Carla Hall Recommends This Dish If You Don't Want A Whole Turkey On Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner traditionally brings American families together for a big feast. Now that vaccines are available to protect people against COVID-19 — something we didn't have this time last year — it's easier to make this happen safely, and that's something we can all be thankful for. But travel and large gatherings aren't safe for everyone quite yet. And let's be real: No matter what the year, or the status of any global pandemic, some people's idea of traditional Thanksgiving dinner involves just the immediate family or a small group of friends. Sometimes, a whole turkey isn't practical or is simply too much food for the occasion.

It's easy this time of year to find advice on how to prepare the traditional turkey with all the trimmings. For example, Food Network touts the "world's simplest Thanksgiving turkey" on its website. But what about those people who want the Thanksgiving experience without the full bird? "The Drew Barrymore Show" enlisted chef Carla Hall for some advice on this (via YouTube).

Carla Hall is a "Top Chef" alum, a longtime host of "The Chew," and the author of cookbooks including "Cooking with Love: Comfort Food That Hugs You" (via Food Network). If you want to bring the comfort and the love to your Thanksgiving meal with something less than a whole turkey, then Hall has a good suggestion. Her recommendation on "The Drew Barrymore Show" was to make a turkey breast roulade (via YouTube). It's a boneless, skinless turkey breast, flattened and then rolled up, with stuffing inside. Hall didn't go into any detail with her roulade recipe, but Barrymore mentioned she has a Thanksgiving roulade in her brand-new cookbook, "Rebel Homemaker," which she wrote with PIlar Valdes.

You can also find a Thanksgiving-worthy roulade recipe at Fine Cooking, made with pecan and cranberry stuffing. What's nice about roulade is it comes out juicy and makes a great visual impression with its spiral-shaped stuffing rolled inside. Fine Cooking also highlights another way Carla Hall likes to do Thanksgiving: Separate the turkey parts and pan sear each one before roasting.