Set aside
Sauté fennel and one teaspoon salt in remaining half stick of butter until golden brown and caramelized. Set aside.
For the custard, mix eggs, cream, milk, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper and the remaining sprigs of thyme.
Pour the custard over the chopped bread. Add sautéed onions, sautéed fennel, the sundried tomato and half of the Gruyere cheese. Mix these items together and let sit for 30 minutes so that the custard can absorb into the bread.
Pour the bread pudding mixture into the ramekin and cover the top with the remaining Gruyere cheese.
Place the ramekin into a water bath, a larger tray with about two inches water in it, and cover the top with foil that has been punctured several times. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit in the oven for 45 minutes. At this stage, uncover the ramekin and bake an additional 30 minutes. The bread pudding should puff up and be golden brown at the top when ready to take out of the oven. Add any remaining sprigs of thyme for garnish.
Makes 1 ramekin
April is a newlywed who loves to cook. She has a blog called CookinUpDreams.com and was also a finalist in a Paula Deen cooking contest this summer. April loves sweet potatoes and was playing around with recipes when she came up with this.
Recipe directions:
Peel and cube sweet potatoes, place in a large saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil for between 15 and 18 minutes, until tender.
Preheat oven to oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Then place the coconut in a single layer on a baking sheet and stir halfway through toasting.
Drain the potatoes and place them back in the saucepan. Begin mashing in lime juice and zest, avocados and milk. Then mix in the honey, brown sugar, curry, salt, pepper and half of the coconut.
Place in serving dish and top liberally with the rest of the coconut, pistachios. Drizzle the finished dish with honey to top it off.
Michael Cohen is a composer from Los Angeles, Calif. Michael was playing a home version of the Food Network show "Chopped" with his friends and this is the recipe he came up with.
Recipe directions:
Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place the spaghetti squash halves face down on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, which is sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour or until squash is tender. Set aside to cool.
When cool, transfer flesh to a bowl and discard skin (can be done ahead of time).
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine graham cracker crumbs, six tablespoons butter, 1/4 cup granulated sugar and a pinch of salt. Press into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate, trying to make the thickness as even as possible. Bake for nine minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk in 4 tablespoons butter. Then whisk in heavy cream, vinegar and vanilla. Stir in the egg yolks. Stir in 1.25 cups of spaghetti squash flesh, tightly packed. You will have leftover spaghetti squash so turn it into a side dish for dinner!
Pour mixture into graham cracker crust. The mixture will be very liquid-y.
Bake the pie for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Continue baking for another 15 minutes.
Remove the pie from the oven and decorate with caramels (cut-side down); place two caramel halves on each of the eight "pieces" of pie plus one in the center of the pie. Return pie to oven and bake until the filling is slightly jiggly and lightly golden brown, which takes about 10 to 20 minutes. Remove pie from oven and cool on a rack.
Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled. Pie can be made a few days ahead of time and stored, covered in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator.
Makes eight servings
© 2013 NBCNews
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