Now more than ever, it is the season of large gatherings and with the occasion of feeding a large group, there are the leftovers it generates. Whether it's turkey from Thanksgiving, a Christmas or Channukah dinner for a large group of friends, or whatever, inevitably you have food leftover from the night before that you now need to re-invent. This has no doubt given rise to some great and creative ways of using the unconsumed remains of a large dinner. Thanksgivings almost always yield a turkey pot pie for example. I went a step further with that notion years ago when I created a breakfast dish for a diner styled restaurant I worked at. Sweet Potato and Turkey Hash topped with two poached eggs and hollandaise sauce was a hangover breakfast if there ever was one. The recipe was fairly simple.
-1 cup of diced red onion
-1 cup of diced celery
Saute the vegetables in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Add:
-1 cup of diced raw sweet potato
Continue to saute on low heat until the vegetables turn translucent and the potatoes begin to soften a little.
Add:
-2 ounces good bourbon (I did say it was a hangover breakfast!)
Let the whisky boil for a moment to cook off the alcohol.
Add:
-2 lbs. leftover turkey meat shredded and any jellied turkey juices you may have.
-1 cup of turkey gravy
Thin the contents of the pan with stock if necessary. Bring to a simmer and add:
-½ cup of heavy cream
Simmer until slightly thickened to a stew like consistency. Serve topped with 2 poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, and thick sliced Challah toast.
*This may bring about a desire to return to bed for several more hours to be forwarned.
I also subscribe to the Dagwood Bumstead approach which is to make sandwiches of gargantuan proportions. Having a large amount of grilled Hanger Steak leftover from a gathering of friends, I built this beauty.
Ripe plum tomato, lettuce, green peppercorn mustard, and Cabrales blue cheese, made that one tasty lunch.
My recent trip to Tuscany inspired a killer combo that uses the pork loin I cooked last week for Thanksgiving. Broccoli Rabe and pork is a classic Italian pairing. For this I sauteed Broccoli Rabe in olive oil with garlic and crushed red pepper.
Thin slices of smoked pork loin and the sauteed greens went into an onion flavored flat bread with a schmear of green peppercorn mustard. French mustard may not be traditional Italian but tradition could take a backseat to intuition this time.
There was a deli I used to frequent that made a post Thanksgiving sandwich called a “Gobbler”. Thin slices of turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing all went on thick sliced bread with mayo and lots of black pepper. Diet food this is not.
My beverage of choice with foods like this is not a wine (GASP!) but a beer. A friend brought by a bottle of a limited release brew from Dogfish Head. Hellhound is an IPA with bright citrus accents. It was made to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the recording sessions of the great blues master Robert Johnson and the 29 songs he recorded just before he was murdered. It's name comes from one of his songs “Hellhounds on my Trail”, and the legend that he made a deal with the devil swapping his soul for his mastery of blues music.
The crisp and bright flavor of this ale, driven by hops and lemon zest, complimented the pork sammy very well and would work with just about anything discussed above.
May you enjoy many a great meal this holiday season and be just as masterful with your use of the leftovers as Robert Johnson was with his music. Just don't do anything rash.
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