What a wonderful Thanksgiving, Rob & Cecile drove home from Texas with 4 dogs and 2 cats.  Yes, we had a houseful, but it wasn’t a houseful of peeps….we totaled 6 dogs and 4 cats.  A very entertaining weekend!  Amazing that they mostly all get along.

One of our many Thanksgiving traditions is cooking 2 turkeys, one fried (by Rob) and one roasted and stuffed (by me). 

If you have never had a fried turkey you really need to try it!  The meat is delicious, not greasy at all, and very moist, not to mention that the skin is amazingly crunchy.  If it wasn’t for having to have stuffing, I would not roast a bird as well.  However, since we had both you can imagine how much turkey is leftover.  Here are a few of my favorite recipes to use up all that turkey:

Turkey Pot Pie

2 frozen deep dish pie shells, thawed
1 tablespoon Argo® Corn Starch
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon Spice Islands® Poultry Seasoning
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
1 (15 ounce) can mixed vegetables, drained
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole potatoes, drained and cut into one-inch pieces
1 cup cooked turkey, chopped
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Combine corn starch and milk in a small saucepan; stir until smooth.  Add butter, poultry seasoning, salt, and white pepper.  Stirring constantly, bring to a boil and cook for one minute.  Remove sauce from heat.  In a large mixing bowl, combine mixed vegetables, potatoes and turkey.  Stir in sauce until well combined.

In a small bowl whisk 1 egg with 1 teaspoon water.  Brush bottom of pie shell with egg wash.  Pour turkey filling over egg wash.  Invert the second pie crust over the top of the filling and seal edges together, pinching the crust.  Brush top crust with egg wash and poke 3-4 holes in the crust to allow steam to escape.  Bake 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Turkey Pot Pie

Turkey Frittata

2 tablespoons Mazola® Corn Oil
½ onion, finely chopped
½ (30-ounce) bag frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
6 large eggs
⅓ cup heavy cream or half & half
¼ teaspoon Spice Islands® Poultry Seasoning
1-½ cups cooked turkey, chopped
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray an 8×8-inch pan with cooking spray.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.  Stir in potatoes, salt and pepper, cook until slightly golden brown.  Remove from heat.

In a mixing bowl beat together the eggs, cream and poultry seasoning.

Place potato mixture in prepared baking dish.  Top mixture with chopped turkey, pour egg mixture over turkey.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on top.  Bake 25-30 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Turkey Frittata

Mom’s Turkey Soup

For the stock:
1 turkey carcass, leftover from carving a whole turkey, including any leftover drippings
Cold water
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 to 2 carrots, roughly chopped
1 to 2 stalks celery, roughly chopped

For the soup:
Turkey stock
Leftover vegetables, i.e. string beans, corn, etc.
Or 1 (15 ounce) can mixed vegetables, drained
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole potatoes, drained and cut into one-inch pieces
1 (16 ounce) can cannellini beans
¼ cup shredded carrots
½ cup frozen or canned peas
½ cup frozen or canned corn
1 teaspoon Spice Islands® Poultry Seasoning
1 teaspoon Spice Islands® Sea Salt
½ teaspoon Spice Islands® Ground Pepper
½ cup rice
2 cups or more leftover chopped or shredded cooked turkey meat
Optional: leftover gravy
Stock:
Break up the leftover bones of the carcass so they fit into a large stock pot. Cover bones with cold water by an inch and add any pan drippings that weren’t used to make the gravy. Add onions, carrots and celery. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook stock, uncovered, for one hour.

Remove the bones and veggies and strain the stock, ideally through a very fine mesh strainer. Once the bones have cooled, remove all the usable turkey meat and set aside until needed. Discard cooked vegetables and bones after meat has been removed.

Makes 3 to 4 quarts of stock, depending on the size of the turkey carcass, and how much water was added to cover it.

Making the soup:
In a large stock pot add cooked turkey stock, vegetables, cannellini beans, carrots, peas, corn, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Bring soup to boil, add rice and continue cooking over medium low heat until rice is soft, about 20 minutes. Add reserved turkey (and optional gravy). Simmer an additional 5 minutes. Taste soup and add more salt if needed.

Ladle soup into bowls, top with grated parmesan cheese (if desired).

Mom’s Leftover Turkey Soup

Buon Appetito!