Recipes For Thanksgiving Leftovers

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!  Now, I bet some of you are eyeing the leftovers and wondering what to do. This is the most difficult of the holidays in that respect. For many, other feasts are soon to follow, which means that this extra food can’t simply be packaged for freezing or stored to be used at some later date. Space is at a premium both to prepare for what’s ahead and to leave room for the additional leftovers to come.

Moreover, this is a busy season, and people don’t have time to ponder what new ways to use the leftovers, nor to prepare them in complicated ways. Yet, no one wants to face a re-run of Thanksgiving dinner several nights in a row. What to do? Well, this week I’m offering some of my favorite past suggestions.

One of the most difficult leftover items to find a use for is excess stuffing. These two recipes offer perfect solutions.

STUFFING SOUP:  (6 servings)
4 Tbs. Butter or canola oil—or a combination
1 large onion chopped
1 carrot sliced
1 stalk celery sliced
2 tomatoes diced or (1) 14oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1 Tbs dried parsley-or equal amount fresh
3 to 4 cups diced poultry or pork
48oz stock=3 cans broth+ 6oz water ( gravy may be mixed in to this amount )
2 cups leftover stuffing
1 ½ cups cooked shaped pasta-bows, shells, penne
1 to 1 ½ cups leftover vegetables—peas, beans, corn, sprouts, spinach (optional)

Melt butter in a stock pot over low heat and sautee onion, carrot and celery until tender. Stir in tomatoes, meat and parsley. Add stock and stuffing. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, 1hr. Add any leftover vegetables and warm through. Place pasta in a deep bowl and ladle soup over.

STUFFED PORTABELLAS: Serves 1 for dinner or 2 for lunch
(2) 4 inch each Portabella caps
½ cup minced cooked turkey
½ cup stuffing
½ cup minced onion and celery
1 Tbs. of oil
1 cup gravy

Microwave the onion, celery and oil for two mins. or until soft. Mix with the stuffing and turkey. Pile half this mixture on each mushroom cap, and press to mold into a cone. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 mins. until mushrooms wilt and release their juices. Meanwhile, heat the cup of gravy. Plate the mushrooms on the gravy, and serve at once,

Extra gravy is another leftover that often needs to find a “home” to use it up. Here’s one way.

TURKEY HASH; Serves 2
2 cups minced cooked turkey
2 cups stuffing
½ cup minced onion and celery
¼ cup craisons
¼ cup gravy
¼ cup minced cooked sweet potatoes (optional)
2 eggs

Microwave the onions and celery on ½ heat for 1 min. to soften slightly. Mix all ingredients except eggs together and press into 2 oven proof bowls. Indent the centers and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 mins. Break eggs into indentations and bake for 10 min. more.

Of course adding canned chicken broth and/or cooked rice or pasta and/or vegetables-even leftover ones- to leftover gravy turkey always makes a great SOUP dinner for a cold night. Be sure to check the seasonings. The addition of the chicken broth may dilute the taste and it will need to be perked up. It’s best to stick with the same seasonings you used to make the gravy originally.

The meat is always easily transformed into other dishes. Here are a few suggestions.

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
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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
2 tsp. curry powder or to taste
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. Then

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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!

One last tip about DESSERT leftovers; don’t fight over the last piece of pie—stretch it! Freeze the pie,then cut it in chunks. Rinse out a mold, but don’t dry it, and fill it with the pie pieces gently folded into softened ice cream. Refreeze and unmold for another festive dessert. The flavor of ice cream is optional, so long as it compliments that of the pie.

Hope these ideas help to make your season brighter and easier. I’ll have some more leftover recipes later!