Ok, brace for a sink full of dirty dishes. We have all sorts of quick-ish meals in the archives, but this one will take you an hour to assemble. But here is the thing, if you go into it with Christmas tunes playing and perhaps children redistributing ornaments on the tree for the eleventh time and the hope that this dish will warm tummies at the dinner table? It’s worth the project. I sectioned out the instructions so you can prep in pieces if necessary.

I’ll argue that you just leave it vegetarian. It is warm and smooth and silky as written. If you feel your people will just insist on meat, I would brown some fresh Italian sausage, crumble it well, and sprinkle it in with the greens layer. About 3 standard sausage should give you enough without completely weighing it down.

This dressing recipe from NYC restaurant Via Carota is very well liked, but I feel like with such a creamy main, the dressing should be slightly more acidic. Reflected below.