What do you do with the leftover turkey?

Cafe Society
21

If you make turkey soup, make this bread to go along with it. It never has time to cool off in my house before we are demolishing it with lots of butter on top.

Herb-Parmesan Casserole Bread

This is batter bread, so it doesn’t require kneading, just thorough mixing of ingredients.

2 Cups warm water (105-115 deg.F)
2 Pkg active dry yeast
2 TBSP sugar
2 TSP salt
2 TBSP soft butter
½ Cup plus 1 TBSP grated Parmesan cheese
1 ½ TBSP dried oregano leaves (or other herb of your choice)
4 ¼ Cups sifted flour

Check the temperature of the water. This is critical for the yeast to properly activate. Dissolve one TBSP of the sugar into the water. Sprinkle the yeast on top, let sit for about 30 seconds, then stir to dissolve. The mixture should quickly begin to froth. If it does not do so after 15-20 seconds, either the yeast is no good or your water is not the proper temp.

In a mixing bowl, place three cups of the flour. Add remaining sugar, salt, butter, ½ cup of cheese, oregano. Turn on mixer at medium speed and add the yeast/water mixture until all is absorbed. Continue beating for 2 minutes until the batter is smooth. Add the rest of the flour gradually, either beating in by hand or with mixer at low speed.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Cover the bowl and let rise in warm place for about 45 minutes until double in bulk. Normally, after the first rising, batter bread can be baked. I prefer to do the following, which results in a lighter product. Beat the dough down for about 30 seconds, then transfer to a well-greased 2-quart casserole dish. Cover and let rise for a short period, perhaps 30 minutes or less. This allows the batter to rise a bit, but not double. If it rises too much, it will be full of air holes.

Sprinkle the remaining TBSP of cheese over the top of the bread and bake for about 35 minutes or until nicely browned. Turn out immediately onto a wire rack. It helps to run a table knife around the dish to break the loaf loose before attempting to turn it out onto the rack. Otherwise, part of it may remain in the dish.

22

I throw it in the trash, just to piss off PETA.

I kid! I kid!

(Mmmm… Roasted kid…)

23

Open-faced sammiches. Heated up turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes on a slice of toast, all covered in gravy.

24

The what?!

Invite more relatives.

25

Turkey Divan—It’s easy. It’s tasty. And it’s the law.

Really the recipe is for “Chicken Divan” but you can sub turkey of course.

  1. Green beans or possibly an “Oriental medley”—whatever amount you need to fill your pan about half-way. Frozen is ok, but pre-cook them…steam, probably, and drained of course. That’s the divan.

1A) I like water chestnuts in here, and some add mushrooms, but that’s your call.

  1. After making your divan, top with chicken or turkey. The slivery-er the better.

  2. Make a mixture of mayo (not Miracle Whip), lemon juice, and curry powder. The lemon juice just thins the mayo to make it easier to spread. The curry powder is to taste; I literally taste the mayo mixture to see if the tang suits me, and you know better than me how much curry you like. Roughly: 8 oz mayo, uice of 1/2 lemon and a Tb or two of curry powder for a 9 x 13 pan. Spread it with a rubber scraper; the idea is to coat, not slather.

  3. Sprinkle shredded sharp cheddar over the whole thing.

Pop in oven around 350F till golden brown mayo layer, cheese melted and possibly bubbling. Some like to take the pan out, sprinkle bread crumbs over, and return to the oven.

Since you’ve pre-cooked the turkey and beans, there’s not much really to cook. One nice thing about this recipe is that it’s practically a meal. I might add some bread, say, rolls or breadsticks, maybe a little fruit on the side. Highly tasty and super easy.

26

Ooh, yum. You all are giving me some great ideas.

27

Green salad with cheese and turkey (and bacon!).
Turkey omelets, especially with tomatoes and avocado.
Turkey tacos (like shredded chicken).

Many kinds of soup:
turkey noodle
turkey vegetable
split pea with turkey
bean and turkey
turkey chili

Mmmmmm…turkey…(shambles off to kitchen for midnight turkey)

28

That crust is GREAT! None of the pie was left after dinner. Thanks.

29

I always make Hot Browns with my leftover turkey:

In fact, that’s what we’re having for dinner tonight. Yum.

30

This. I win. Perfect solution to leftover turkey, especially when you’re getting tired of the stuff. Oh, in MMP parlance, NOT stands for (Not Our) Taters.

31

Isn’t it yummy? I’m glad you enjoyed it. I usually make it in individual servings, because the crust doesn’t really reheat well (so it’s good that yours is all gone!). I actually bought little individually-sized CorningWare dishes just for this, after the first time I made it. And I made a tiny one for my 15-month-old son last night, in a ramekin. :slight_smile:

32

Whenever I had leftover turkey (which was usually a “care package” my Mom would give me after the family dinner) I would cut some of it into small pieces and heat it up with condensed cream of mushroom soup, usually with sliced mushrooms and/or onions and whatever seasonings I felt like at the time, then serve it over cooked rice.

33

Chop it up, mix it with cheese and sour cream, and make tacos or burritos with it.

34

it’s funny…I love Thanksgiving turkey on Thanksgiving, I like it on sandwiches the next couple days, and then I hate it thereafter until the next Thanksgiving.

Fortunately for me, my SIL is a pastry chef and always sends me home with desserts that keep better than leftover proteins.

Right now I am contemplating my choice of: butterscotch cheesecake with caramel topping, fruit-infused bread pudding with rum sauce, my Mom’s pumpkin pie with Cool-Whip (yes, Cool-Whip, you traditionalist fuckers!), a pumpkin torte with ginger-snap crust, or an apple coffee cake with oatmeal.

Screw you guys. I’ve got sugar!

35

I combined turkey bits, chunky salsa and some water in a pot. When it came to a boil, I added some cornbread Stove Top stuffing and let it sit for five minutes. Turned out to be very tasty. Yum!

36

Turkey, carrots, peas, onions, stock to make a soup, then add cream cheese right before serving to make a… thick soup like thing.

37

Next time you can use a jar of great northern beans and some sour cream instead of the stuffing and you’ll have a great easy bean soup.

38

Tonight, we made turkey nachos out of leftover tortilla chips, queso dip (Velveeta melted with Ro-Tel tomatoes) and turkey bits. They were very much not bad.

Robin

39

The big pieces of turkey get used for sandwiches, and the small pieces go into our traditional casserole, which is…turkey pieces and gravy on one side of the round casserole dish, stuffing on the other, spread the mashed potatoes over all of it, top with more gravy and reheat.

40

What a fantastic idea. I saw one of Bobby Flay’s Throwdowns that was Hot Browns-- rarely have i wanted something so badly in my life, they looked so good!!

I’m doing this tomorrow night!