Saturday, November 29, 2008

FAREWELL FAIR FEAST! ~ THANKSGIVING WEEKEND STRATA / TURKEY CARCASS SOUP

~ November beauty
(flower of the month)
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THANKSGIVING WEEKEND STRATA
~ Delicious use of several leftovers ... stuffing, turkey, rolls, and cranberry sauce (old Free Press clipping from Whole Foods Market)
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4 cups leftover Thanksgiving bread stuffing
4 cups cubed bread (any will do like leftover dinner rolls a great option)
2/3 cup whole milk
2/3 cup half & half
6 organic eggs
1 1/2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp hot sauce (optional)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 cups white or assorted quartered mushrooms
2 1/2 cup cook leftover diced turkey
1/3 lb. shredded cheddar cheese (or favorite melting cheese like Pepper Jack and Gorgonzola)
2 cored and diced large apples, sprinkled with lemon juice to prevent browning
1-2 cups leftover cranberry sauce
  • Butter 9x12x2-inch baking dish.
  • Combine leftover stuffing and cubed bread in large bowl. Place half of mixture at bottom of baking pan and set aside.
  • Whisk together milk, half & half, eggs, Dijon mustard, hot sauce, salt & pepper; set aside.
  • Heat butter in pan and saute mushrooms and onions quickly on high heat. Combine mushroom and onion mixture with half of the green onions, leftover turkey, cheddar cheese and apples.
  • Arrange mixture evenly on stuffing and bread mixture on top. Slowly pour liquid mixture into baking dish, making sure to distribute evenly. Sprinkle remaining green onions on top for garnish. Press down on bread cubes, if necessary, to ensure that all bread is coated with liquid. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.
  • When read to bake, preheat oven to 350-degrees. Bake strata, uncovered, until top is golden and knife inserted into center comes out clean, approximately 60 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with cranberry sauce on the side. (4-6 servings)

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TURKEY CARCASS SOUP

" To make a good soup, the pot must only simmer, or 'smile'."
~ French Proverb

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Strip the carcass leaving sweet meat close to the bone. The essence of how the turkey was prepared will remain in the pot. (Especially tasty if stuffed). Add only a coarsely chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic, including the skin which will all be discarded. Plop into a large stock pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Simmer gently on the back burner for 4 hours. Drain stock over colander into another large stock pot, discard bits and bones, and begin anew. Chill and skim fat from top. The rest is fun.


Pull out leftover vegetables from Thanksgiving dinner; for example, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, broccoli, green beans, Brussels sprouts, corn, mushrooms, etc. Eye freshness and consider them for the pot. (If you feel you haven't had your fill of 'Holiday Fat', slip in some leftover gravy when no one is looking). Bring stock to a boil. Add 1 large chopped sweet or Spanish onion, 3-4 chopped garlic cloves, 3-4 stalks celery plus leaves, 4-5 large chopped carrots, 1 chopped green onion, 1 chopped red onion, 1 cup white wine, 1/2 cup chopped parsley, 1 heaping tsp. savory, 1 heaping tsp. thyme, heavy dashes of Lawry's Seasoned Pepper, coarse salt & cracked pepper to taste. Simmer on the back burner for 20-30 minutes until vegetables are cooked. Return some shredded or chopped roasted turkey back into pot. Adjust seasonings and savor the essence of Thanksgiving ... until next year!

9 comments:

JGH said...

I love making stratas. This is perfect for those long weekends when company is lingering and you don't want to go out and the fridge is jam packed!

marmee said...

yummy photograph, i can only dream of my sunflowers at this point but look forward to planting many more this coming spring/summer. thanks for the great leftover recipes.

marmee said...

ps i think i realized this is not a sunflower but it did remind me of their sunny faces.

joey said...

How true, JGH! I love stratas also and hooked after preparing the first many, many years ago ... such variety, you can't go wrong.

Hi Marmee ... looks like you survived Thanksgiving! Take a break and enjoy the leftovers.

Kathy said...

Just made some turkey soup... yum. I cheated tho'. I put a package of the Manichevitz lentil soup mix in with fresh carrots, onion, lots of celery.

spookydragonfly said...

Beautiful bloom, Joey! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving...personally, I'm all turkey-ed out!

joey said...

Welcome into my cookin' frenzy, ksr, one part of my crazy live. Your soup sounds delicious!

I hear you, Kim! After this weekend, I will say 'goodbye' to both turkey and pumpkin! Thanks for the memories will be my mantra.

Marysol said...

Well, if this didn't put a big grin on my face! Love the mum and its stray petal.

And the strata sounds great, but I'll have to sub chicken, as the turkey was gobbled up (no pun intended).

joey said...

Thanks Marysol ... I've over turkey but a chicken carcass (nice word) will do fine! Actually, the turkey was 27 pounds and the bones (had to be sawed to fit even in my largest stockpot) as big as human (even though I shared with the neighborhood, my husband, bless his heart, is still gobbling down the last spoonfulls ;)