4 Creative Ways to Spice Up Your Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner

Thanksgiving is a time for seeing family, remembering what we are grateful for and sharing a wonderful Thanksgiving turkey dinner together.
Every family has their Thanksgiving traditions: Some prep the stuffing and cranberries while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Some gather around the flat screen for turkey day NFL Football. Some go to a special church service the evening before. But whatever you do, for the main meal, the turkey is the centerpiece.
Tradition is important, not least because it’s comfortable and easy on a holiday that’s meant to be relaxing. However, lots of cooks like to add a little interest to tradition.  Consider changing things up a little this year with some international flavors on your Thanksgiving turkey, or even just the side dishes.
Here are four concepts (with links to recipes and menus!) for Italian, Mexican, Korean and Indian-inspired dishes sure to wow your family on this year’s Thanksgiving table.
Italian
You love to go for red sauce pastas and pizza on other holiday weekends — why not add Italian spice to your Thanksgiving turkey, too?

For The Splendid Table’s Italian American Thanksgiving, Lynn Rosetto Kasper shares a recipe for wine and herb-basted roast turkey with a white wine pan sauce. Seasonings include fresh parsley, sage, thyme and rosemary, as well as six large cloves of garlic and half a lemon.
On the Food Network, Giada De Laurentiis makes her Thanksgiving Italian-style with ciabatta stuffing, studded with chestnuts and made with pancetta (Italian bacon). Pancetta is wonderful in lots of side dishes, from Brussels sprouts to broccoli.
And for dessert, try Kasper’s apple-rosemary tart with lemon sugar: “So much easier than apple pie and so much lighter, this tart will not be overkill after a celebration meal,” she writes.
Mexican
Southern flavors are a natural fit with almost any Thanksgiving menu (gravy, anyone?) but take it a bit further south with Saveur’s wonderful Mexican-themed menu.
The popular cooking/travel magazine has great ideas for Mexican starters, like sopa de chile poblano (a mildly spiced chile soup), Brussels sprouts with chorizo (shown above) and tostadas de camarón seco (shrimp tostadas). To give the Thanksgiving turkey a Mexican twist, Saveur adds chiles de arbol, New Mexico chiles, cumin and cloves.
Indian
Warm Indian spices are so perfect for fall. Anise, cardamom, cinnamon and cumin give a subtle heat and complexity to roasted vegetables and pureed soups.
In Bon Appetit, a complex yet approachable Thanksgiving menu featuring Indian spices includes a tandoori roasted turkey, seasoned with coriander, curry, peppercorns, cardamom, chili, cinnamon, cloves and fenugreek, among other things.
Side dishes take carrots for a spin with whole cumin seed, replace stuffing with a rice pilaf made with almonds and raisins, and conclude with dark chocolate souffles with cardamom creme anglaise (above).
For more ideas on how to make this year’s Thanksgiving turkey the best you’ve ever had, download our FREE Ultimate Turkey Guide (click the link below).

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