2004-03-14 - 4:40 a.m.

Listen, it's not too late to have a traditional french-canadian Thanksgiving. All you need to do is get a big ol' turnip and some carrots and you can make Navot. Navot means "turnip" in Acadian french (it's spelled "navet" in Parisian), and I don't know why it refers to a dish made from a turnip and other non-turnip ingredients. A lot of things about Québec confuse me. Like Poutine.

Peel the carrots and the turnip (or just slice off the waxy skin with a big ol' knife) and slice them up into little pieces. Then boil these pieces until they're soft and smash them together with salt and pepper. You don't want to use too many carrots, 'cause you want the bitter turnip taste to come through. Some people say you can use frozen turnip, but you really can't. The frozen stuff is chewy and won't mash together properly, and your navot will taste awful.

The best thing to do with navot is to put it in a bowl with a bunch of leftover potatoes and turkey and green beans and stuffing and pour gravy over the whole thing and have that for lunch the day after Thanksgiving. But it's a fine savory dish on its own.