Turkey Time

If you had the traditional turkey yesterday, you likely have a whole lot left over. Turkey sandwiches are great, but there are a lot of other options.

First, if there is still meat on the bone, remove it, take that carcass, put it in a pot of water, bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer and leave it for a 2 or 3 hours. You will have great soup stock. Then, add whatever you want, pasta, potatoes, vegetables, and of course, turkey. Cook until everything is tender. Or, if you don't want soup then, freeze your stock.

You can thicken that stock with corn starch (the procedure is on the box) and pour it over a pan full of turkey and vegetables, top with a pie crust, and bake it at 350 until the crust is brown. There, you have a simple pot pie.

Make turkey salad. Use any chicken salad recipe you like and substitute  turkey. A nice touch is  the addition of grapes, raisins, or any dry fruit,, and some chopped walnuts or pecans.

Turkey tetrazzini is a nice dish and simple. Cook some spaghetti, drain and set aside. Sauté, in butter, some chopped onion and celery until it's tender. Add some chopped mushrooms (they cook quickly) and chopped turkey. Then, add some cream, or milk, and let the liquid reduce a bit. Then add a little white wine, and, again let it reduce. Then toss this with the pasta and pour this into a baking pan. Top wit be read crumbs and grated cheese, and put it in a 350 oven just until the bread crumbs are brown. Notice that I didn't give any precise amounts. That is because you can vary this dish to suit yourself. Some like it creamy, some like the wine to dominate. It's up to you. Also, you can add any vegetables you want, carrots, peas, squash, anything.

Use your imagination. Turkey sandwiches are terrific, but you can do a lot with your left over bird.