Tomorrow's Leftovers

New ideas for all that leftover Thanksgiving food are always welcome. I mentioned last week that we were going to be three, possibly four at dinner for Thanksgiving; yet I roasted a 25 pound turkey just so I could test all of the great leftover recipes I found in my files and library. Of course I haven’t had time to do that yet, so I cut up the turkey into usable portions that will lend themselves to this use.


First, I took several prime slabs of breast meat and sliced them thin with a very sharp serrated knife for sandwiches. A turkey sandwich made with thin-sliced white turkey (fresh roasted of course), mayo, slices of either jellied cranberry sauce (Zig’s preference) or orange-cranberry relish (my preference), and a bit of leftover stuffing is a once-a-year delight. I do freeze some of these slices for less wonderful sandwiches, but good nonetheless. Then I cube half the rest of the white meat for some fairly fancy casseroles and salads. Slice dark meat off the legs and thighs in much the same fashion for those who prefer it. Shred or cube, whichever you prefer, all the rest of the easily sliceable meat. Pull off the less accessible meat from the carcass; and freeze the carcass in a large plastic freezer bag if you are not in the mood for making turkey soup immediately. Put the various cuts into separate freezer bags, label and date them and put into freezer, leaving out whatever you may want to use in the next 3 or 4 days.

Okay, so much for the turkey. What about the mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and rolls?

Mashed potatoes make a perfect topping for a turkey shepherd’s pie. If that’s too ordinary for you, make a halibut pot pie with mashed potato crust.

This would work with salmon or other fatty fish.

Halibut Pot Pie with Mashed Potato Crust

2 Tbsp. butter
1 large fennel bulb, trimmed, thinly sliced crosswise (about 3 cups)
½ cup sliced shallots (about 2 medium)
2 Tbsp flour
1-1/2 cups vegetable broth
1-½ pounds halibut fillets, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 6-oz. package baby spinach
3-1/2 cups warm mashed potatoes (rewarm in microwave, adding warm milk as needed if they are too thick)

Preheat broiler. Melt butter in heavy large pan over medium heat. Add fennel and shallots. Cover; cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper. Sauté 2 minutes. Add broth; bring to boil, stirring often. Add fish and spinach. Cover; simmer over medium heat until fish is almost cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer fish mixture to 11x7x2” baking dish. Spoon mashed potatoes over, covering completely. Broil until filling bubbles at edges and potatoes are brown in spots, about 4 minutes. Serve. (Makes 4 servings) Adapted from Bon Appetit Nov. 2006

Our turkey stuffing is made with wild rice and bread plus celery, onions, turkey broth and butter. If you have any left over (we usually don’t), besides reheating and serving with turkey and gravy, try making this delicious soup:

2 cups cubed cooked turkey breast
2 cups wild rice stuffing (leftover) or regular bread stuffing plus ½ cup cooked wild rice
4 cups turkey broth (can substitute canned chicken broth)
1 cup frozen peas or leftover peas
1 cup half and half
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Pour broth into large saucepan. Add turkey, stuffing and half and half. Stir until smooth.

Taste for seasoning. Bring to a boil. Turn heat down to simmer. Add cheese and peas. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly until cheese melts. Thin with a little more broth if mixture is too thick. Do not overcook.

Finally, here’s a new face for the leftover sweet potatoes. Let’s face it; you probably don’t have any pumpkin pie left over, right? But sweet potatoes might not be quite as popular. If you have plain or buttered and sweetened sweet potatoes, puree them in a food processor and use like pumpkin puree for another pie. The sweet potato-apple casserole that was in last week’s column is a perfect puree for a wonderful pie.

Piecrust for 1-crust 9-inch pie

4 large eggs
¼ cup sugar
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
One-fourth tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup half and half
1 ½ cups pureed sweet potatoes
½ cup chopped, toasted pecans

Line 9-inch pie pan with rolled-out crust. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine eggs, sugar, half and half, sweet potato puree, spices and pecans; stir to blend or process in food processor or blender until thoroughly blended. Pour mixture into piecrust. Bake at 400 degrees on lower oven rack for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Test for doneness. Shield pie lightly with foil after 30 minutes, if necessary. Let cool completely before slicing.

If you have a special recipe that uses Thanksgiving leftovers in an innovative way, e-mail it to lgudrais@charter.net. I promise to try them out and publish the best. Now, on to Christmas!