Post Thanksgiving Re-purposing

Every Thanksgiving, there are the true "Turkeytarians" like my mom and my husband who start dreaming of turkey and all that it entails.  We've always joked that if my mom were on Death Row, turkey & dressing would be her last meal request.  My husband is the official turkey guy.  He brines it, he roasts it, he watches it, he even photographs it.  Yep, I'm not the only nerd taking pictures of food.

Personally, I'm very (extremely) lukewarm about turkey. But, I get it.  There are those like Mom and Neil who are all in. I know people like them think that a turkey, mayo and tomato sandwich later is like manna from Heaven.  Whatev.  Me, I'm the one thinking of all the ways I can turn that leftover turkey into something way more interesting.  Soup, enchiladas, pot pies, something.  This year, I decided on an old classic....Turkey Tetrazzini.

Start by cooking about 1/2 lb of noodles, whatever type you like.  I chose spaghetti but linguine or fettucine would work well too. 

Chop about 3 cups of leftover turkey.  I'm not a big fan of cubes of meat, so I chop mine roughly so the pieces are not uniform. Chop up a small onion and some mushrooms.  I used about 4 big mushrooms; you can decide how many is enough but not too much.

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 400.  Let's make the sauce now.  In a saucepan, melt about 3 Tbs butter.  Stir in 1/4 cup of flour and cook about 3 minutes or so.  Whisk in 2 3/4 cup chicken or turkey broth, 1/4 cup white wine, 1/4 tsp thyme and a pinch of nutmeg. Whisk until nice and smooth and continue to heat to boiling.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes, whisking frequently.  Remove from heat and whisk in cream.  Set aside.

Melt about 1 more Tbs butter and saute onions and mushrooms.  Mix together turkey, noodles, onions and mushrooms.  

Then, add the sauce to the mixture...

Pour all into a casserole dish and sprinkle with Parmesan...

Then into that nice, hot oven to bake for about 30 minutes, until bubbly and beautiful.

  
 I served ours with some peas because I'm a freak about having something green on the plate.  Actually, the peas are good mixed into the tetrazzini too.  

I've also added pimento for color in past casseroles, which works well too.  I realize tetrazzini is probably the most 1950's type meal you can imagine, but it has stood the test of time for a reason.  It's creamy and gooey, there's pasta involved, it uses up that leftover turkey (or chicken), it freezes well and is a good dish to take to a sick friend.  Frankly, I find it more exciting than a leftover turkey sandwich.  But then again, I'm not a textbook Turkeytarian like Mom and Neil!

Repurposed Food

You can spend hours, yes hours, on Pinterest checking out "repurposed" ideas.  Using old doorknobs to hang your keys on, turning an old suitcase into a desk, making headboards out of old doors.  The list goes on and on.  But, you never see anyone talking about repurposing food.  And I get it.  The term generally applies to objects, most of the time found objects that can be given new life.  But, since I think about cooking and food pretty much all the time, I find myself thinking about "repurposing" food.

You see, I hate leftovers.  Always have.  The only food, in my opinion, that is worth eating as a leftover is Chinese food, pizza or my Aunt Jennie's sweet potatoes.  Everything else just sits in the fridge hoping that my husband will come along and gobble it up before it finally gets thrown out.  You're probably asking yourself "Why bother putting the leftovers in the fridge if you know you won't eat them?"  Well, it's really really hard for me to just throw away something, anything, that I know is good and useful.  Consequently, when I was single, I'd amass a pretty good collection of unwanted leftovers that would stare back at me until it was finally time for them to take up residence in the trash can.  But then I found Neil.  He loves leftovers! He's a "chronological" eater too.  He keeps track of what went in the fridge when and he finished them off accordingly.  It's a great system really.

However, over the last couple of years, I find myself trying to be more responsible when it comes to the leftovers.  I still can't bring myself to want a plate of heated up old stuff, but aha! I realized that I can turn them into something else and then everybody wins! Repurpose it into something completely new.  

This brings us to tonight's dinner.  Pork & veggie spring rolls and beef with broccoli over jasmine rice.  A few days ago, I made caramel apple pork chops.  The chops were huge, so we ended up with a lot leftover.  I just scraped off the apples and sweet sauce then finely minced the meat.  This morning I created the spring roll filling using shredded cabbage, julienned carrots, bean sprouts and sliced bamboo shoots, mixed with the minced pork.  Viola!  

Stir-frying cabbage, carrot, bamboo shoots & bean sprouts

 

Assembly: got these awesome spring rolls skins at the Chef'Store!

 

Ready to be fried

Yesterday was my husband's birthday, so we had steaks.  Again, I had more than we needed, so I took the leftover steak, sliced it thinly and will use it in a beef with broccoli recipe from my trusty Chinese cookbook.  I am so excited about dinner I can hardly stand it!  And better yet, there are no leftovers sitting in the fridge giving me the stink-eye every time I open the door!  Repurposing again.

All ready for the wok

 

I love the sight of bright green broccoli

 

Added in some bamboo shoots as well

Beef with broccoli & pork/veggie spring roll

I don't pretend to be the first or only person to do this with leftovers. I'm just happy that I've become pretty darn good at it.  I find my creativity kicking into gear any time we have leftover food and I'm likin' it.  And when you stop to think about how inexpensively you can end up feeding yourself and your family, the numbers are almost staggering.  Now that I'm a committed and addicted coupon-a-holic, this means so much more.  If you are an anti-leftover person like me, think about how you can do something with the food instead of enduring the guilt that those leftovers can inflict when they stare back at you all weepy-eyed in that harsh fridge light.  :-)

Turkey's Day After

Turkey is the American symbol of Thanksgiving, of harvest time, of bounty and abundance.  Makes you wonder if turkeys have any sense of their importance? Maybe it's a source of great pride? Maybe it's a source of great depression? For the turkey that is.  But for us humans, the turkey represents one of our most anticipated and joyously celebrated holidays.  It's cool too that it's uniquely American.  Interestingly enough, there are some people who regard turkey as the ultimate delicacy and yet, there are those who are just ok with it and some who really don't like it.  But, we roast 'em, fry 'em, grill 'em and serve 'em every year.

Almost as anticipated as the Thanksgiving turkey itself is the leftover Thanksgiving turkey.  Some people dream about the leftover turkey sandwich. I've heard everything from a simple white bread and turkey sandwich to an elaborate turkey, dressing, cranberry sandwich tower. After all the leftovers went into the fridge, Neil & his brothers used to go retrieve the now-cooled gravy, slice it off (yes, slice it) and put a slab of cooled, congealed gravy between two slices of bread.  I AM NOT making this up! My mind usually goes to the old turkey tetrazzini or turkey enchiladas.  But, today we tried something new and I think it's now my favorite.

Back story:  as most of you probably know, my mom and I work together selling real estate.  For many years, we've been sending our clients a monthly recipe postcard.  We've had numerous clients call us to let us know that they've tried the recipe with great success.  I always mail one to mom and dad's house so that I know they've hit the mail and have been delivered.  This month, right before the holiday, the card arrived with a recipe for "Asian Turkey Soup."

We whipped up a batch of this today and served with some veggie egg rolls on the side.  Man, did it hit the spot!  Especially on a cold day. And, best of all, it was a snap to prepare.  

We had enough for the three of us and more for tomorrow.  The Asian flavors were just right for making this something new and different than the usual, traditional leftover turkey fare.