"I am a fan of Thanksgiving. It's my favorite meal of the year," said Efren Cardenas, executive chef at Red O Restaurant.
Cardenas makes those holiday favorites at home. He then takes the leftovers and gives them a nice "south of the border" twist, starting with using turkey meat for mole poblano enchiladas.
"A lot of people like to have their white meat/dark meat separate," said Cardenas. "I like to mix it together. Go ahead and just shred that up. We mix that with a little bit of mole poblano sauce."
His mole sauce takes eight hours to make, so he suggests Dona Maria mole from the market that you can heat up with your turkey and pour over warmed tortillas. Serve with black beans and greens with a cilantro-lime vinaigrette.
Along with mole sauce, you might have to pick up tortillas and queso fresco from the market, but most likely you've got the heart of your second day's meal.
From the nuts, seeds, sprouts -- when you think about it, these are items you already have cleaned, chopped, even cooked.
Like Brussels sprouts that Cardenas tops with cooked chorizo and chili oil, Mexican cheese and micro greens to be served up with a guacamole dip with all the extras.
"Toasted pecans that we've toasted with a little bit of sea salt," said Cardenas. Along with fresh pomegranate, toasted pumpkin seeds, caramelized onions and poblano chili.
"And you can garnish with all the ingredients that you use in that guacamole just to add some color," said Cardenas.
Cardenas says don't be afraid to use other leftovers like butternut squash, even those leftover Brussels sprouts for your avocado dip.
The possibilities are endless.
