Thanksgiving dining…without the fuss

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I’ve always maintained that the Thanksgiving meals I’ve been most thankful for over the years are the ones I didn’t have to make myself. A variety of local restaurants — we’ll have a listing of possibilities tomorrow — will be open on Thursday, November 26.

But there are people who prefer to celebrate the holiday at their own dining table, even if they don’t actually prepare the traditional meal themselves.

Here are a few suggestions for meals that can be ordered in advance and picked up for Thanksgiving. Or, in the case of this Friday’s Thanksgiving Market at BadSeed, locally grown or locally raised produce, meats and cheeses that can be used to create a special holiday meal.

Cosentino’s Brookside Market (14 West 62nd Street, 816-523-3700) is offering a choice of five different dinners, each feeding between eight and 10 guests and including three side dishes, rolls and a dessert (choices include pumpkin pie, apple pie, peach pie, sweet potato pie, original cheesecake, deluxe cheesecake, berry medley pie, pumpkin mousse).

Meal choices include traditional roast turkey ($130); spiral-cut glazed ham ($118); herb-crusted leg of lamb ($145); chardonnay-poached salmon ($170); and roasted beef tenderloin ($200).

Reservations for the meal must be made by Saturday, November 21.

The French Market (6947 Tomahawk, Prairie Village, 913-362-0803), owned by Cafe Provence owner Patrick Quillec and his family, is offering a brined and roasted free-range, hormone-free, antibiotic-free Amish turkey breast, precarved into platter-ready slices, assembled in a roasting pan, and bathed in house-made turkey jus. A dinner for two (including side dishes ranging from sweet potatoes with candied pecans to cranberry-orange compote) is priced at $39. Larger portions, priced accordingly, are also available. 

Dessert selections include a Financier cupcake with pumpkin pie frosting ($3.50 each); a 9-inch pecan tart ($22); a 9-inch pumpkin tart ($22); a 9-inch pear-almond tart ($24); individual chocolate tarts ($4.50 each). 

Reservations must be made by Tuesday, November 24.

The three Whole Foods Markets in the Kansas City metro offer a variety of Thanksgiving turkeys, side dishes and desserts — ranging from uncooked organic turkeys to kosher turkeys to a preroasted turkey dinner for four (with sides for $89.99), as well as a vegetarian option — that can be ordered, no later than 48 hours prior to Thanksgiving Day by going online to one of the store’s interactive websites.

This Friday, November 20, husband-and-wife local farmers Brooke Salvaggio and Dan Heryer of Urbavore Farm are hosting their fifth Thanksgiving Market at their BadSeed Market (1909 McGee in the Crossroads, 913-522-3458) from 4 to 9 p.m.

Salvaggio tells The Pitch that she and Heryer have been clearing the crops at their 13-acre Raytown-based farm for the winter, and the holiday market will be rich in freshly harvested organic heirloom root vegetables and fresh eggs as well as meats from Parker Farms, Skyview Creamery’s cow’s and goat’s milk cheese, Green Dirt Farm’s sheep’s milk cheese, Chestnut Charlie’s organic chestnuts, Wakarusa Valley Farm’s gourmet mushrooms and Yum Tum’s herbal-infused jams and jellies.