A Healthy, Easy Do-Ahead Mexican Dinner

Mexican food isn’t all cheese and fat. Take this Mexican-inspired dinner party menu. The food is healthy, fresh and inexpensive. Best of all, everything can be made ahead.

Start with chile-flavored nuts and cocktails--margaritas, chilled Mexican beer, sangria and lemonade are all great choices.

Sweet-spiced turkey is excellent whether served hot, room-temperature or chilled. A peppery salad is crunchy, colorful and slightly spicy, a refreshing contrast to the turkey. Hot rice, cooked in chicken broth with cumin and tossed with snipped chives, makes a perfect third dish. Serve a basket brimming with warm soft corn tortillas (keep them covered with a napkin).

For dessert, soft fruit whip enriches fresh berries or sliced peaches without the inclusion of rich ingredients. Cookies or brownies also make good partners for the fruit.

And don’t neglect the decor. Lots of color is in order. Use brightly hued candles, thick ones as well as thin, and colorful dishes, tablecloths and napkins. You might even want to hang a pinata. Play some lively Mexican music in the background and you’ll have a fiesta of your own making.

The inspiration for the range of flavors in this recipe comes from Rick and Deann Bayliss’ cookbook, “Authentic Mexican” (Morrow: 1987). A sweet spice paste is rubbed into the turkey breast, giving the normally bland meat a mild, delicious taste. This recipe makes great leftovers. Just double the recipe and make sure that each turkey breast is separately wrapped in foil after cooking. Roasting the turkey in a foil-pack at a very high temperature insures remarkably moist meat. An instant-reading thermometer is infallible in determining when the meat is cooked but still juicy.

SWEET-SPICED TURKEY BREAST, ROASTED ON ONIONS AND RAISINS

3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 large green onions, minced

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon coarsely cracked pepper

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon safflower oil

1 large boned, skinned turkey breast, about 2 1/4 pounds

2 large onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup golden raisins

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Salt

1 tablespoon minced parsley

Combine garlic, green onions, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, salt and safflower oil in small dish. Wash turkey breast and dry with paper towels. Rub spice paste evenly into entire surface of turkey.

Place onion slices, separated into rings, in center of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Add raisins and sprinkle vinegar over. Place turkey breast on top of onions and raisins. Tent turkey in airtight foil package, leaving small amount air space between foil and breast. Place turkey foil-pack on baking sheet.

Place in center of oven and roast at 500 degrees until thermometer inserted halfway through thickest portion registers 160 degrees, about 30 to 35 minutes. (Do not open foil to test temperature; insert instant-reading thermometer through foil.)

Carefully open foil. Let turkey rest 10 to 20 minutes before cutting into thin diagonal slices. Arrange slices on warm platter. Spoon juices and onions over. Sprinkle lightly with salt and minced parsley. Serve hot, chilled or at room temperature. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

This spicy, vibrantly flavored salad can be wrapped in a warm, soft corn tortilla as finger food or eaten with a fork. Be sure to keep the tortillas warm (wrap them in a napkin) so they stay supple enough to roll without breaking. This is one salad that improves when made a day in advance and refrigerated. Mild pepper jelly is available in supermarkets; it’s a great asset in the salad as well as on sandwiches where a hot/sweet taste is desired. Honey and minced jalapeno peppers can be substituted for the jelly.

PEPPERY VEGETABLE SALAD

1 large zucchini, diced 1/2 inch

1/2 cup corn kernels, fresh, frozen or canned, well-drained

5 large green onions, thinly sliced

1 large sweet red pepper, diced 1/2 inch

1/2 medium jicama, peeled and diced 1/2 inch

1/3 cup chunky fresh salsa, well-drained

1/3 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

Lime and Pepper Dressing

Salt

1/2 large head iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced

Cilantro sprigs

Lime quarters

16 (6-inch) soft tortillas, very warm, optional

Combine zucchini, corn kernels, green onions, red pepper, jicama, salsa and chopped cilantro in 1 1/2-quart mixing bowl. Add Lime and Pepper Dressing. Toss to combine. Add salt to taste. Stir well before using, then drain all liquid.

To serve, arrange lettuce on serving platter. Spoon salad attractively over lettuce. Garnish platter with cilantro sprigs and lime wedges. Serve tortillas separately. Makes 8 servings.

Lime and Pepper Dressing

1/3 cup lime juice

2 tablespoons mild pepper jelly

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon safflower oil

Combine lime juice, pepper jelly, water and oil. Warm on stove top or in microwave oven until jelly melts. Stir to combine. Can be made 2 days ahead and refrigerated.

The processing of frozen fruit cubes into a smooth, 100% fruit sherbet is one of the food processor’s unique contributions to the culinary world. The fruit is quickly processed into a soft whip at the last minute and spooned over fresh berries or sliced peaches. Be aware that ripe, fragrant fruit makes the difference in the taste of this mixture. Other ripe fruits or berries are easily substituted for the mango and pineapple.

SOUTH-OF-THE-BORDER SOFT FRUIT WHIP, SPOONED OVER BERRIES

3 ripe large mangoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch chunks

1/2 ripe pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 3/4-inch chunks

6 tablespoons sugar, or to taste

1 small ripe banana

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon dark rum

Blueberries, raspberries and strawberries or sliced peaches, all sugared if desired

Arrange mangoes and pineapple on baking sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze until solid. Once frozen, use immediately or wrap airtight in plastic bag and freeze up to several months.

When ready to process, let frozen fruit sit out at room temperature to soften slightly around edges (processing will be faster and easier), about 20 minutes. Process fruit in batches with sugar by pulsing metal blade of food processor until chopped into smaller pieces, then process continuously until fruit is minced into tiny chips. Transfer to mixing bowl while processing remaining batches. Scrape down sides of processor as necessary.

To finish, cut banana into 3/4-inch chunks. Return all fruit chips back into work bowl. Turn on processor. Drop banana chunks, 1 at time, down feed tube. Add lime juice and rum. Process until mixture is very smooth, about 6 minutes. Scrape down sides as necessary. If processor seems to labor, transfer some of mixture out of work bowl and process in batches, then combine and mix well.

Can be served immediately or frozen up to 1 month. If frozen, let soften just to point that it can be spooned back into processor, then process until smooth.

To serve, divide berries or fruit between long-stem goblets. Spoon soft fruit whip over. Serve immediately. Makes 8 servings.