This marinated spicy salad is rather like the traditional Mexican Christmas Eve Salad and takes advantage of fall vegetables. Substitute celery for the jicama, add oranges or apples, and you have a lower-fat take on a Waldorf salad.
Curry-Pumpkin Bisque
I don’t always serve pumpkin pie for desert at Thanksgiving. Sometimes I make a pumpkin cheese cake, muffins, or this spicy soup with an island taste. If you don’t want to use pumpkin, any winter squash will do. Use butternut, acorn, or Hubbard, or for preparation ease, use canned pumpkin puree.
Posole (Pork and Posole Corn)
This dish is traditionally served during the Christmas season in New Mexico, when a pot simmering at the back of the stove provides a welcoming fare for holiday well-wishers. I can’t remember any holiday party or dinner that I’ve attended that this stew hasn’t been served. At my house this is a staple on Christmas Eve. I always have a pot ready to warm my husband and I up after strolling Old Town and enjoying the luminarias. Similar to, yet different from the “pozole” served in Mexico, this popular dish is served as a soup, a main course, or a vegetable side dish. Posole, the processed corn, is the main ingredient of this dish of the same name. If posole corn is not available, you may substitute hominy–the taste won’t be the same, but it will still be good.
Chile and Dried Cherry Chocolate Dessert
Since preparing a Thanksgiving feast on a barbecue isn’t traditional, why finish it up with the usual pumpkin pie? This layered dessert from Nancy Gerlach is unique in that it can be cooked on the grill like the rest of the meal. The finished dessert has a cake-like topping and a chocolate syrup which can be served with whip cream on top. Place it on the grill while you are indulging with your turkey, and it will be ready to serve at the end of the meal.
Mike’s Zucchini-Stuffed Roasted Tomatoes
Grilling zucchini brings out the natural sugars in the vegetable adding a nice flavor to the roasted tomatoes. Marinating the zucchini and Portobello mushroom before grilling adds another layer of flavor for this holiday side dish. This recipe, which is easily doubled, requires advance preparation. If necessary, Parmesan or Asiago cheese could be substituted for the Pecorino-Romano.