Thanksgiving leftovers: What to do with that leftover bird

BEMIDJI-Every family has their Thanksgiving traditions, from what foods are served to breaking the turkey's wishbone, or watching the New York City Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade or football games.

Dan Eastman, culinary arts department manager at Concordia Language Villages

does have classic Thanksgivings traditions. His plans include a trip to see family in International Falls on the holiday and a celebration on the Saturday after with friends.

"We do a 'Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving,' we call it," he said, "We gather at our house. Us and least two other families, sometimes we have had up to about 30 people there. It gets pretty big and a little out of hand but there's a lot of food making involved with that. We do the traditional turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberries, all that good stuff. Because there are so many people, we always over cook. Typically we have a fair number of leftovers."

Another tradition for many families, is just what to do with all those leftovers. That's true for Eastman, as well.

"I like to make wild rice soup with it," he said.

With only a few new ingredients and several foods served within a Thanksgiving meal, Eastman combines them to create a simple wild rice soup.

"I don't use measurements because it's based on leftovers, but whatever you use it will taste delicious. There's a bunch of cream and bacon in it and delicious vegetables and turkey," he said.

Once combined together the soup is cooked in the crockpot to make things easy.

"Nobody wants to cook for a long time on the day after Thanksgiving or even a couple days after. It goes pretty quick, you just have to chop up the vegetables," Eastman said.

Wild rice soup

Dan Dan Eastman, culinary arts department manager at Concordia Language Villages

• ½ pounds wild rice

• 4 cups chicken or turkey Stock, or you can use your leftover gravy

• 1 pounds leftover turkey, diced, pulled or chunked

• 1 pounds bacon: cut into small piece

• All the leftover carrot sticks, celery stick, radishes from that veggie tray, diced or sliced

• 1 yellow onion, diced

• ½ quart heavy cream

• 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes

• To taste dried thyme, salt and pepper

You will need a large soup kettle, 6 quart crock pot, cutting board, knife, large skillet, slotted spoon and spoons for stirring and tasting. A measuring cup really is not needed. Feel free to improvise with amounts. This is leftover soup, after all.

Take a large soup kettle, and add your wild rice. Rinse it really well. Add water until the pot is almost full. Put the rice on high heat until it begins to boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle boil. Boil the rice until it fully splits open. If you have lake harvested wild rice, it will cook faster than cultivated wild rice. Once the rice splits open, drain all the water. Add the rice to your crock pot, along with some stock, gravy, or even water. Add the turkey to the crock pot. Fry your cut-up bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, and add it to the crock pot. Reserve just enough of the bacon fat to fry the vegetables. Add your vegetables to the skillet. Depending on how many vegetables you have, you may need to do this in batches. Once they are softened, add those to the crock pot. Add the cream, and some leftover mashed potatoes. Give it a taste, then add salt, pepper and dried thyme. Taste and repeat until you like it. Let simmer in the crock pot for an hour or two. Depending on how much liquid you added in the beginning, or how long you let is simmer, you may have hot dish instead of soup. Either way, it will taste great and your leftovers will be gone.

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In addition to Eastman, we asked other locals for their favorite Thanksgiving leftover recipes. Lisa Weiskopf and Mackenzie Lindahl from Harmony Food Co-op along with Patrice Hurd, who has been involved in several cooking contests share their favorites. Hurd enjoys using all of the leftovers to make turkey sandwiches but also offered some different recipes.

Lisa's Leftover Frittata

Lisa Weiskopf, product manager at Harmony Food Co-op

Ingredients

• Eggs

• Cup of milk (dairy alternative is fine)

• Parsley

• Salt

• Pepper

• Leftover stuffing or rice

• Leftover cooked veggies

• Olive oil

• Cheddar cheese (optional)

Beat 8 eggs, 1 cup milk, chopped parsley, salt and pepper in medium mixing bowl. Add ½ cup of stuffing bread cubes or rice and 2 cups leftover cooked veggies. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in ovenproof 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the egg mixture and cook 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-top, top with grated cheddar cheese and cook 10 minutes. Broil three minutes and slice.

Macky's Smoky Turkey Cranberry Sandwich

Mackenzie Lindahl, perishables department manager of Harmony Food Co-op.

• 4 slices whole-grain bread or artisan sourdough, lightly toasted

• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise

• ¼ teaspoon chipotle powder

• Leftover cranberry sauce or relish

• Leftover turkey slices

• Slices of smoked cheddar or mozzarella

• Red leaf lettuce

Whisk together the mayonnaise and chipotle powder and spread on one side of toast. Spread a little bit of cranberry sauce on the other and stack up the rest of your ingredient. Serve with a salty pickle.

Turkey Madeira

Patrice Hurd

• 1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms

• 1/3 cup finely chopped onion

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 tablespoon flour

• 1 cup chicken stock, warmed

• 1/2 teaspoon browning/seasoning sauce (Kitchen Bouquet)

• 2/3 cup Madeira wine

• 2 tablespoons butter

• Leftover turkey slices

• Mozzarella cheese, sliced

• Cooked asparagus spears

• 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes, warmed

In a large skillet, saute mushrooms, onions and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until softened, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat and sprinkle flour over, stir to blend and cook 1minute; stir in chicken stock and browning sauce, cover and slowly simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in wine and cook at a bubbling simmer (uncovered) another 5 minutes. Add butter,

stirring into sauce as it melts; add turkey slices to warm through. Place mozzarella and

asparagus over turkey slices, cover pan briefly until cheese is melted. Serve over warmed mashed potatoes. Makes about 4 servings.

Turkey Tetrazzini

Patrice Hurd

• 1 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced

• 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped

• 1 cup sweet red pepper, finely chopped

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 tablespoons flour

• 2 cups chicken stock

• 1 cup milk

• Pinch of nutmeg

• Salt and Pepper to taste

• 2 to 3 cups leftover turkey, chopped

• Hot cooked pasta

• Parmesan cheese, grated

In a large deep skillet, sauté mushrooms, onion, red pepper and garlic in olive oil over

medium heat until softened, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat slightly and sprinkle flour over,

stir to blend and cook 1 minute. Gradually stir in chicken stock, stirring constantly until

sauce boils and thickens slightly. Remove skillet from heat and stir in milk/cream, nutmeg

and seasonings to taste; fold in turkey until warmed through. Serve over hot cooked pasta

and sprinkle with cheese.Makes 4 to 6 servings.