It is the day after Thanksgiving. The kitchen is in ruins, random family members are passed out in the living room due to overindulgences of various kinds and you feel like even looking at another slice of pumpkin pie will make your pants size skyrocket. Still, that does not stop you from opening the fridge and deciding you really should make good use out of all those leftovers-and soon. But wait: Instead of slapping dried-out, days-old turkey between two halves of a leftover dinner roll and eating cranberry sauce straight out of the can, check out some area chefs' suggestions for using up your Thanksgiving extras. After all, you cannot live on mashed potato sandwiches for a week straight.
Turkey
Matt Bettschart, a soup chef at Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano, 601 Junction Rd., admits he generally esorts back to his basic childhood instincts"" when it comes to leftover turkey: He makes turkey sandwiches. But he offers an unusual soup idea for anyone who wants a twist on the garden-variety gobbler dish: jalape??o and turkey chowder. Bettschart suggests using potatoes you didn't mash for Thanksgiving dinner to make the chowder base, then says to thicken it with cream and add chopped onions, bay leaves, thyme, parsley and peppercorn. Throw in some jalape??os after removing their seeds and pith, the white inner coating (""since you don't really want to kill yourself,"" Bettschart warns). Add carrots and celery, then cover your leftover Thanksgiving turkey carcass in a pot with the chowder base. Add water, milk and cream to the base, then mix a pound of butter and a pound of flour separately (to make a big recipe) and thicken the base with the mixture. The soup will be a spicy alternative to the turkey-noodle soup Mom usually throws together.
Another tasty option is turkey quiche, a creation of Adi Shtekel, head chef at George's Chop House, 1109 Fourier Drive. He suggests mixing one pound of diced turkey, 3/4 cup each of vegetables of your choice, three eggs and 3/4 cup half-and-half or whipped cream. Add any seasoning you like and put the mixture into an unsweetened pie shell, then bake it for 45 minutes at 350 degrees-it makes a perfect post-Thanksgiving breakfast or dinner.
Fruit and Veggies
If you refuse to resist the tried-and-true turkey sandwich option, at least try adding a fun condiment to liven it up. Tori Miller is the executive chef du cuisine at L'Etoile, 25 N. Pinckney St., and says cranberry mayonnaise, an item on L'Etoile's menu, adds ""sweet moistness"" to a boring sandwich. Just mix leftover cranberry sauce-either homemade or out of the can-with a small amount of mayonnaise and spread away.
You can also use up your extra veggies in something other than casserole. Shtekel suggests filling puff-pastry shells with diced turkey, chopped spinach and seasoning and baking them in the oven. He also recommends stuffed mushrooms. Mix a cup of cream of mushroom soup with diced turkey and freshly-chopped sage, then stuff the concoction into mushroom cups. Bake them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Both make excellent appetizers or filling snacks.
For leftover acorn squash, try another recipe from Bettschart that will make you forget you are eating a vegetable. Cut a squash in half and place it face down on a baking pan, then cook it in the oven until it's tender (check it with a skewer or a toothpick). Meanwhile, mix brown sugar with butter over low heat. Cut each cooked squash half into quarters and scoop the flesh out of the skin, shaping it into a wedge for each serving. Ladle the brown sugar and butter sauce over the squash and add a pinch of nutmeg for a tasty fall dessert.
Hopefully, these ideas will save you from the horrors of green-bean casserole and the never-ending supply of stuffing you will inevitably be left with after the big meal. Loosen your belt another notch and dig in-the feast doesn't have to end when Thanksgiving is over!
