Help me decide on a Costa Rican dish for Thanksgiving

debrakgoogins

My son is bringing his girlfriend home for the first time this Thanksgiving. She is Costa Rican/Cuban but her family primarily eats Costa Rican food. She has never had a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. I will make all the regular foods but wanted to surprise her with one dish from Costa Rica. Any ideas for a side dish or dessert that would compliment the meal?

nooshi713

Gallo pinto

debrakgoogins

@nooshi713 Looking up Gallo Pinto now. Thank you!

Cbean08

Gallo Pinto is the national dish. I'm guessing she's eaten a ton of it if they mostly eat traditional food. I think baking a dessert would be better.

Flan is delicious, but if you make it wrong, it's really really gross.
Tres Leches is a tasty cake, very different from any regular "American" cakes.

I'd do empanadas though. 2 different versions - 1 savory, and 1 sweet. Empanadas are essentially hand pies that are either baked or fried. You can use different fillings like meat/vegetables and fruit/ chocolate.

debrakgoogins

I've only had flan once and I don't think it was made right, haha. It was really gross. I saw a Tres Leches recipe. It looks really good. My son says she loves churros with dulce de leche.

kshama2001

Pura Vida!

Fried plantains! (Plantanos.)

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/fried-sweet-plantains-plantanos-maduros-recipe-1941159

apullum

kshama2001 wrote: »

Pura Vida!

Fried plantains! (Plantanos.)

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/fried-sweet-plantains-plantanos-maduros-recipe-1941159

I love me some fried plantains...patacones, maduros, whatever you want to do with them, just give me some Depending on where you live, OP, you may or may not be able to get plantains, and it makes a difference how ripe or not ripe your plantains are. In my limited knowledge, I believe plantains for maduros (the sweet fried plantains @kshama2001 posted) should be very ripe--the peel even turns black. If your plantains are still green, you can make patacones (a twice fried savory plantain patty): https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/patacones-ticos-costa-rican-fried-plantains-187281

If you can't get plantains or don't want to fry things, I would go with the tres leches cake. The ingredients are very common in a standard US grocery store, and everyone likes cake, right?

I think this idea is a really nice way to make your son's girlfriend feel welcome in your family.

aokoye

I third the idea of tres leches and second the idea of empanadas. My favorite thanksgiving involved, among other things, learning how to make empanadas. Two different kinds of fillings and that was along with the regularly scheduled traditional US Thanksgiving foods.

777Gemma888

debrakgoogins wrote: »

I've only had flan once and I don't think it was made right, haha. It was really gross. I saw a Tres Leches recipe. It looks really good. My son says she loves churros with dulce de leche.

Tres leches cake is delicious. I loved this Churros taco recipe with horchata dulce De leche ice cream. Thought of sharing it, as soon as you had mentioned the above.

https://soyummy.com/recipe/scream-scream-scream-ice-cream-churro-tacos/

MikePTY

Plantains would be a good choice, and can be done as sweet/desert if you do them maduro (soft) and coat them with syrup, sugar, and all sorts of other sweet stuff (I've seen cherries, marshmallows, you name it). I am sure whatever it is, she will appreciate the gesture. And then probably want to stuff her face with American thanksgiving food lol.

debrakgoogins

Thank you all for your help. I decided on a tres leche cake and homemade churros with ducle De leche dipping sauce. If she comes home for Easter, I will do empanadas. She gets here today - yay!

WilmaValley

What great ideas!!!!!!

777Gemma888

debrakgoogins wrote: »

Thank you all for your help. I decided on a tres leche cake and homemade churros with ducle De leche dipping sauce. If she comes home for Easter, I will do empanadas. She gets here today - yay!

I'm so delighted you have selected the two you have Debra. She's a lucky girl that you would go to such lengths to make her feel welcome and at home. Hugs.

debrakgoogins

The Tres Leche cake was a huge success! She loved it. Tomorrow night we’re making the homemade churros.