Left over turkey ideas

[itstrue]

I've got a huge amount of left over turkey! Like over half a bird. What is your best recipe to use it up?

Paul Hollywood’s ham and turkey pie. If you’ve got any stuffing left over, the Hairy Bikers do a similar pie with that.
I use the Hairy Bikers’ turkey jambalaya recipe and Jamie O does a good turkey risotto.
I’ll probably end up doing a pasta bake too!

Make into a lovely risotto with mushrooms and any cooked veggies you have left. Freeze what you don’t eat.

I did turkey, cranberry and brie mini-pies one year when I had lots left over. They were nice.

We're going tex-mex.... cheese and turkey quesadillas, fajitas, turkey enchiladas wth a blue cheese dressing, turkey and pigs in blankets burritos, turkey chilli.

Delia's Turkey en Croute from her Christmas book. It's lovely and I'm making it today.

Freeze some of it in meal-sized packets for curries, etc. later.

A really nice main-meal soup for some of the bits is Mulligatawny. Recipe calls for a whole chicken breast but I often use leftover chicken or turkey added for the last few minutes.

I small onion, chopped (I usually use a bigger one)
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 carrot, diced
50 g butter (or equiv. oil)
1 1/2 tbsp plain flour
1 1/2 tsp curry powder. (I usually use a bit more)
1 litre chicken stock
1/2 apple, diced (I usually add a whole,one)
4 tbsp Basmati (or any long grain rice)
1 chicken breast fillet, diced
salt and pepper
1 pinch dried thyme
4 fl oz double cream (I never add this, but plain yogurt might be nice too)

Sauté veg and butter In a large pan. Add flour and curry powder and cook 5 more mins. Add stock, mix well, bring to boil and simmer about 1/2 hour.
Add apple, rice, chicken, salt pepper and thyme and simmer 15-20 mins, or until rice is done. (If using cooked chicken or turkey just add that for the last few mins to heat through thoroughly)
Stir in cream and serve

Turkey pasta bake

It does surprisingly well as a pizza topping too, I discovered yesterday

I’ve made ‘coronation turkey’! Well a take on it, turkey, grapes, celery, finely diced red onion in a dressing of 1:3 mayo:yoghurt with curry paste and mango chutney.
Retro but delicious!

I’ve done a really quick turkey pasta before:

cook pasta and drain
stir in good quality mayo
add chopped mango (yes, really)
salt and pepper to taste.

Tastes way better than it should, and makes a nice lightish meal after a few days of too much food.

Jamie Oliver has a turkey and bacon lasagne. So good. Gutted I dont have leftovers as didnt host this year!

Shred it and make an Asian salad. Dressing is super easy, made with lime juice, soy, sesame, chilli, brown sugar and rice wine vinegar, garlic and ginger. Lots of fresh herbs including coriander and mint added to salad leaves, cucumber and spring onions. And some crushed peanuts on the top. We are having something similar tonight but with left over beef. It’s such a nice change from the rich and creamy dishes of the last few days 😊

I’ve done a turkey pesto pasta today, DH took turkey and stuffing sandwiches to work and I’ve also done a huge tomato based vegetable strew (could pass as a pasta sauce) which will be batch frozen, some with pasta some with half a jacket potato. I cut the turkey into strips and add once everything else is cooled and going into the freezer though, because I’m a stickler for only reheating meat once!

Delia's Turkey en croute is delicious, definitely recommend that.

I am also a big fan of cooking sliced turkey in gravy (leftover or just chicken Bisto) and eating it on toast. It is not fancy or glamorous or anything. It's just really tasty.

I detest leftover turkey it never seems to taste right no matter what concoction I make, but that could be because I am useless at this kind of thing.

However..... last year had some bits and pieces leftover, like stuffing, a bit of veg, piggies, roasties, turkey and ham. I put everything into the blender with a drop of leftover gravy (yep), seasoning and blended it all right up.

Made them into Christmas Burgers/patties whatever you want to call them, and they were hoovered up. Took Twenty minutes or thereabouts and the smell was delicious. Just made the mix into rounds and patted with flour and onto a hot pan.

Turkey leek and ham pie (I just make one up but there are recipes online.
Turkey chilli (used Jamie Oliver's recipe for this)
Turkey fried rice. Chopped spring onions, garlic, shredded turkey, stir fried In sesame oil. Add couple of packets of microwave egg fried rice, some cooked peas, stir well, add beaten egg, stir through until cooked. Add soy sauce to taste.
Turkey and spinach curry. Two chopped onions. Thumb sized piece of ginger (grated) a chopped red chilli, seeds removed. Fry for a few min, add a good few large handfuls of turkey (enough to serve 4-6). Add half a jar of tikka masala paste, (I use pataks, ) stir to coat. Add a tin of coconut milk and tin of chopped tomatoes, stir well. Simmer with lid off for about half an hour, add a bunch of chopped coriander and half a bag of spinach.

I am making a turkey broth with the bones. Cut off the meat to use in a soup and for dinners but making this broth for soups. Carrots, celery, onions, herbs, turkey carcass, peppercorns, bay leaves and salt. Three hours cooking then leave to cool, then drain off the broth.

Slice finely and add to an Asian style broth with five spice and soy flavours and noodles, spring onions, mushrooms etc. for a quick lunch. Use tinned consommé if you’ve not got around to making stock yet.

Turkey and leeks/mushrooms/broccoli/peas in a white wine sauce is a popular pie filling here, especially with a puff pastry lid.

Or add chopped turkey to a tomato based sauce with chopped olives capers or gherkins for a tasty pasta sauce.

Jamie Oliver Turkey & Leek Pie will use up a fair bit - you can chuck in bits of leftover stuffing and ham as well; I make this every year, it's fab. You can also make the pie filling and then freeze it if you've had enough of turkey for the time being. Always good to know there's something in the freezer for January!

I also boil all the bones in my pressure cooker to make stock; again, it freezes, or I make it into soup with onions, carrots, celery, loads of leeks, plenty of salt & pepper and a few handfuls of broth mix (soaked beforehand) to give it a bit of texture.

Dh also does a great turkey curry, using a home-made Jamie Oliver curry paste.

cook pasta and drain
stir in good quality mayo
add chopped mango (yes, really)
salt and pepper to taste.

Mayo and mango pasta sounds absolutely horrendous!! 😷

Turkey curry surely? There no lumps in the gravy Una, just stir it!

Shirley - I know! It took a while to convince me, but honestly, it tastes really good (and I’m not even a fan of mango)

Delia's Turkey en Croute....it was lovely!

Turkey and mushroom risotto with lots of fresh tarragon stirred in is amazing

Peking Turkey pancakes
Shred the turkey meat and crisp up any leftover skin in the oven
Julienne some spring onions and cucumbers
Heat a spoonful of sesame oil in a frying pan add 2big spoons of hoisin sauce and fry for a few minutes add a spoon of soy sauce and 2 spoons of water or turkey stock stir until mixed and heated through
Heat some tortilla wraps in the microwave and cut into quarters
Lay the lot on the table and everyone can ,are their own peking turkey pancakes