My wife and I were looking at the various “Thanksgiving Recipes from the 50 States” articles that were everywhere just before Thanksgiving. Turkey enchiladas was one recipe that came up for more than a few times, but I wasn’t thrilled by any of the recipes. One in particular just wasn’t very saucy looking. Since “covered with tomato and chili sauce” is a necessary condition for a food to be called an enchilada, and since I deeply love enchilada sauce, that was a bit of a sticking point for me. I suggested Mole Poblano might be a nice pairing and we moved on to another topic of discussion
Then a few days after Thanksgiving we were trying to figure out what to make for dinner. The possibility of turkey enchiladas was proposed, but we didn’t have any corn tortillas. What we did have was a warehouse store size pack of uncooked flour tortillas. So I said, “What about candied yam and turkey flautas?” I was half joking when I said it, but my wife’s enthusiasm for the idea changed my mind from half joking to only 1/4 joking.
Flautas are rolled tacos. Where I grew up, if it was rolled in a corn tortilla it was called a rolled taco, and if it was rolled in a flour tortilla, it was a flauta. According to the internet, that convention doesn’t hold true everywhere, though.
I don’t have a recipe for this, much less a nutrient analysis, but I can tell you what I did.
- Mash the candied yams
- Shred the turkey
- Spread a few tablespoons of the mashed candied yams across the diameter of the tortilla (ours were 8 inch tortillas, but smaller would work too)
- Layer the shredded turkey atop the mashed yams
- Roll tightly
- Pan fry the taquitos, starting with the end of the roll side down first to prevent the taquito from unrolling
I served them two ways, one covered in enchilada sauce and cheese, and the other topped with homemade cranberry sauce. My wife loved both. One daughter loved it with cranberry sauce, and the other hates everything except pears and Elmo right now. I was torn between my passion for enchilada sauce and the cold, hard facts: it was better with cranberry sauce.
We dubbed these flautas a new tradition, and look forward to making more in about 12 months. For now we still have turkey, but are out of candied yams. I should also point out that I make my candied yams with a bit of chipotle chili powder, which may make them a little more compatible with a mexican food flavor profile