Posts Tagged: turkey

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1
Dec 09

Thanksgiving Leftover Croquettes

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Every year it’s the same story: tons of turkey, mounds of stuffing and mashed potatoes, and a big container of gravy all piled back into the fridge waiting to be re-purposed for future meals.

In trying to find new ways to work with the traditional medium of leftovers, I started to think about something that I was really craving. In the middle of the chilled holiday, my mind drifted back to the blistering heat of Asila, Morocco, and to a small restaurant called Casa Garcia. Casa Garcia had the freshest fish and fruit-filled sangria in the small seaside town, and their menu contained a surprising favorite: Seafood croquettes. The croquettes came to the table hot, with a satisfyingly crispy crust and a mouth-singeing creamy starchy center with small pieces of shrimp and fish.

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And thus Thanksgiving Leftover Croquettes were born. A delicious and satisfying meal in the spirit of making “the perfect bite” and using what is already in the fridge. The beautiful thing about this dish is that you could use any leftovers from your holiday feast.

As long as they all taste good together to begin with (epic fail awaits those who attempt to incorporate dessert leftovers into this recipe).

thanksgiving leftover croquettes

Our Thanksgiving Leftover Croquettes featured a center of turkey and stuffing, wrapped in a layer of mashed potatoes. We served ours with gravy “dipping sauce” and fresh vegetables (an attempt counter-act the frying component and use up leftover appetizers).

Make sure to read the tips in the instruction section—borne from my own experimenting and mess-ups

Thanksgiving Leftover Croquettes

Makes 12, fist sized croquettes

12 1 ½” long, thinner pieces of Turkey

aprox. 1 ½ cups Stuffing (chilled)

aprox. 4 cups Mashed Potatoes (chilled)

2 eggs

2 ½ cups bread crumbs

Oil for frying

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 225°F. Line a baking sheet with freezer paper and set aside. Beat eggs in a wide bowl with a fork, and set aside. Pour breadcrumbs onto a plate and spread evenly.
  2. Make Croquettes: In one hand, combine one piece of turkey and about 1 Tbsp. stuffing. This is the center. Cup your hand around the center and top with about 3 Tbsp of mashed potatoes, shaping to form an oval around the strip of turkey. Turn croquette over so turkey and stuffing are facing upward (mashed potatoes are in the palm of your hand now) and cover with mashed potatoes, shaping to maintain oval, and cover turkey and stuffing completely and evenly. Repeat unthanksgiving turkey croquettestil all 12 are done.
  3. Take each croquette and roll in egg, and then in breadcrumbs (TIP: Make sure you cover the whole surface of the croquette with egg and breadcrumbs, otherwise when you go to fry them the exposed mashed potatoes will dissolve.) Set on waxed side of freezer paper on baking sheet. Repeat for each croquette. Cover the croquettes with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  4. Heat 2-3” of oil in a pan on medium heat. Oil is ready when water droplets sizzle in the pan. Working in batches of four, place croquettes into the oil. Use a slotted spoon to gently turn the croquettes every few minutes. Cook until crust is golden brown, about 8 minutes (Watch carefully, if the mashed potatoes start to dissolve too much, remove croquette as soon as it begins to brown.) Remove croquettes using the slotted spoon and place on a paper towel covered plate. Pat to remove the remaining oil, and place on a baking sheet in the oven to keep warm while you fry the remaining batches. Serve immediately.
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27
Nov 09

Thanksgiving Leftover Meal

My my, what to do with a house full of Turkey! This evening was all about simplicity, so I made a delicious french onion soup, courtesy of an L.A. Times’ article, and paired it with deliciously simple turkey sandwiches. Again, simple was the idea:

Marble rye

Turkey (sliced thin)

Shredded mozzarella

Turkey gravy

caramelized shallots (2 shallots, cut in half,  sliced lengthwise, in a pan on medium-high heat for about 15 minutes)

Step 1: Toast the marble rye very slightly.

Step 2: Spread a bit of butter on one half of the bread (the side where you are going to pile on the goodies) and place thinly sliced turkey on butter.

Step 3: Place shallots on top of turkey, then gravy, then mozzarella cheese. Toast for another 2 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. One of my secrets here is to toast the other side of the bread with the stacked piece, so that both sides are warmed prior to serving.

Step 4: Cut sandwich in half and serve. Simple, but so good.

The shallots add a nice hint of garlic and onion, without the toughness of a traditional onion. Sorry there aren’t any photos for this one–we were just really enjoying ourselves :)

Happy Thanksgiving Leftovers Day!

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24
Nov 09

Cook the Covers November Edition: Thanksgiving Turkey(s)

The centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal is often also the focal point of food publications this time of year. The stress of Turkey Day is often caused by it’s namesake, and thus food magazines often offer up high-gloss food porn to cure anxiety around the L-tryptophan laced, food-coma-inducing highlight of the holiday. Here at Grumpy, we decided to put the recipes served up on the magazines’ 8.5″ x 11″ platter. We tested the cover recipes from Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, and the sadly deceased Gourmet. We cooked an approximately 10lb. turkey for each recipe, and followed the instructions exactly (with slight modifications on the time seeing as our turkeys were smaller). Here are the results:

3rd Place:

Gourmet‘s Cider Glazed Turkey

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This turkey was an expected favorite that turned out to have a few issues. One of the main ones being: if you are using a pop-up timer, be careful to avoid getting any glaze on or near it, as it may prevent the timer from popping. The glaze is good, but may need to reduce a bit more than the recipe indicates. The turkey comes out with a beautiful, crispy skin, however if you leave the turkey in for even a few minutes too long, the glaze begins to burn, which leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. So once the glaze goes on, watch the turkey closely to ensure it crisps, but does not burn. Right out of the oven, this turkey was juicy, and if you got a piece with skin, it was particularly savory. Once it sat, however, the turkey became dry, and pieces without the skin didn’t get the flavors of the apple and onion that it was stuffed with.

2nd Place:

Bon Appetit‘s Clementine-Salted Turkey

Clementine Salted Turkey from Bon Appetit

I also had high hopes for this turkey, and found a few major issues with both in process and in product. Again, the turkey was delicious directly out of the oven, however after a few minutes of sitting (after the 30 minutes of cool time) once the turkey had been cut, the meat was quick to dry out. The meat retained a bit more moisture than the previous turkey, and had a bit more of the onion and Clementine flavor to it. However the skin did not get as crispy as I would have liked (or as is shown in the photo) and overall the result is not necessarily worth the effort to put all of the various components of this one together. It was still very tasty, mildly juicy, and it was fun to make (albeit a bit complex and harried for Thanksgiving Day). Just not what I would expect on my table as the main dish of the holiday.

1st Place:

Food and Wine‘s Herb-Roasted Turkey

Herb Roasted Turkey from Food and Wine 2009

I did not expect this recipe to be my favorite, since my family and I have never brined our turkey before, and my mom was never a huge fan. I was pleasantly surprised to find that 18 hours or so in a bath of coriander seeds, mustard seed, fennel, bay leaves, salt and sugar yielded the juiciest, most flavorful turkey of the bunch. Not only did the meat retain more of the flavors involved in the cooking process, but those elements enhanced the taste of the meat itself. This was the most succulent turkey in the bunch. The recipe was very simple to follow, and the result was a crisp-skinned aromatic centerpiece that I would be proud to serve at any holiday meal. The gravy in this recipe was also our favorite. Even though it did not feature homemade turkey stock like the other recipes, the overall flavor (I think it’s the bread that does it) is hearty, salty, and just the right amount of creamy. This one got all the votes, from all six of the people living in my house.

The brine was one of my favorite parts of this recipe! Here are some pictures of the beautiful brine:

corianderseedbrine2 fennelforbrine

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