Another dinner of leftovers, again! Thanksgiving sure does make a lot of leftover food. This is a recipe that you can use with leftover mashed potatoes, in the event that you find mashed potato pancakes way too salty because someone thought it'd be a great idea to mix salt, butter, and some random dairy into the mashed potatoes for T-day.
Fortunately, the main ingredient is already cooked and mashed, so now I build a soup around it. There is no added salt because the mashed potatoes are already salted. If you don't have leftover turkey stock on hand, you can substitute the liquid component of this soup with water or chicken broth.
Ingredients
2 slices of bacon, cut into thin strips
1-2 carrots, diced
1-2 celery ribs, diced
1/2 onion, thinly sliced (optional)
2 c turkey broth
1-2 c mashed potatoes
3/4 c cheddar cheese, grated
Spice mix (optional): dried thyme, garlic powder, dried oregano
Directions
1. Fry bacon until crispy. Take bacon out of the pan and drain on a paper towel. This will be used to garnish the soup before serving.
2. Pour the bacon fat into the pot that will hold at least two quarts of soup. Over low-medium heat, fry onion slices until they are translucent and slightly golden brown. Add carrots and celery. Cook until vegetables are fork tender.
3. Add broth and mashed potatoes. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat. Puree with an immersion blender. Then, over medium heat, add grated cheese and stir until all the cheese has melted.
4. Serve hot in a bowl and top with some fried bacon bits.
Savory Pie Crust
I have been using this pie crust recipe for pot pies. Seeing how there is a lot of turkey meat leftover, I think a few mini pot pies will be good to make this week.
Ingredients
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
8 tbsp (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 to 4 tbsp cold water
Directions
1. In a food processor, pulse together flour, salt, black pepper and butter. Gradually add enough cold water so that the dough comes together.
2. Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a disc. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
3. To use, roll out dough to desired shape and bake according to pie or tart instructions.
Yield: one 9-inch or 10-inch crust
Kitchen note: This amount of crust is enough to make four 6 oz double crust pot pies which are baked at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes.
Ingredients
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
8 tbsp (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 to 4 tbsp cold water
Directions
1. In a food processor, pulse together flour, salt, black pepper and butter. Gradually add enough cold water so that the dough comes together.
2. Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a disc. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
3. To use, roll out dough to desired shape and bake according to pie or tart instructions.
Yield: one 9-inch or 10-inch crust
Kitchen note: This amount of crust is enough to make four 6 oz double crust pot pies which are baked at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes.
Lemon and Sage Buttered Clams
Was at the U-district farmers market today and picked up two pounds of fresh clams (manila and savory, harvested from the Hamma Hamma River Delta in the Hood Canal) from a seafood vendor.
This is a good cooking liquid for clams:
1/3 c freshly made garlic-sage butter
1/2 lemon peel, no pith, thinly sliced
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (or substitute with a dry sherry)
1/4 c water
You'll need a covered casserole pan for this. Since most of the cooking happens with the lid on. If the clams are fresh, like these were, all the clams should open within 2-3 minutes of cooking. Don't cook them for longer than 5 minutes, or the meat will be tough and chewy.
Cheers!
Turkey Gravy with Mushrooms
After the turkey has been removed to a cutting board or serving platter, everything leftover (except for the burnt bits) are fair game to be incorporated into the gravy. If the burned charcoal bits bother you for health reasons, simply take a spoon and scoop them out of the pan before proceeding with the gravy.
Ingredients
8 oz cremini mushrooms (small brown mushrooms), washed and sliced
4 green onions, white part only, sliced
1/2 c dry red wine
1 1/2 c turkey broth
1 1/2 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
3+ tbsp all purpose flour
roasting pan juices, lard and bits from the roasted turkey
Directions
Place the roasting pan over two stove burners and turn on both burners to low-medium heat. Use red wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan. You may need more than the specified amount of turkey broth to dilute the saltiness of the gravy. Hopefully you started a stock pot with extra turkey necks when the turkey was put into the oven. Add all the ingredients and whisk to combine the flour with the gravy. More flour may be needed after the broth is added.
The gravy should be thickened and runny; and certainly not gloppy with flour.
From a 15 pound turkey, this made roughly 3 1/2 cups of gravy.
No-knead Beer Bread
This is one of the laziest bread recipes I have come across. On the whole it tastes pretty decent. At least it doesn't have a ridiculously long proofing time like the Jim Lahey no-knead bread recipe. It probably also won't taste as delicious as an artisan bread. The bottle that went into this version was a Costco-brand pale ale. I made it as a backup bread for the stuffing.
Ingredients
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c warm water (110 degrees F) + 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast + 1/2 c all purpose flour
One (12 oz) bottle of beer or ale
1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
some cornmeal, for the bottom of the bread (optional)
Directions
After proofing the yeast, stir all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Let rise once for a couple hours until doubled in size. Fold dough into itself to make a ball or loaf or an oblong shape and transfer to a baking sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise again for 45 minutes. Score top of the loaf a few times with a sharp knife. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place a pan filled halfway with warm water below the loaf. Bake for 30 minutes.
Ingredients
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c warm water (110 degrees F) + 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast + 1/2 c all purpose flour
One (12 oz) bottle of beer or ale
1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
some cornmeal, for the bottom of the bread (optional)
Directions
After proofing the yeast, stir all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Let rise once for a couple hours until doubled in size. Fold dough into itself to make a ball or loaf or an oblong shape and transfer to a baking sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise again for 45 minutes. Score top of the loaf a few times with a sharp knife. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place a pan filled halfway with warm water below the loaf. Bake for 30 minutes.
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