Thanksgiving Leftovers: Post 1

November was not a good month for me, blogging wise. I am here to make that up with several posts on how to use Thanksgiving leftovers.
I made a turkey this year, so I had plenty to use up. This first recipe also has the bonus of using leftover mashed potatoes to make a shepherd's pie. I love shepherd's pie, but on a regular weeknight making a dinner that also requires making mashed potatoes doesn't happen. So this is a nice use of leftovers. I even used leftover white wine from Thanksgiving dinner!


Thanksgiving Leftover Shepherd's Pie

1 onion, chopped
1 bulb fennel, cored and chopped into bite sized pieces
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 TBSP butter
1 TBSP olive oil
2 carrots, halved and cut into 1/4" slices
4 celery stalks, chopped
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 TBSP butter
3 TBSP all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper
1 1/2-ish cups diced leftover cooked turkey
Leftover mashed potatoes (about 1 1/2 cups)

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Here is the chopped onion and fennel. I just love fennel, it gives winter food a Je ne sais quoi.

Melt 1 TBSP butter and olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion and fennel. Saute on med-high about 5 minutes or so, until they start to get soft. Then add the gah-lic and cook for another minute or two. Then add the other veggies and the sage.

You could use any other veggies you have lying around that you want also. I think a red bell pepper would be nice.

Turn down and let it cook a little, adding some salt and pepper.
While the veggies finish cooking, add the 3 TBSP of butter to a saucepan. Once it is melted, whisk in the flour to make the base for your sauce. This is what will make it thick. After the flour and butter come together cook it for about a minute.

Here is the butter and flour getting cozy. For this, you can't cut down the amount of butter, or it won't work. You need an equal amount of fat and flour to make this base.

Then slowly add the broth and wine, whisking it in to combine.

I didn't measure exact amounts of wine and broth, to be honest. Just keep adding until you get the consistency you want in your sauce

Add a little salt and pepper. My sauce tasted pretty salty when I tasted it, but once I ate the final product it didn't. Remember, the sauce will be with all those veggies and it will balance.



Add the turkey to the veggies, then stir in the sauce. Pour it all into a small casserole dish.

then top with the mashed potatoes.

Then top with the mashed potatoes.

Sprinkle on the grated parmesan or romano cheese.

Put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes look a little browned.