Cassoulet and Rillettes: A Post-Thanksgiving Trip to France

The greatest Reason For Not Eating Out is having leftovers in the fridge. And the greatest reason for having leftovers in the fridge, of all days of the year, is perhaps Thanksgiving. If you made the requisite roast turkey for the grand dinner, you’re bound to have lots of bits and pieces of turkey meat clinging to the carcass, no matter how much of it you and your family ate. Many cultures can teach us a thing or two about that. But this year, … Read More

Congee with Shredded Turkey, Shiitake Mushrooms and Ginger Scallion Sauce

Congee, like fried rice, is an essential leftovers vehicle. This soupy sister-meal can incorporate bits of whatever you have on hand—and the week after Thanksgiving is prime time for having somesuch cooked delicacies on hand indeed. No matter what your cravings were for that last Thursday in November, they’re sure to be quite different now, a few days past the holiday, with leftovers to burn in the fridge still. (Especially if you’re fond of collecting others’ leftovers, too, like #Dukarcass.)

Leftover Turkey Chili

I’m thankful for leftovers this week. A big day of eating has come and gone, and as usual, the fridge seems to be more full than depleted afterward. The prized item in this cache of Thanksgiving leftovers? The roasted turkey carcass. With it, the opportunities are endless. You can make a soup, or just stock to use for things like making risotto or braising vegetables. But along with that carcass—and with most leftover Thanksgiving meal caches—is plenty of leftover turkey … Read More

Turkey Legs with Apples, Parsnips and Onion

A couple months ago, I was given a challenge: cook a “date meal” for two that costs $15 or less, including a bottle of wine. It was thrown to me by a local newspaper that has yet to publish the story, and I suspect they might simply never. Which is fine, but it would be a shame not to share the recipe for the entree, while its wintery ingredients are still lingering around.

Thanksgiving ’08: Cathy vs. Tradition

posted in: Ruminations | 28

Wednesday, November 26, 9:00 am: Cathy triple-bags a thirteen and a half pound free-range turkey pre-ordered from DiPaolo Farms via the Greenmarket and tucks it into a camper’s backpack. Heads off to the subway, gets off at Midtown. Explains something to startled co-worker as she takes turkey out of backpack, and stuffs it into office refrigerator. Tradition raises eyebrow. 3:15 pm: Cathy hoists turkey-stuffed backpack onto her back and trudges through the thickly crowded ten blocks to Penn Station, just … Read More

I’m not a chicken, I’m getting a free-range turkey

posted in: Ruminations | 11

I can’t over-emphasize the surprise I had last year when biting into my first bit of free-range, organic, all-natural turkey that I’d stuffed and roasted for a Thanksgiving-like feast with friends: Savory. Succulent. Abundantly flavorful. These are words that you seldom think of when you think of turkey breast meat, right? That’s why we traditionally smother it with things like pucker-sweet cranberry sauce and overpowering gravy, and why homes across the country have taken up the turkey brining trend with … Read More

Turkey Black Bean Chili with Okra

We all know that ground turkey is the new hamburger if you’re looking to go easy on your heart. But I never found this a satisfactory replacement unless it was used in a sauce or stew of some type — in which juices from all kinds of ingredients run free and wild as piglets in a pen. A turkey burger? Not even close… but ground turkey in chili? Seconds, please. Besides, you’re bound to end up draining most of the … Read More