Tag: leftovers

Jerri’s Leftover Turkey A la King

After we became empty nesters, a problem we never had when the kids were living at home rose to prominence. Even two people with excellent appetites and reasonably good memories can forget how many packages of leftover turkey they tucked in the back corners of the freezer.

Discovering a package of roast turkey sliced from the bird a year or two after a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is an unpleasant experience. Sometimes it even leads to conflict:

“How did this package of turkey get behind the vegetables?” I ask.

“You probably moved it. Use your eyes once in a while!”

“We can take it to the cabin and feed it to the fox,” I say, which defuses most of these confrontations.

However, it really is better to use that meat to make enchiladas, tetrazzini, soup or turkey a la king rather than fatten up the animals who should be getting their own turkeys. There are lots of them running around Wisconsin today.

Jerri is a genius when it comes to using up leftovers, and she has done her best to teach me how to “make do” as well. Most of the time, those “found foods” turn into delicious meals. Here is how we make leftover turkey a la king. Served over mashed potatoes, it is truly a dish made for royalty.

INGREDIENTS:

5 T butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. white pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk
2 cups diced turkey
4 oz. sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped pimiento

PROCEDURE:

Dice the turkey meat (a mixture of white and dark is best) and set it aside. Open and drain a can of mushrooms or clean, slice and sauté some fresh mushrooms. Open a small jar of pimientos and chop them if necessary.

In a two quart saucepan or skillet, melt the butter and blend in the flour. salt and white pepper over low heat. You are making a roux. Cook the mixture for three or four minutes, but do not brown it.

Add the broth and milk, raise the heat to medium and stir constantly until the sauce has thickened and is bubbling.

Reduce the heat and stir in the turkey, mushrooms and pimientos. Continue stirring until everything is hot. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Serve over mashed potatoes, pasta, rice or toast. The recipe makes four generous servings.

NOTES: The original for this recipe is of course “Chicken a la King” which was probably invented in the late 19th century by William “Bill” King, a chef at the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The recipe was first published in 1900.

You can substitute red or green bell pepper for the pimiento.

Jerri’s Turkey Tetrazzini

We always have roast turkey for our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, and that means we always have leftover turkey. After the last guest is gone and the house is quiet, I cut the meat from the turkey carcass while Jerri packages it.

The bones and skin go into a Dutch oven where they will be simmered the next morning to make turkey broth while the packages of meat go into the freezer. Later those packages will end up furnishing the meat for a half dozen different recipes. Here is one that Jerri is proud to serve guests who enjoy it as much as we do.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. cooked turkey (2 or 3 cups shredded meat)
1/2 lb. spaghetti
3/4 lb. mushrooms
5 T butter, divided
2 T flour
2 cups chicken broth
3 T white wine (sauvignon blanc or chardonnay are good choices)
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup blanched, slivered almonds
Salt and pepper to taste
3 – 4 T Parmesan cheese

PROCEDURE:

First, clean, slice and cook the mushrooms. Melt two tablespoons of butter in a frying pan and sauté the mushrooms until they begin to turn golden brown. Leave them in the pan but remove them from the heat. If necessary, cut or shred the turkey into bite-sized pieces.

Preheat the oven to 375º and grease a glass baking dish. Cook the spaghetti al dente according to the instructions on the package.

While the pasta water is heating and the spaghetti is cooking, make the sauce. Melt three tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add two tablespoons of flour and cook over medium heat for two or three minutes once the flour begins to bubble. Do not brown the flour. Add the chicken broth and wine, stirring constantly to make a smooth sauce, then stir in the whipping cream. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Drain the spaghetti and put it into a large mixing bowl. Mix the sauce, meat, mushrooms and almonds with the spaghetti. Place the mixture in the baking dish and sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over the top.

Bake at 375º about twenty minutes until heated through and lightly browned.

NOTES: You can substitute chicken for turkey and canned mushrooms for fresh. Use eight ounces of canned mushrooms. Drain and add them to the spaghetti with the other ingredients.

Jerri prefers to use white meat for tetrazzini because she thinks it looks nicer, but I think that it is just as tasty with dark meat.