DEBORAH CROMBIE: We all hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! But now it's time for THE RECKONING! What to do with the leftover turkey and the turkey carcass? Especially if you had to buy more turkey than you needed. But never fear, Jungle Red is here to help.
As promised, we have Hank's Turkey Tetrazzini recipe, and as a bonus, my friend Franny's Turkey Carcass Soup. That doesn't sound very appealing, but I have made this and I promise you it's delicious. It's almost worth cooking a turkey just to make it!
HANK'S TURKEY TETRAZZINI
HANK: This is so delicious and decadent, we look forward to this just as much as our holiday turkey! Read the recipe all the way through before you start because its success depends on doing several things at the same time--and having the ingredients prepped and the utensils ready to go.
And it’s perfect for post-Thanksgiving, because the main ingredient is leftover turkey!
It sounds a little more complicated than it actually is, and the first time I made it I burst out laughing--it looked like I had used every pan I owned. Now I've made it so often I don't even need the recipe anymore!
You can use more or less pasta and mushrooms and turkey--it doesn't really matter. An added bonus--your kitchen will smell fantastic while this is cooking.
This serves about 6-8 people-- and reheats beautifully.
INGREDIENTS:
*1 pound mushrooms
*1/4 to ½ pound spaghetti or macaroni
*two or three cups shredded cooked turkey (leftover from your holiday turkey!)
*3 Tablespoons butter
*3 Tablespoons flour
*2 cups chicken broth
*1 cup heated whipping cream (fat-free half and half will also work)
*3 Tablespoons dry white wine
*salt and pepper
* grated Parmesan cheese.
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 375.
Slice and saute' mushrooms in butter and chopped garlic...keep warm, while at the same time you
Cook
*1/4 to ½ pound spaghetti or macaroni
While this is cooking,
Take the leftover meat from your holiday turkey--shred it so you have
*two or three cups shredded turkey
(I like just using white meat--but it works with dark too)
Set aside in a bowl large enough to allow you to add to it.
Okay, I know this sounds complicated, but at the same time you're going to make a sauce:
Melt
*3 Tablespoons butter
Sprinkle with
*3 Tablespoons flour
Stir to make a paste, then add
*2 cups chicken broth
Stir and allow to thicken...this will take about 15 minutes. Be patient.
Then to that mixture, stir in
*1 cup heated whipping cream (fat-free half and half will also work)
*3 Tablespoons dry white wine
*salt and pepper
It can simmer while you:
**Drain the pasta, put it back into the pan and mix in the sauteed mushrooms.
Add one half of the sauce to this mixture.
**Add the other half of the sauce to the bowl of shredded turkey.
**Put the pasta and mushroom mixture in a greased baking dish. Make a hole in the center, and
**put the turkey/sauce mixture in the middle.
**Sprinkle the top with grated Parmesan cheese.
Bake till lightly browned.
HANK: A salad, white wine, crusty bread. Then the leftover pumpkin pie. YUM.
DEBS: And now for Franny's TURKEY AND WILD RICE SOUP (that sounds better, doesn't it?)
Turkey carcass- I break mine in half to fit in my soup pot 3/4-1 C leftover dressing - if turkey wasn’t stuffed. This adds fabulous flavor and broth will be strained later
1 cup Wild rice and/or wild rice brown rice mix. Cook this ahead in broth according to rice instructions.
Matchstick cut zucchini and carrots - around 1-1and1/2 C ea
Sliced mushrooms- 1/2 lb
1-2 bunches sliced green onions on diagonal
Simmer carcass with stuffing in water and 1 carton chicken or turkey broth to cover for 1 - 1to 1/2 hours. Cool and strain.
Put strained broth back into soup pot. Pick out any meat you want off of carcass leavings to add back into soup. Or add some leftover shreds of turkey .
Bring to full simmer and add all veggies except green onions. Simmer 20 min or so ..
Gently add rice. Don’t dump in. I spoon in carefully. No boiling or will cloud!
Add green onions. Low heat for another 15 min or so. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. I use a good amount of black pepper or to taste.❤️ Voila!
DEBS: Readers, if you have any great suggestions for leftover turkey, please share in the comments!
Oh, yum! Thanks for the recipes . . . they both sound delicious.
ReplyDeleteWe often use some of our leftover turkey in fajitas . . . Heat the turkey and shred it. Cook one sliced onion, one bell pepper, jalapeno pepper to taste in a small amount of oil; when soft, put in a dish. Slice an avocado or two. Shred some cheese. Get some sour cream; some salsa, anything else you like on your fajita. Heat the tortillas; put everything on the table and let everyone make their own . . . .
I love this idea, Joan! Now I wish I had leftover turkey!
DeleteThe soup recipe is out for me since I don't have a turkey carcass, but the turkey tetrazzini could be doable. It's been ages since I fixed tetrazzini, and I think I used chicken then, but I do love it, and, Hank, your recipe sounds delicious. The only ingredient I'd have to get is the white wine. I don't think I have any right now. I'm sure the soup is delicious, Debs, and I love all the ingredients in it. Maybe in the future. Joan, your fajitas sound yummy, too.
ReplyDeleteWe will probably just have turkey sandwiches, although I might try to dress them up a bit. Maybe, some cranberry sauce and dressing, or some avocado. Does anyone have a great turkey sandwich fix that they could share?
See below, Kathy, the British turkey, dressing/stuffing, and cranberry sandwich. Delish. For something simpler, Rick makes his turkey sandwiches with Ranch dressing.
DeleteI always make carcass soup, and the tettrazini sounds yummy! I've done curried turkey and added vegetables in the past. And fajitas. Leslie Karst posted an amazing turkey tikka masala earlier this week, which sounds delicious (and a bit labor intensive). Recipe here: https://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/2020/11/turkey-tikka-masala-thanksgivingleftove.html
ReplyDeleteI saw that, Edith! It looked delicious.
DeleteCan't wait to tackle both of these. Except, I am missing the mushrooms:(.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I substitute chopped celery in mine. It's not precisely the same, but it gives the color contrast to the dish.
DeletePop your turkey portion in the freezer until you can get mushrooms!
DeleteYum! I'm printing both for next year's turkey. We did chicken this year, and I have already planned to use the leftovers in Ellen Byron's Thanksgiving turkey wrap. Writers are, of course, creative in the kitchen!
ReplyDeleteGreat recipes! Our leftovers always get eaten before we reach casserole stage.
ReplyDeleteI am making this today! The key is—before you do anything, put the pasta water on to boil . Then sauté the mushrooms and set aside, and wash the mushroom pan. Things go smoothly after that.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you don’t have wine you can use more chicken broth—but it won’t be the same. Mushrooms—it would be entirely different without them—I’d wait until you could get them.
And every year I think—should I add peas? At the very last second when the mushrooms go in?
And then I don’t.
But it is so delicious!!
YES on peas! Throw handfuls of frozen peas in at the end and let them warm in the hot tetrazzini.
DeleteI like peas in mine, too, Hallie. And in chicken pot pie.
DeleteMy big issue with tetrazzin is that Rick won't eat mushrooms. And tetrazzini is not tetrazzini without mushrooms. Sigh.
DeleteI eat mushrooms . . .
DeleteThe recipe sounds delicious, Hank, and I'll have to keep it on hand for the next time I roast a chicken. Come to think of it, that carcass soup--Ahem!--Turkey and Wild Rice Soup recipe also sounds good, Deb. But then just about any thing that comes out of your kitchen via Franny's recipes is pretty darn tasty.
Debs, that sounds great. But I am contemplating all those onions. Really?
ReplyDeleteYou could do one bunch instead of two, Hank.
DeleteThose recipes sound wonderful! Can't wait to try them. Looking forward to more!
ReplyDeleteWe had our turkey earlier in the week, and I've already made turkey carcass (with mushrooms and noodles) soup. Tonight I'll make the tetrazzini - Hank, do you ever make it with sherry instead of white wine? I won't have quite enough fresh mushrooms but I can add reconstituted dried black (shiitake) mushrooms which add a wonderfully intense mushroom flavor.
ReplyDeleteLeftover PIE? That's got to be an oxymoron.
Hallie, my mom always made it with sherry.
DeleteI keep sherry on hand solely for tetrazzini!
DeleteI keep dry vermouth handy for when I need a splash of white wine. It's flavor enhances anything so far. Especially gin.
DeleteI like a splash of vermouth in my gin, too. Noily Prat is my fave.
DeleteThat's a great tip, Ann!
DeleteDebs, our Kentucky Costco sells Noily Prat vermouth.
I've mostly used dry sherry in tettrazini, ever since I've been making first the James
DeleteBeard, then this Joy of Cooking recipe. Wine is fine, but just like with mushrooms,
the woodsy sherry flavor makes this dish for me! (That's also the reason why I enjoyed
turtle soup when I lived in New Orleans as a young kid. It was the sherry flavor!)
I’ve never tried Sherry. I think it would be good, but different. Darker. xxx
DeleteThese all sound wonderful. I also really like Joan's suggestion of fajitas, which will shake up the monotony of things tasting too similar for too long. After dinner yesterday I cooked the carcass, picked it clean, discarded the bones and put the broth full of the meat picked off into the fridge. I'll finish transforming it into turkey carcass soup today. Then my plan is to pre-measure the amount of leftover turkey I will need for tetrazzini and a wild rice/turkey/kale recipe I found, and freeze them separately to be enjoyed in coming weeks. I will make sure I have enough turkey left to enjoy a few days of sandwiches and turkey as a side while we finish the leftovers of the ostensible "side" dishes of vegetables. (Who am I kidding? The side dishes of STARCH.) I plan on doing turkey fajitas one day in the coming week as well. I am blessed to be married to a man who shares my reasonable tolerance for leftovers. If it seems like there's just too much turkey left, I might freeze one more container of it with the plan of eventually making my mother's "pot pie" which uses no crust, just biscuits across the top. In act, as I think about all that gravy in the fridge, this seems like a better and better idea.
ReplyDeleteBoth recipes sound great. I have a microwave tetrazzini recipe, if anyone's interested. It calls for making the while sauce in the micro, and except for the pasta, only uses one dish. I've been making it since about 1978. It uses sherry instead of white wine.
ReplyDeleteWe have TONS of turkey leftover, since it's just the two of us, and we had a large wild bird in the freezer since May. It had to be cooked, so Steve cut it in half and smoked one part on Monday. It is delicious! So tender it melts in the mouth. I roasted the other half yesterday, kind of a modified spatchcock, and it turned out tasty, but it has to be the homeliest turkey every cooked. I also just made two sides, mashed sweet potatoes with pecans and maple syrup, and caramelized Brussels sprouts. We had a simple but festive salad with lettuce, avocado, and pomegranate seeds.
What I also need is a recipe for leftover cranberry sauce! Does anyone have such a thing to share? Or do you just eat it on sandwiches, as I've seen someone do?
Isn't that something the Brits call Christmas sandwich? Turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mayo on toasted white bread. My kids love it. Me... Not so much.
DeleteLeftover cranberry sauce is an oxymoron in our house. I make the fresh orange cranberry relish. I bet a goodly scoop of it in muffin batter would be extraordinary. And of course I'll have it on my turkey sandwiches.
DeleteYes, the Brits do make sandwiches with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. They're a regular holiday item at Pret a Manger, and they are actually pretty good!
DeleteAnn, orange cranberry muffins are yummy.
DeleteI'm really looking for some way to use the cranberry sauce that isn't on a sandwich or a muffin. I wonder if there is such a thing.
Karen, I would like the microwave recipe, since my oven is temporarily out of service.
DeleteHere you go, Kathy. If you prefer to have this in a Word doc, message me, okay?
DeleteChicken or Turkey Tetrazzini
6 slices bacon (you can use turkey bacon, but you’ll have to add more butter to make the sauce)
6 Tbs bacon drippings (for the sauce)
¾ C sliced fresh mushrooms (or celery, which I prefer)
1/3 C chopped onion
6 Tbs all-purpose flour
¾ tsp salt
¼ t white pepper (black is fine if you don’t have white)
1 ½ C chicken broth (you can also use vegetable broth)
1 ½ C half & half (I use 2% milk)
3 Tbs dry sherry
8 oz. (3 ¼ C cooked) spaghetti, drained (it’s also good with whole wheat penne)
2 C cubed cooked chicken or turkey
6 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese
Snipped fresh parsley (dried is okay, but not as good)
Place bacon on a rack in a 12" x 7" baking dish; cover with a paper towel. Microwave at full power (HIGH) for 6 to 7 minutes, or until crisp. Crumble bacon and set aside. Remove rack from baking dish (I usually use a rack for this, and drain the fat off into a measuring cup).
Measure bacon drippings into same baking dish. If necessary, add melted butter to make enough drippings. Add mushrooms (celery) and onion to drippings, and microwave at full power (HIGH) for 4 to 5 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring once.
Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Microwave at full power (HIGH) for 30 seconds.
Add broth and half and half (milk). Mix well. Microwave at full power (HIGH) for 9 to 10 minutes or until thickened and bubbly, stirring five times.
Stir in sherry. Stir in spaghetti, chicken or turkey, crumbled bacon and Parmesan cheese. Mix well. Cover with vented plastic wrap. Microwave at full power (HIGH) for 13 to 15 minutes or until heated through, stirring well once. Stir before serving. Garnish with parsley.
Karen, I've been making this recipe from Bon Appetit magazine (Nov. 1998) with tweaks,
Deletesince my early days in a food chatroom on the old epi(curious) site I joined in 2000. Use
whole cranberry sauce of any kind, with onions and rosemary on any kind of pork, esp. tenderloin. It's so delicious you can just eat the sauce with a spoon before dinner's ready!https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/pork-tenderloin-with-balsamic-cranberry-sauce-100314
Oh! I am thinking about this! Thank you!
DeleteSpeaking of cranberry sauce, anyone else notice how the size of a can of cranberry sauce these days has shrunk? Seems to be happening to packaged foods across the board.
ReplyDeleteI have actually not bought cranberry sauce in a can for decades! I've been making my cranberry relish for, um, at least thirty years... The recipe was from Gourmet magazine, and my recipe card was actually typed on a TYPEWRITER. Imagine!
DeleteI have noticed a general downsizing of all kinds of packaged foods, Hallie. Even my frozen pizzas are getting smaller.
DeleteYes, much downsizing, Gigi! "Gallons" of ice cream are about a quarter less. "Pounds" of coffee are now 12 ounces. Cans of tuna used to reliably be 7 ounces, now they're less, and the same with the old 12-ounce sizes of tomatoes, etc. Even pumpkin is now smaller. It's annoying, especially when using older recipes.
DeleteAnd pasta. Packages used to be a pound. Now they rarely are.
DeleteHallie, I thought it was just me imagining that there was less. Thanks.
DeleteI love the recipes although since I split a turkey breast with my sister, I don't have too much turkey left. I make tetrazzini with leftover roasted chicken a lot though. I also make gumbo and could do that with leftover turkey too. Surprisingly Martha Stewart has a 30 minute gumbo recipe on line that is really good, using frozen cut okra.
ReplyDeleteIn my world, frozen cut okra is the only kind of okra that exists.
DeleteHa, Susan, I do make pan-fried okra from fresh in the summer, but it is a job!
DeleteAtlanta, I have okra in my freezer. I'm going to look this up!
DeleteOur turkey was exceptional this year, and I've never got so much meat off a 14 pound bird. The carcass is already shrink wrapped and in the freezer, for boneyard soup later. Today I will sort our the rest, keep some out for nibbling on, save the little chunks and pieces for a turkey pie long about Sunday, and vacuum pack meal sized portions for the freezer. I'm in love with my foodsaver. In addition to keeping away freezer burn and saving space, the plastic bags can be plunged in boiling water to heat up the portions. No flavor is lost this way. I sometimes include a little of the dressing with the meat, instant Thanksgiving dinner redux.
ReplyDeleteWe ate ourselves into a food coma yesterday, so today will include some dog walking and absolutely no cooking anything that can't be heated in the microwave. It's my day off.
There are two pieces of pumpkin pie left, would be more but sent half to our neighbor along with tons of turkey and fixings. Those will be saved for watching The Crown later today.
Happy holidays everyone. Let the games begin.
Ann, what's boneyard soup?
DeleteI have an image of a variety of shrink-wrapped carcasses in your freezer, Ann, to go into Boneyard Soup--which you surely cook in a giant cauldron out on your patio? Stay safe, sweet friend. I hear that Buffalo is having a real Covid spike right now, and we definitely don't want to lose you or Julie.
DeleteBoneyard soup is the carcass boiled up and stripped of meat. Then add whatever vegetable are past it. Plus rice or noodles. Great flavor. Cheap as dirt.
DeleteOur take-out heat-at-home meal was okay. Neither of us liked the stuffing, and the cranberry relish was horrible. So glad I'd made my own. There is one slice of turkey breast left, enough for Rick to make a sandwich, and now I feel a bit deprived that I can't make all these yummy leftover recipes...
ReplyDeleteWish I could share with you, Debs. We have so much left. I'll be spending two days processing it all.
DeleteWe had a really interesting cranberry relish. It was delicious, and I am trying to figure out what was in it. The kind I make is orangey tart. But this one was sort of… Dark. Molasses? Hoisin sauce? I can’t figure it out. Any ideas?
DeleteLeftover turkey? I'm not familiar with this concept.
ReplyDeleteI picked up my "plate" from the family friend yesterday. Except I forgot that as Italians, they don't seem to grasp the notion of small helpings. LOL
Instead of plate it was one of this tinfoil pans you see at potluck meals. It was quite sizeable and it was divided down the middle with one side a heaping helping of potatoes and the other side had quite a lot of turkey. Or so one would think. I say that because two helpings later, there may have been some potatoes left but I stopped just short of licking the turkey side of the pan to make sure I'd gotten every scrap of the bird in my own gullet.
So there are no turkey leftovers. Well...until my friend Ann hands me the dinner plate she made up for me yesterday. I'm meeting her for lunch (safely, don't panic anyone) and she's bringing said plate. So I'll have another turkey dinner tonight.
As for being creative, I suppose those who have this strange thing called leftovers need ideas for what to do with it. But I'm pretty easy. I love turkey and don't need to jazz it up. Just give me a plate with turkey on it and I'm good. Or I'll make up a sandwich. That's all I need for me to be happy with having more turkey.
If I didn't have to cook the damn thing myself, I'd probably have it once a month because it is soooo good!
I really don't like turkey all that much, although an actual cooked bird is tastier than that stuff you buy by the slice in delis and sandwich shops. Since I live alone, and only cook for myself, roast turkey isn't a thing around here. My Thanksgiving dinner substituted beef pot roast for the bird, but kept all the sides I love. It was a no-sweat meal that took about an hour to prepare, not counting the six-hour, low-and-slow cooking time for the roast. But I love all these recipes! They solve my ongoing dilemma about what to do with the leftover chicken when I roast one of those.
ReplyDeleteI hope you all had a happy day, and continue to feast off the leftovers clear through until Christmas!
Happy Day after Thanksgiving to everyone. I am exhausted and my foot aches from so much standing. I hope everyone had delicious food and a good Skype session with loved ones.
ReplyDeleteI think we're going to order fish and chips for tonight! LOL
No suggestions, but I hope everyone had a good day yesterday with friends and family.
ReplyDeleteNothing from me. We had a smoked chicken which was just right!
ReplyDeleteHank, you mention adding garlic, but I don't see an amount.
ReplyDeleteSuggestions?
Oh, like all the other ingredients, it doesn’t really matter. A chopped up clove? Would be fine. I am very fond of that garlic in tubes, I have to say. I just use a hit of it.
DeleteI'm using some of my leftover turkey the simplest, old-fashioned way: in sandwiches, with mayo, tomato and lettuce. Yum!!
ReplyDeleteI'm also putting a generous amount in a container and (distance) dropping it off with a young friend whose been self-quarantining since getting home from a visit to Georgia. We have a LOT of leftover to work with, since the smallest bird I could find was 14.5 pounds for four people - and one of us is a vegetarian! (I made creamy mac and cheese casserole for him.)
Julia, believe me when I say that a 14 1/2 pound turkey would just be a good start for me. :D
DeleteBy the way, I just looked up using leftover turkey for turkey paprikash. I think I'm also going to try that this year.
ReplyDeleteOh, interesting! Looking that up!
DeleteAnd I found out today that sliced turkey can be frozen! Anyone have any experience with this?
ReplyDelete