Eating Tex Mex for Thanksgiving

Sure, Thanksgiving traditionally is a time of turkey, breaded stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, string beans, and pumpkin pie for dessert.

But traditions sometimes should be broken, if only to enliven one’s days a bit.

So why not skip the bird this year and give thanks for all that you have by serving your family and Thanksgiving Day guests with a Tex Mex meal?

In fact, you needn’t give up the turkey at all. To transform a traditional Thanksgiving meal into one with a Tex Mex ‘tude, all you need to do is substitute Tex Mex dishes for your traditional sides.

If you want to try a Tex Mex Thanksgiving meal, you can still enjoy turkey as your main course; just add some Tex Mex side dishes to liven the menu up a bit?

For example, why not try these ideas for your Thanksgiving Day menu:

• Stuff your bird with chorizo apple stuffing
• Serve your guests grilled rosemary sweet potatoes
• A delicious side dish is roasted chili-lime broccolini
• Try roasted chili cornbread
• Provide guests with cranberry, apple and orange relish to spread on their turkey slices

To make the grilled rosemary sweet potatoes, you’ll need seven large sweet potatoes (about 6.5 pounds total; they should be scrubbed. You’ll also need about a half cup of extra-virgin olive oil, ¼ cup of rosemary leaves (fresh and finely chopped), one tablespoon of salt (kosher, and one tablespoon of pepper.

Heat your grill to 325 degrees. After cutting the potatoes in half lengthwise, cut each of those halves into three long wedges and then put the wedges onto two rimmed baking sheets. Drizzle them with 1/3 cup of the oil. Turn them to coat. Then sprinkle with the salt, pepper and rosemary.

Grill the potatoes covered (you can grill them in batches, if necessary), turning them every 10 minutes until they are brown and tender, for a total of 15 to 20 minutes. Move them to a serving platter and drizzle them with a bit more oil just before serving.

All Mattito’s locations will be closed Thanksgiving Day, but we will be open the day before and after. Come on the day before (and after you’ve been prepping for the big day) to relax with some delicious Tex Mex food.

Visit a Mattito’s location near you. Contact us today for more information.

Image courtesy of Tom Curtis/FreeDigitalPhotos.net