The annual Thanksgiving feast is an anticipated event all year long. We look forward to a succulent turkey, stuffing, gravy and all the fixings. For most of us Thanksgiving is often a 7 course meal, which equals lots of left overs! If you find yourself buried in Thanksgiving leftovers, and the kids refuse to eat another turkey sandwich, try these yummy recipes!
Superb Turkey Soup
This recipe is courtesy of Simply Recipes
Ingredients
For the stock:
1 turkey carcass, leftover from carving a whole turkey, including any leftover drippings or giblets (not the liver) if you have them
Cold water
1 medium to large yellow onion, quartered or cut into thick wedges
1 to 2 carrots, roughly chopped (can include tops)
Several sprigs of fresh parsley
1 to 2 sprigs of thyme, or a teaspoon of dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 celery rib (roughly chopped) and some celery tops
5 to 10 peppercorns
Salt
Pepper
For the soup:
1 to 1 1/2 cups each, chopped carrots, onion, and celery
A few sprigs of fresh parsley, leaves chopped (about 2 to 4 Tbsp)
A couple cloves garlic, minced
Egg noodles or rice (optional, skip egg noodles for gluten-free version)
Seasoning – a couple teaspoons or more of poultry seasoning (to taste) or a combination of ground sage, thyme, marjoram, and/or a bouillon cube
2 cups or more of leftover chopped or shredded cooked turkey meat
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Remove all the usable turkey meat from the turkey carcass to save for making sandwiches later or for adding to the soup once the stock is made.
If you are working with a large turkey carcass, you may want to break up the bones a bit so they fit better in the pot. Place the turkey carcass, neck (if you haven’t cooked it with the turkey), leftover skin and bones from dinner, into a large stock pot (at least 8 quart or 12 quart depending on the size of the turkey), and cover with COLD water by an inch.
Add any drippings that weren’t used to make gravy, and any giblets (not the liver) that haven’t been used already. Add thickly sliced onion, some chopped carrots, celery and celery tops, parsley, thyme, a bay leaf, and some peppercorns to the pot.
Bring to a boil on high heat and then lower the heat to keep the stock to a bare simmer. Skim off any foamy crud that may float to the surface of the stock. (Note in the photo that even though the stock is at a bare simmer, it looks like it is boiling because of the foam that is beginning to come to the surface.)
Add salt and pepper to the pot, about 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper. It sort of depends on how big your turkey is. You can always add salt to the soup later.
Cook for at least 4 hours, partially uncovered, occasionally skimming off any foam that comes to the surface.
After 4 hours of a low simmer, use tongs or a large slotted spoon to remove the bones and vegetables from the pot. Then strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer. If you have a strainer but it isn’t a fine mesh strainer, you can line it with cheesecloth or with several layers of dampened paper towels and strain the stock through that.
If making stock for future use in soup you may want to reduce the stock by cooking it longer, uncovered, to make it more concentrated and easier to store. (We usually do this step at a rolling boil, and reduce the stock by at least half. When you boil stock it will make it cloudy, but the taste is great so we don’t care. If you want to reduce stock and keep it relatively clear, you’ll need to do that slowly and a bare simmer, and it will take much longer.)
Makes 3 to 4 quarts or more of stock, depending on the size of the turkey carcass, and how much water you added to cover it.
Making the Turkey Soup
Prepare the turkey soup much as you would a chicken soup.
In a large soup pot, heat some butter or olive oil (or turkey fat rendered from the stock) on medium high heat. Add chopped carrots, onions, and celery in equal parts. Cook until the onions are softened, about 10 minutes. Add a couple cloves of garlic, chopped, and cook for a minute more, until the garlic is fragrant. Then add the stock to the pot. Add some parsley and seasoning—salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, marjoram, and/or a bouillon cube.
Bring to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are just cooked through. Add rice, noodles*, or even leftover mashed potatoes (skip all of these if you are cooking low-carb). Take some of the remaining turkey meat you reserved earlier, shred it into bite sized pieces and add it to the soup. You may also want to add some chopped tomatoes, either fresh or canned. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes a dash or two of Tabasco gives the soup a nice little kick.
*If cooking gluten-free use gluten-free noodles.
Cheesy Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes
This recipe is courtesy of Just a Taste
Ingredients:
3 cups chilled leftover mashed potatoes
2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tablespoons chopped scallions, green and white parts
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 Tablespoons plus 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil, for pan-frying
Sour cream, for serving
Directions:
In a large bowl, stir together the mashed potatoes, cheese, scallions, egg and 3 tablespoons flour until combined. (See Kelly’s Notes.) Using your hands, divide the mixture into 12 portions. Roll each portion into a compact ball then flatten it into a pancake about a 1/2-inch-thick.
Place the remaining 1/2 cup of flour in a shallow dish and carefully dredge each pancake in the flour.
Heat 3 to 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. (Add enough oil to thoroughly coat the bottom of the pan.)
Fry the pancakes, in batches, until they’re golden brown and crispy on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes. Add more oil to the pan as needed between batches. (Do not overcrowd the pan and do not flip the pancakes too soon or they won’t develop a crisp crust.) Transfer the pancakes to a paper towel-lined plate and immediately sprinkle them with salt.
Serve the potato pancakes topped with sour cream and garnished with additional chopped scallions.
Note: If the pancake mixture is too dry add more egg, if it is too wet, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time.
Turkey Pot Pie
This recipe is courtesy of the Food Network
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 tablespoons flour
4 cups chicken or turkey stock
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups shredded turkey
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 prepared pie crust
1 egg, lightly beaten
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt butter in saucepan and cook chopped onion until tender. Stir in celery and carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes and simmer until tender. Stir in turkey, parsley and peas. Pour mixture into casserole. Top with pie crust and brush with egg. Bake for 30 minutes until crust is golden.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving Leftovers!