Somewhere back along, I picked up the incidental intelligence that the Native Americans of greater Plymouth, Massachusetts, introduced their Pilgrim friends to the three major crops of the New World – squash, beans, and corn. Of course, the world in which they encountered each other was not new to the Native Americans. But to the Pilgrims, everything was new, including the wild, barren land they would need to tame and till, in order to build houses and plant vegetables.

So the aboriginal people and the newcomers got together, the former teaching the latter the way to plant these three strange, new crops and reap their fruits. Cooking lessons must have been part of the program, how to dry corn and grind it into meal, how to deal with a pumpkin, what to do with beans.

This trio of Old World vegetables has inspired the veggie component of many a Thanksgiving menu of mine over the years, with all three specimens coexisting in harmony with each other on the table.

Cornbread stuffing, green beans and walnuts, the almost indispensable pumpkin pie.  Spoonbread, peanut soup, roasted butternut squash. Succotash, spicy pinto beans from the southwest and Central America, squash revved up with chipotle pepper. The possibilities are almost endless.

A dish that everybody loves is one my daughter swiped from me and brought to many a group Thanksgiving dinner with friends. When the crowd was organizing and assignments were being handed out, somebody would always say, “Amie, bring The Pea Dish!”

The Pea Dish  (They qualify. They’re legumes.)
½ pound bacon, diced
3 Tablespoons butter
12 small white (pearl) onions, peeled (Amie uses the frozen ones. Way easier.)
2 Tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken stock
One 16-ounce bag frozen peas
Salt and pepper (no need to defrost)

Pour boiling water over the bacon and let it soak for 5 minutes. Melt the butter in a large skillet, drain the bacon, discard the water, and sauté the bacon in the butter until the bacon is light brown, but not crisp. Add the onions and brown them slowly on all sides over lowered heat till tender, about 15 minutes. Remove the onions and bacon and set them aside, leaving the butter in the pan. Whisk in the flour. Slowly add the chicken stock, stirring constantly. Add the peas. Simmer covered for 5 minutes. Return the bacon and onions to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and heat through.

Karyl Bannister writes and illustrates the newsletter Cook & Tell, published ten times a year.