Reinventing Turkey

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I got really stuffed at dinner hosted by members of the extended family. After hearing stories of how back in the day things were tough in Russia, and then many humorous yet heartbreaking stories of poverty and survival during the Great Depression, I am very grateful for the relatively comfortable life I have today. It's hard to get back to school, but at least I have a good education, and it won't be long before the next big holiday.

It must be tough to deal with lots of leftover turkey. I've got a huge hunk of it sitting in my fridge. The day after Thanksgiving, my parents decided to cook up a turkey. It was delicious, but having had lots of turkey on Thanksgiving already, I really couldn't eat much more. So, my parents had me take a hunk of it when I left. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Trouble is, I also cooked toward the end of the week, so now I've got plenty of cooked food in my fridge. When I didn't have time to cook, I had nothing, but now suddenly the fridge is packed. Still, I'm very thankful for a full fridge.

I've got a lot of ideas of what to do with that turkey so that nothing is wasted--some traditional, some not. Whether I have time to use all those ideas is a different story:

1) turkey sandwich--really obvious, but there are some non-obvious ways to make them better. My brother used to love to shred up the meat, add lots of black pepper, then melt some cheese on it. It's much better than having a dry slice of turkey on sliced bread.

2) turkey soup--I love making chicken tortilla soup, and I suppose turkey tortilla is just as good. All you need is a can of diced tomatoes w/chili, slice up a jalapeno pepper, mince some garlic, chop up some onions, green onions, and cilantro, drop in some corn tortillas, and of course the turkey, and you've got a quick and easy soup. Of course there's also the traditional turkey noodle, turkey vegetable, or turkey with rice.

3) turkey pot pie--chicken pot pie is actually pretty easy to make from scratch. I used to make it for potlucks all the time. Make the pie dough the night before (it's easy to find a recipe online). Cut up some carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions, sautee them until the carrots and potatoes are somewhat cooked through in order to cut down on baking time. Mix in the turkey bits. Add in some milk, flour, and a can of chicken broth to make a creamy mixture. Flavor with pepper or other herbs to your fancy. Roll out 2 pieces of dough, line the pan, pour in the filling, slap on the top crust, and bake at 375 for 45 minutes or so.

4) turkey pasta--make a cream or pesto sauce for it. I think anything tomato-based will ruin it.

5) turkey salad--the possibilities are endless. You can turn turkey into a meat-heavy salad, or have turkey pieces over a bed of greens. The latter, of course, is a lot more nutritious.

6) turkey porridge--my mom gets credit for this one. The leftover shell of the turkey that no one can or wants to eat is still flavorful, and this is one way to really milk the turkey for all it's worth. We didn't hunt the turkey, but we waste nothing, just like the hunters of yore. Making a rice porridge is simple--boil water, add a few scoops of already cooked rice (should be about a 1/2 to 1/3 ratio of rice to water), and boil until the rice is quite broken up. Add in the turkey carcass and anything else to flavor as necessary. Peanuts (without the shells, of course) make a good addition as well.

If you can't deal with having turkey all week, cut it up and freeze it. Deal with it a bit at a time.