There is simply nothing like Thanksgiving leftovers. Nothing so fun, fast, and fine as raiding the fridge late at night for a bowl of cold cranberry sauce and stuffing or getting up before everyone else for a snack of pumpkin pie and whipped cream on Friday morning. I’m especially fond of a complete blow by blow repeat of the dinner the next night, scraping everything into oven dishes and heating it all at once for 40 minutes at 350F. And like the rest of the U.S., I totally wait all year for the post-holiday turkey sandwich —with mayo, of course. (Did you know that turkey is America’s favorite sandwich??) But at some point, there’s that last cup or two of shredded or chopped turkey sitting sadly in the back of the middle shelf with nothing else to keep it company. That’s when it’s time for turkey soup if you haven’t already done it, that is. And you can make good, old-fashioned turkey noodle or turkey-wild rice — sure you can — or you might try my Perky Turkey Vegetable-Lentil Soup, which along with sounding sort of silly, combines the filling pairing of lentils with root vegetables but also adds a splash of red wine vinegar in each bowl– hence the “perky” part.
And should you have a handful of fresh cranberries hanging around, there’s a place for them in my favorite biscuit recipe along with some sharp Cheddar. (Biscuit recipe is below the recipe for the soup.) A little soup, a little bread, a little wine. What could be better? I think you’ll be smiling when you try this:
Perky Turkey Vegetable-Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 leeks, white and light green parts only, well-washed and thinly sliced
- 4 large plump garlic cloves, minced
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 EACH: medium carrots, parsnips, and celery, trimmed and diced
- 1 small turnip, trimmed, peeled and diced
- 1 medium Russet potato, scrubbed and diced
- Handful chopped fresh parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons dry thyme
- 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- Pinch crushed red pepper
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 2 (15-oz) cans chopped tomatoes
- 8 cups (2 quarts/64 oz) low sodium chicken broth
- 5 cups (40 oz) water or more as needed to keep soup brothy as lentils cook
- 2 cups (14.5 oz) brown lentils (rinsed several times before cooking)
- 1 1/2 cups (9 oz) shredded or chopped, cooked skinless turkey
- Red wine vinegar for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil over medium-high flame in an 8-10-quart soup pot for a minute. Add leeks, garlic, and onion. Sauté, stirring, for 4 or 5 minutes or until softening.
- Add carrots, parsnips, celery, turnip, potato, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, sage, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Cook, stirring, another 10-12 minutes.
- Stir in white wine and cook a few more minutes until wine is absorbed.
- Pour in tomatoes, broth, and water. Cover, raise heat to high, and bring to a boil.
- Remove lid, add lentils. Stir well. Reduce heat to a good simmer and cook another 20-30 minutes until lentils are just done. Add additional water if soup becomes too thick as it simmers.
- Taste and adjust seasonings. If you like, pureé a cup or two of the soup in a food processor or blender and return it to the pot after blending for a smoother soup. Add turkey; simmer another few minutes until hot. Taste and adjust seasonings one last time. Serve hot garnished with a splash of red wine vinegar.Storage: If you cooked your turkey Thursday, cooled and stored it within two hours, and are making the soup today (Saturday), you can store this soup tightly-covered in the fridge for another two days. It will freeze for 2-3 months. (Cooked turkey keeps for a total of four days in the refrigerator.)
Notes
Storing Your Leftovers *Discard any turkey, stuffing, and gravy left out at room temperature longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F. *Divide leftovers into smaller portions. Refrigerate or freeze in covered shallow containers for quicker cooling. *Use refrigerated turkey, stuffing, and gravy within 3 to 4 days. *If freezing leftovers, use within 2 to 6 months for best quality. source: USDA
Cranberry-Cheddar Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon EACH: kosher salt and cream of tartar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces/8 tablespoons) salted cold butter, diced
- 1/4 cup (25 grams) fresh cranberries, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup (28 grams) grated or minced extra sharp Cheddar cheese
- 2/3 cup (150 grams) milk plus a little more as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220C/Gas Mark 7) Set rack at center.
- Stir together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, cream of tartar, and baking powder) in a medium bowl. Add cold butter and using a pastry blender or two knives (you can use just your fingers or even do the whole thing in a food processor), cut in the butter until the butter is mostly blended and the mixture resembles fresh breadcrumbs. Stir in cranberries and cheese. Pour in the milk all at once and mix well with a fork without over-mixing, adding a little more milk if needed.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead a few times until dough comes together and is soft, smooth, and no longer sticky. Roll or pat out with fingers into a rectangle until it’s about ½-inch thick. Cut out biscuits with a 2 ½ -3-inch round cutter (or slice into squares with a knife) and place in a 10-inch pie plate or small baking pan. Bake about 15 minutes or until quite crispy and golden. Remove from oven and serve hot. Store in a gallon plastic bag for a day or two or in the refrigerator for a week.
Biscuit tips: 1. Really cold butter, please. 2. Don’t over handle your dough. 3. If you have one, use a straight-sided thin metal biscuit or cookie cutter, cutting down and pulling the cutter straight up with no twisting or turning. You’ll get a higher-rising, flakier biscuit. 4. I like to bake biscuits touching one another in a glass pie plate or casserole dish so they are softer and can go to the table and keep warm. For crispier biscuits, bake them separated on a baking sheet. (No choice with these biscuits–they went on a nasty cookie sheet I lined in foil– as my only pie plate held pumpkin pie.) 5. Serve your biscuits hot! However, cold biscuits are good for lots of things (including travel), but split, buttered, and grilled leftover biscuits are stunning. Use a small skillet if you haven’t a little stovetop griddle.
Baking Powder Biscuits (Marion Cunningham)/SPLENDID TABLE
11 Ways You’re Ruining Your Biscuits/SOUTHERN LIVING (I don’t agree with all of these but it’s fun to read.)
For Thanksgiving dinner, I used Eric Kim’s lovely, tender and juicy Salt and Pepper Roast Turkey Breast Recipe (NYT–a CBS article including it here) though 1. I dry brined it overnight with only salt and pepper and 2. Added 2 celery stalks and a large diced carrot to the water in the pan–which made a nice broth I added to the gravy I had made the day before. I roasted it until nearly 160 F — close to two hours– and covered it with foil for an hour before slicing. So good, I’m ready to do it again. And I’m a dark meat girl.
You can easily test the freshness by mixing a small spoonful of baking powder with ¼ cup hot water; it should bubble vigorously. If it does not, it's time to replace. ~Land O'Lakes
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LIFE GOES ON:
We spent Thanksgiving in an old VRBO in Decatur, Illinois in order to make and share dinner with my husband and best sous Dave’s dad Gene, age 92. Here’s the 1929 kitchen, updated with ’40s metal cabinetry, ’50s GE stove, and a current tile floor. (My mom might have had that stove!) While I wondered how I’d manage a holiday dinner here, it all went fine in the end. Luckily I did a trial run quick dinner the first night so I had an idea of the lay of the land. (Discovered we only had 4 forks, for instance. That meant washing forks between dinner and dessert on Thursday.)
There was so little space for prep that I had to almost wash and put away every single utensil or pan after I used it — what an excellent learning experience! I was grateful I brought a few necessities like a large mixing bowl, pastry cutter, pie plate, spices, etc. but otherwise made do with the (sometimes sad!) equipment there along with few aluminum pans purchased at the grocery. Note to all: why buy those pans at all? You can nearly buy a new or at least used casserole dish for the price charged. I do realize some cooks use them to either not have to wash pans or to be able to leave at a potluck but I was floored by a $7 price for a 9″ x 12″- to say nothing of the waste. If I’d had access to a thrift store, I’d have looked for baking pans or casseroles there.
Of course, in the end, as my mom would always say, “the holiday happens no matter what.” The dinner got to the table hot at noon, as requested by dad! That was a first for me; I’m typically a 3 or 4pm gal. Despite lack of serving dishes, cutlery, and crystal, we had time to enjoy the meal, visit, “pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie,” and even consider a turkey sandwich halfway through the evening. It was a beautiful Thanksgiving.
Thanks for keeping me company in another kitchen! I’m so glad you were along. I hope your holiday, if you celebrate, was all you needed it to be. We’re on the way home now and are stopped early along the road due to incoming snow. Snug in a Holiday Inn Express with Rosie and our Thanksgiving leftovers in the cooler for dinner, there’s even a bottle of Chardonnay in the little fridge. A Christmas movie might be on tap on a tv that’s a lot better than the one at home! But first, there’s Illinois v Northwestern football.
Stay warm. Stay grateful. Stay healthy,
Alyce
