Post Thanksgiving leftovers shine

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope you had lots of family around a big table loaded with good things to eat.

If your dinner was like ours, you cooked ‘way too much — on purpose. Half the fun of the Thanksgiving feast is the leftovers crammed into next day sandwiches, casseroles and turkey soup. On Thanksgiving everybody goes home from our house with enough food for a day or two. Let’s talk leftovers. Turkey pot pie is good right away or frozen to eat in December when you’re busy shopping.

Every Friday after Thanksgiving, my children grew up eating sandwiches made of sliced turkey with bits of dressing and cranberry sauce on potato rolls — yum.

Leftover mashed potatoes mixed with a little onion and flour, rolled in bread crumbs and sautéed in butter make great potato pancakes. Those same mashed potatoes can also make a wonderful Vichyssoise (French potato soup).

Our post Thanksgiving week will include Vichyssoise for dinner one night. Here’s the short cut recipe if you want some too.

QUICK

VICHYSSOISE

1/2 cup butter

3 1/2 cups chicken stock (homemade if you have it)

6 leeks, white part only minced

2 tablespoons minced celery

3 cups mashed potatoes

1/2 teaspoon salt if desired

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

2 cups half-and-half

1 tablespoon chives

In a 3 or 4 quart heavy saucepan, saute leeks and celery in fat until golden. Add stock, potatoes, salt and pepper and cook over low heat 15 minutes. Cool. Add cream. Combine all ingredients except chives and chill. Serve cold or hot with a sprinkling of chives.

Serves six.

Linda Conway Eriksson can be reached by e-mail at ieatatmoms@gmail.com

Posted by Linda C. Eriksson on Nov 26 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.