After the ball….er…feast

In my first posting on Dec. 17, 2011, I discussed ways to store and use leftovers from holiday dinners and mentioned two of my favorite recipes which are available on this site; one for Hot Chicken Salad and the other for Stuffing Soup. Over the months I’ve offered other poultry recipes, especially for salads, in which leftover turkey can be substituted. In fact I don’t believe there are any in which it can’t. Two weeks ago I discussed stripping and freezing the leftover meat from the cooked turkey and boiling the bones for stock. All of this information can be easily found on this blog site and can be very helpful but would be far too time and space consuming to repeat here. So please look it up.

One thing I forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago is that it’s best to use the leftover white meat first. It’s always drier than the dark meat due to its physical location, because the juices flow downward as the bird cooks. Since freezing dries food too, the white won’t keep as well frozen as the dark. I use it to make the Hot Chicken Salad, which I either put into a large casserole if I’m expecting company or individual ramekins for easy suppers. Mixed with the other ingredients, the meat does freeze well for several weeks. I add the toppings just before heating, if it’s thawed, or put it frozen, in a preheated oven for 10 mins. then add the toppings and proceed as directed.  Either way this dish is a winner!

We have one “repeat” dinner a few days after the holiday, when we have turkey, stuffing, gravy, our traditional homemade coleslaw and at least one vegetable. We relax and critique the dinner as compared to past years, but that’s it for re-runs. I avoid “leftover rage”, and no one complains about eating those leftovers in different disguises in the following weeks. I use the vegetables as sides with other entrees. If there are still some left, I may resort to a pot pie, using some gravy, some of the turkey meat and topping it with a pastry crust, or with sweet potatoes or stuffing, if I haven’t frozen it all. Any remaining gravy finds its way into a soup or casserole, especially if there was enough left to warrant freezing some. Gravy thins in thawing, making it perfect to flavor soup.

There will be enough broth to furnish at least one, hopefully two, winter meals of hearty soup. Our personal favorite is Turkey Noodle. After removing the protective layer of fat from the container of broth, I thaw it in a pot; add one or two envelopes of chicken bouillon, or a container of frozen gravy, a package of the small bits of leftover meat, lots of very thin egg noodles, broken  and about 2 or so tablespoons of dried parsley. Perhaps you prefer vegetables in the soup, or different noodles and seasonings, but any way you fix it, served with a salad and hot muffins it’s great tasting, easy to do and affordable. Otherwise, use the broth in any way that you would canned chicken broth.

Two wonderful ways to serve leftover turkey are based on a white sauce or Bechamel. This sauce, so easy to make, is considered one of the “Mother” sauces because, with a simple change of ingredients, it can be transformed in different ways to form the foundation of many dishes.  For the two recipes below you need only make the basic version. Remember I freeze two portion sizes in one package. See Blog #45 TALKING TURKEY for reference.

CHICKEN (or TURKEY) a la King—Serves 4
This recipe is based on the dish served in the Café Pierre in the Hotel Pierre in New York City and is suitable for entertaining or for a simple dinner at home.
4 portions larger size pieces frozen turkey meat thawed = 2 packs
(2) 4oz. cans button mushrooms
(1/2 ) 8 oz can pitted ripe olives sliced lengthwise in half
2 jarred roasted red peppers
1 envelope chicken bouillon granules
(1) 10 oz can chicken or turkey  broth—can use your home made here–+ water to equal  1 ½ cups
1 tsp. curry powder- or to taste
1 cup milk – divided
½ cup light cream
3 Tbs. cornstarch
1 pkg. frozen patty shells
Cook patty shells according to directions and have ready “caps” or tops on the side.
Combine broth, water, bouillon, curry, olives, mushrooms and ½ cup milk in a pot large enough to hold all the ingredients. Dissolve the cornstarch in the other ½ cup of milk, add to the pot and, stirring constantly, and cook over medium-high heat until sauce thickens-about 3 mins. Lower heat, add meat, peppers and cream and continue stirring gently until heated through and sauce is smooth and thick. Serve hot in patty shells garnished with the “caps”

TURKEY CURRY—Serves 4
4 portions larger pieces of frozen turkey thawed = 2 packs
2 envelopes of chicken bouillon granules
(1) 15 oz can peach slices in light syrup
peach juice from can +enough milk to = 2 cups
½ cup milk
½ cup light cream
3 Tbs. cornstarch
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sugar – if needed
6 cups boiled rice-brown or white long grained
chutney
Dissolve the cornstarch in the ½ cup milk. Put it with the juice, milk, bouillon and curry in a pot large enough to hold the recipe bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Reduce heat; add meat, peach slices and cream. Stir gently until heated through and sauce is smooth and thick. Taste and add more curry, salt and sugar if needed to adjust flavor. Serve over hot rice with chutney on the side.

It’s easy to understand why Bechamel is considered a major sauce. Just think about substituting the milk or broth with other liquids, such as tomato or orange juice, or wine. You can make so many things and create so many dishes. It’s not just plain old white sauce, but a valuable tool.

The majority of recipes with sauces that are intended for pork, veal and poultry can be adapted to use leftover turkey. The simplest and quickest are the pan sauces that develop from recipes that start with the meat being browned by sautéing and removed from the pan first. Just assume the meat is brown and pick up the directions from there, then put it in the pan at the end to absorb flavor and heat through. For example:

TURKEY in ORANGE SAUCE – Serves 4
4 portions of large pieces of frozen turkey thawed
1 medium-small onion diced fine
1 Tbs. oil
1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate*
1 ½ cups white wine*
1 Tbs. soy sauce or to taste
orange marmalade or brown sugar to taste
3 Tbs. match stick pieces of orange rind ½ inch long
Sauté the onion in the oil until soft, about 3 mins. Add the juice, wine, soy sauce and orange rind. Stir to mix well and taste to adjust flavors adding marmalade or sugar if needed. This sauce should be tangy. Add the meat to the pan and simmer for about 10 mins. to infuse the flavors. Serve hot.
* equal amounts of fresh orange juice can be substituted, but it’s best to dissolve ½ tsp. of cornstarch in the liquid first, and stir until slightly thickened before adjusting seasoning or adding the meat.

This technique works well substituting ½ cup, or to taste, leftover whole cranberry sauce for the frozen orange juice concentrate, mixing it with the wine and omitting the soy sauce and marmalade. The orange rind is optional.

1) After sautéing the onion in the oil, substitute 2 cups Madera pr Marsala with 1 tsp, cornstarch dissolved in it. Add with meat and gently stir until sauce thickens. Serve at once.
2) Substitute white wine for the others mentioned above.  Add 1tsp. dried Tarragon and 8-12 raw shrimp with the meat and stir until shrimp is pink and sauce thickens about 3 mins.
3) Add ½ cup roughly chopped reconstituted sun-dried tomatoes and ½ tsp dried oregano to the pan with the wine and stir to partially thicken sauce. Add meat and heat through as sauce finishes thickening. Remove from heat and add 1/3 cup sour cream. Gently stir over medium-low heat only until warmed through. Be careful, if it boils it will curdle. Serve at once.
4) Substitute 2 Tbs.red raspberry jam + ¼ cup white wine or apple juice, with a drop of lemon juice added, for the other ingredients. Add the meat and simmer about 6mins to infuse flavor.This dish perks up with a good dash of black pepper.

The medium size pieces of leftover turkey are great for pastas, pizzas and fajitas. I like these dishes for quick weekday meals. Basically they all start with 1 large onion and 1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped for the pasta and sliced for the other two dishes, micro waved for 2  mins.with 1Tbs. oil, ¼ tsp lemon pepper and a dash of red pepper. I add 1 cup of frozen broccoli stems and pieces for the second minute when making the pasta and pizza.

A) For the pasta I like to use penne. I toss the cooked, drained noodles with about 1 cup of fresh or canned diced tomatoes, pesto or riciato sauce, or just olive oil, the cooked vegetables, dried oregano and basil, and the thawed turkey meat, and top with grated Parmesan.
B) For the pizza, I spread the pesto or riciato on the crust then pile on the cooked vegetables, diced tomatoes and the meat and sprinkle with the fried herbs and top with the cheese. Bake at 425 degrees for about 10-12 mins.
C) For the fajitas, I omit the broccoli and add the meat with 2 tsp. more oil for the second minute of microwaving the onion and pepper, or as long as needed for all to get really hot. I warm flour flour tortillas in the microwave for 20 secs.  put salsa, sour cream, grated cheese and guacamole if I have any, on the table, and serve the tortillas on a plate, the fillings in their cooking dish and let everyone dig in and fix their own.

There are many other things to do with turkey leftovers, but since I’m going to have one again Christmas Day, I’ll leave a few suggestions to share later and perhaps devise and try a few more by then. My major point here is that finding ways to use leftover turkey isn’t a big problem. Nor should you have to go to a lot of trouble or expense buying ingredients to disguise them, or bore everyone, including yourself, by serving them repeatedly for fear they’ll spoil. Without requiring much effort or time, they can be inexpensively and creatively worked into your menus over the coming weeks. Just become creative!