The leftover turkey sandwich: A Boxing Day staple! To help expand the horizons of both you and your holiday leftovers, however, we canvassed Toronto chefs about their ideas for repurposing day-old holiday eats.
Sure, you might have thought of a few of them – but I bet the concept of French onion soup topped with stuffing and Brussels sprouts didn’t even enter your wildest dreams until now. Caution: You may not want to try all of these at home.
Rob Bragagnolo, Carver: Turkey dinner leftovers usually turn into a couple of different things. The roasted bones, onions, etc. from the bottom of the pan go in a pot and make a stock for soup. Stuffing and brussels sprouts go into the soup with melted cheese on top, a la French onion. And the meat goes into risotto, a Spanish omelette, a pie, or an open faced turkey sandwich with Gorgonzola, red onion and gravy.
Nick Chen-Yin, Smoke Signals BBQ: Because we’re Chinese, I’ll take the the turkey and make congee out of it – I stole that recipe from my sister in law. And because we’re also Jamaican, there’s typically oxtail and rice and peas in addition to turkey. I’ll hoard all that to myself.
Amy Rosen, Rosen’s Cinnamon Buns: When I was in university I ate the same sandwich almost every day for four years: Turkey on a whole wheat pita with lettuce, tomato, pickle, mustard and a touch of mayo, and I never ever got sick of it – it’s a classic. Same goes for matzo ball soup: Make a stock with the turkey carcass (which hopefully still has a good amount of meat on it) covered in water, a halved onion, a couple of carrots and parsnips, salt and pepper. Simmer, partially covered, for two hours. Meanwhile, make the matzo balls — buy a box of Manichewitz matzo ball mix and follow the package instructions. Strain the stock, shred the turkey meat, slice up the veggies, and add them back to the pot with a pop of fresh dill. Ladle out your soup over a couple of tender matzo balls. Happy Chanukah.
Mandom Hui, recipe tester, The Complete Sous Vide Cookbook: Leftover turkeys are great for wraps, sandwiches, etc. – and it’s tougher than chicken, so it freezes better. Instead of chicken noodle soup, I’ll do a turkey noodle soup or a stew, or use an immersion blender and add cream to make a soup. Add some fresh herbs, serve it with bread – it’s hearty.
Kaya Ogruce, Death In Venice Gelato (who, for context, was making Christmas tree gelato out of actual Christmas trees when we reached him): With left over turkey I would make a stuffing gelato. First, boil the bones and the meat until I extract all the gelatin, then use that as my gelato thickener. To flavour my base I would add classic stuffing spices and cranberries. After the gelato churned, it can be served family-style in a bowl with cleaned turkey leg bones to scoop out the gelato. Happy holidays!
BONUS
Ivana Raca, Raca Cafe and Bar: Not sure if this counts – we usually do lamb at our house, a whole one. If anything we end up doing a casserole, lamb pot pie, or a soup with the leftovers over the holidays.
nataliam@nowtoronto.com | @nataliamanzocco
