So let’s talk turkey.
We perch in separate broods, the crowd which loves Thanksgiving dinner and the gang which holds out for Thanksgiving leftovers.
Last year, I might have been the happiest person not cooking a turkey. That’s because I stuffed myself at dinner and then came home with the carcass of a fifteen-pound bird that the next day yielded ten cups of stock and nearly as much meat.
So keep your brined and roasted and smoked and deep-fried turkeys fresh-sliced for the holiday table.
Just send me home with nothing but bones to feast for weeks, starting with sandwiches and warmed-overs before moving onto hot soup and pot pie and exotic-sounding, if you think about it, plain-fare turkey tetrazzini and turkey enchiladas.
But most years, the choice is a comfort-food casserole, a one-dish supper that’ll hold over the leftover-lovin’ turkeys til next year.
For a festive variation, add dried cranberries. To stock your freezer without an inventory of dishes, try this technique. Line a casserole dish with plastic wrap, spray lightly with cooking spray. Add the casserole contents and freeze overnight. Lift the frozen casserole out of the dish, wrap it with foil and return to the freezer without the dish. Two days before serving, peel off the foil and plastic wrap, tuck the perfectly shaped casserole back into the dish for thawing and cooking. It’s a snap!
TURKEY WILD RICE CASSEROLE
Time-to-table: 90 minutes
Serves 8
- 3 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup wild rice, rinsed
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 onion, diced (about 1½ cups)
- 4 stalks celery, diced (about 2 cups)
- 1 large carrot, grated (about 1 cup)
- 2 cups turkey stock or 14½ ounce can chicken broth
- 2 cups half & half whisked with ¼ cup flour
- 2 tablespoons dry sherry
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 3 cups cooked turkey, diced
- 1/3 cup toasted almonds
Bring water to boil in a saucepan. Stir in salt and rice, simmer for 30 - 45 minutes until the rice is tender but still chewy.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt the butter and sauté the onion, celery and carrots until soft. Add the stock or broth and bring to a boil, then slowly stir in the cream/flour mixture. Add the sherry, salt and pepper. Add the turkey and let simmer slowly while the rice finishes.
Gently stir rice into the turkey mixture. Transfer to two-quart greased casserole dish. (See ALANNA’s TIPS.) Top with almonds and bake for 35 – 40 minutes at 375F.
This recipe has been ‘Alanna-sized’ with increases in no-calorie flavorings and fiber-rich vegetables.More Wild Rice Recipes
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© Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade
Your Comments:
My favorite use for a turkey carcass is lentil soup -- even better if the turkey was smoked. Lentils and turkey get along like gang-busters.
Happy T'day!
11/23/2006