Yeah, it’s Saturday.
That leftover turkey that we didn’t eat on Friday because we had enough on Thursday and didn’t want to look at it again, was looking right at me when I opened up the fridge looking for lunch.
What to do with it?
No, I didn’t want to head back to the store. Not for the nth time this week.
So I rummaged around to find a few things to riff with…let’s see…
Mashed potatoes & ricotta with shaved parmesan an egg, salt and flour make a lovely gnocchi dough. Dumplings would be lovely on a grey day like today.
In the past, I have looked up a zillion recipes, but in the end I wind up estimating because I rarely plan to make it, I just make it with what I have. Today, I used
- about 16 oz of ricotta
- an egg
- a cup and a half of AP flour
- 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes
- teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
I mixed it up in a bowl. It’s a sticky, wet dough. I decided not to get fussy. I just wanted to eat, not win a pasta making contest. So I rolled it out onto a tray that I had covered in a dusting of flour.
From there, I created ropes with my hands and then and cut off little pillow shapes approximately the same size and shape. To cook them, I added them to a big pot of boiling, salted water and waited for them to float. That was all there was to it.
When they were all cooked I added them to a dish that I could put into the oven.
Even dogs sleep after turkey.
I took my leftover turkey and shredded it by hand, adding it to the dish and giving Ozzie (the very patient dog, sitting at my feet, staring up at me, intently with those beautiful brown eyes) what I didn’t want to put in the casserole. Rummaging further in the freezer, I found a 1/2 a bag of frozen peas — so I threw that in. I was looking for the classic Turkey Tettrazini cheat — Cream of Mushroom Soup — but we don’t have that in the house. However, I did find — way in the back — a can of some Broccoli Cheese soup that I must have purchased for some recipe and never used. Carpe diem?!
I poured that into the pot right over the dumplings and shredded turkey and peas and added a little left over cream (from the mashed potatoes earlier in the week.) Popped it into the oven at 400 degrees while I cleaned up the dishes. It took about a half hour to get all hot and bubbly. It came out smelling divine. I shredded a little bit of fresh parma on top and served it for lunch.
The verdict? My son, who loves to eat around the vegetables even at 15 — ate the whole thing. Almost licked the bowl! My daughter, the vegetarian — ate some unadorned gnocchi/dumplings that I left on the side with a little vegan butter and shredded parm.
Not bad for a Saturday leftover riff, eh?
What’s in your fridge?
I’m calling it the “Turkey Trot” but you can call it delicious.
New York style — because growing up in the tri-state area (NY NJ CT) this is what we got at our local diner. Now, the rest of the country may have places to eat, but I have not really found the kind of diner that has menus that run 10 pages and dishes out Italian, Greek and American food any time of day or night except back at home in the NJ suburbs of NYC.
Pan Riffing 