Published Friday, November 13, 2020

Even many of us won’t be joining the family for the holidays due to the pandemic which has solidly entered its eighth month, and everyone everywhere must face the fact that this holiday season is going to be completely different, we are two weeks away from celebrating Thanksgiving.

However, many of us have children at home or living with our partner or roommates. No matter who you live with, let's make an effort to raise our spirits and celebrate one of the most important days of the year for expats. The time comes to give thanks for the good and also, give thanks for the lessons learned this year.

So yes! Thanksgiving mode is on to cook easy, fast and budget-friendly recipes.

Last week we made those delicious meatballs. By the way, many have asked me where to buy turkey meat. You can get it at Pricesmart, their Butterball ground meat turkey 500-gram package costs less than $10.

Today I invite you to take a twist on the traditional Thanksgiving whole turkey and cook finger-licking turkey legs.

I recommend this recipe for people with cholesterol predicaments. The recommendation also includes people a little bit overweight since turkey is white meat without much fat.

Let's go to the kitchen!



The ingredients you’ll need for 4 people are:

• 4 small or medium-sized turkey drumsticks.

• 2 green apples.

• 2 chopped large white onions.

• 125 milliliters (half a glass) of white wine.

• 2 sweet plantains (platano maduro).

• 8 dried large plums (seedless).

• Vegetable or sunflower oil.

• 1 teaspoon salt.

• 1 teaspoon pepper.

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

• 1 branch of parsley.

A tip. You can replace the turkey drumsticks for breast or thick slices. At Pricesmart you can get the whole 8 kg Butterball turkey for $35, the Butterball brand of 1.3 kg package breast for $13, and the Smithfield brand 1 kg thick-sliced turkey $10.

Another tip. If you prefer to use ground meat, fry the meatballs after baking. This to make them more crispy. For the breast, you can follow the same steps in this recipe. If you prefer to cook the thick-sliced precooked, you should bake for only 8 to 10 minutes.


After washing the turkey drumsticks, place them in a large baking Pyrex, add a pinch of salt and pepper. Spread the salt and pepper all over the turkey with your hands.

Chop the onions into large squares, peel the apples into thick wedges and add them on Pyrex. Then, pour the wine and a bit of oil.

Roast the turkey, apples and onions in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius (or 392 degrees Fahrenheit) for 30 minutes. Then turn off the oven and keep the turkey in the oven but take out the onions, apples and the juice that we made with the turkey and the wine. Do it carefully, don't burn yourself.

The sauce. In the blender, add the onions, apples and juice. Blend very carefully because the ingredients are still hot. Reserve the sauce.

Next, peel the plantains and cut into large pieces, about 2 centimeters thick. In a pan, add more oil and fry the bananas with dried large plums and a pinch of cinnamon.

Dinner is ready! I like to put the bananas and plums on the base of a large dish, then turkey and the sauce on top. If you like the cinnamon, as I do, you can sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon on top. Let's be fancy and decorate with some parsley.

Here you go! In a few minutes, you've made the main mouthwatering dish for your social bubble Thanksgiving dinner.

I'm not sure if there was any leftover sparkling white wine we drank last week, so we should better add one or two more bottles on the top of the ingredients list.

I never forget to give many thanks to the people who have taken the time to write. You guys cheer me up!

Pura vida and Salud!

-------------------
Editor's note: Email your comments or inquiries to Melissa Pette at melissaamcr2017@gmail.com. Do you want to share your recipes with AM Costa Rica readers? Send your homemade recipes with a horizontal photo of the dish to food@amcostarica.com