|
My favorite Holiday is approaching – Thanksgiving –
a day that revolves around family, football and food, all in excess. You can’t
do anything about excess family, and there is no such thing as too much
football. There is always the perennial conundrum of what to do with the surplus
turkey and assorted trimmings that emanate from your refrigerator on the 4th
Friday of November.
While some people mark this day as the beginning of
the consumerism on steroids season (also known as Christmas shopping), I
personally think turkey tastes better the second day, especially in a sandwich
with Hellmann’s mayonnaise. But there has to be more to life the day after
thanksgiving than cold turkey sandwiches and reheated trimmings served au
naturel.
The first step in enjoying your Thanksgiving
leftovers is proper handling. It is essential to make sure the food sits at room
temperature no more than two hours. Make sure the food is cooled before storing
in airtight containers. You should begin your leftover prep by removing all meat
from the turkey carcass. It is now time to make my favorite part of Thanksgiving
leftovers – turkey soup – or, more accurately, turkey stock that you can turn
into soup at a later time.
Take the carcass and place in a large stockpot and
cover with cold water then add diced mirepoix. I know you are thinking, “Hey
persnickety, we ain’t chefs here. I barely survive the Thanksgiving meal, and
now I have to do more work at the end.” Not exactly. When you are cutting
celery, carrots, and onions for the stuffing cut extra for the stock. Back to
the stock, after adding the mirepoix and cold water, add two bay leaves. Bring
to a simmer. Skim. Turn on low and let go overnight. The next day strain, add
more vegetables, some chopped turkey and cooked pasta or barley and instant
soup.
Now on to the serious culinary conundrum: What to
do with the lesser leftovers? Creamed onions do not need to be condemned to
leftover purgatory to be thrown out in the first week of December. They can be
pureed using a food processor or immersion blender and used as a sauce base for
Turkey Tetrazzini or as a sauce for poached eggs with turkey hash for a Sunday
after T-day brunch.
Leftover green beans can go in a frittata or in the
soup. Leftover sweet potatoes (even the marshmallows can be used) can be pureed
and combined with leftover rolls to make sweet potato bread pudding, add some
pecans for some crunch. Stuffing and mashed potatoes never seem to exist in
large quantities. And while I have heard of people partaking in stuffing
sandwiches I prefer to mix the two dishes and fry them up and serve them with
some gravy and turkey for a pre-college football nosh. That should cover most
of the table except for the ubiquitous cranberry sauce or relish. If you have
the canned cranberry sauce variety, pour two cups of port wine in a saucepan.
Reduce by half. Add the cranberry sauce and reduce by half again. This will make
a great sauce for ice cream or even bread pudding. The relish can be treated in
much the same way, but you may want to add a little sugar to help offset the
acidity of the oranges.
That leaves one item to discuss – the turkey. You
had to go and buy Birdzilla, and after forcing foil packets of turkey into
everyone’s hands to take home, you still have enough to feed a third world
country. Turkey Tetrazzini is a personal favorite of mine with a twist. Where I
grew up, there was a restaurant that had a unique take on the classic spaghetti
and cream sauced variety. They tossed the spaghetti in red sauce (gravy in South
Jersey/Philly speak) and add the turkey to a rich cheesy cream sauce with a
splash of sherry. The resulting balance of rich and acid gave new life to a
shopworn classic. Thanks for the food memories to Joe, Perry, Bobby and the old
crew at the Airport Inn. Sadly, now just a fond childhood remembrance. That
should be enough food for thought for a tryptophan-addled brain the day after
Thanksgiving. Enjoy the following recipes and until next month – Bon Appétit. | 