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.

Cupcakes, potatoes and pasta: Blog about blogs

I have been reading more food blogs all the time now. I just made these cupcakes
They are blackberry cupcakes with blackberry cream cheese icing from Coconut and Lime. I made her recipe using mini cupcake pans I just got at Apron Strings, a cute cooking store in Lancaster City. One person who tasted these cupcakes said they were the best thing she's ever tasted! An exaggeration? I don't know but they were great. A good blackberry flavor. And cream cheese icing with fresh blackberry juice? You should probably make these soon.

One of my favorite blogs is Pioneer Woman. I found this blog by using Stumbleupon, and it "stumbled" onto a recipe, complete with gorgeous photos, for Crash Hot Potatoes. They looked so darn good I made a meal to go with these potatoes (Chicken legs marinated in spicy Jamaican Jerk sauce and corn on the cob, fyi.) My potatoes didn't get smashed a neatly and separate though. It was a tray full of potato bits and skins and hunks. But despite appearances, it was really good! I think I am in love with potatoes. Seriously. So check out that link if you want some tasty potatoes tonight. I also made her Farfalle with Zuchinni and oh boy, what a tasty pasta dish. I used some zuchinni, and some yellow summer squash. I actually liked the yellow squash better in it. The wine and cream sauce and fresh herbs make this a delicious dish.

Cheesy Sausage Potato Cups with Yogurt Mustard Sauce

Today I entered this in an online contest for original recipes using dairy products like cheese, milk and yogurt. This has cheddar cheese AND yogurt....so I'm sure it will win!
Hehe well I think it has a shot anyway. But if not, I still liked eating it a lot.

Directions: Preheat oven 450.

There are my beautiful potatoes, fresh from market this morning!
Scrub potatoes and cut in half.
Cut a small amount off ends so potatoes stand up straight! The more narrow cut off ends will be the ends they stand up on, to be cute little potato cups :)

Toss with a good glug of olive oil in a bowl, and stir in some salt and lots of pepper.

Arrange potatoes spaced out standing up straight on a baking tray.
They are nice and peppery.
Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until potatoes start to look lightly golden and roasted.
Here is my chipotle turkey sausage from the Turkey Lady at Central Market. The stand is actually called The Turkey Lady. They have tons of different types of turkey sausage, and this one sounded good today. Regular hot Italian sausage or chorizo would be good I think too. And the cute little bell peppers! They were too adorable so I had to get them. Regular bell peppers will work.

While the potatoes roast, cook the sausage link in a non-stick skillet, breaking up into small pieces.


Dice the pepper into small pieces.


Slice the green onion. Put the sliced, darker green tops in a bowl for garnishing the potato cups. You will cook the rest of the onion with the pepper.

Cook the white and light green parts of the green onion with the red pepper in a small skillet with some olive oil until soft.

Mix together with the sausage and let it cool a little.

Mix the cheddar cheese with the butter in a bowl with a fork. Stir cooled sausage-pepper mixture in with cheese.

When the potatoes are done, pull the tray out.

Using tongs and a melon baller, scoop out the inside flesh, making lots of little "potato cups".
I like the little cups! (If you haven't noticed.)
Save the scooped out potato flesh for later.

Fill each potato with the sausage/cheese mixture. If you want to put extra shredded cheese on top, you should!
Put oven temp down to 350, and slide tray back in for a little, just 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melty.
While they get melty, mix shallots, yogurt, and mustard along with some salt and pepper in a food processor.

Mix till combined. This will make a lot of sauce, but you can use the extra as a coleslaw dressing! Yum.


Put your potato cups on a platter, and spoon a little yogurt sauce on top of each one. Then throw on the green onion pieces. So these were really tasty. I loved the sauce with them...AND
I had extra sausage and cheese filling, so I mixed that with the potato flesh I scooped out. I put that mixture into 2 ramekins, and topped with a little extra cheddar. I baked that as a side dish for dinner! And I chopped cabbage, onion, carrots and used the extra yogurt sauce as a coleslaw dressing! So you really kinda get two side dishes as a by-product of this!

Ingredient List
Serves 4-6 as appetizers
Ingredients:
9-10 new potatoes
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 link of spicy turkey sausage (or regular Italian sausage)
1 red bell pepper (0r a few cute red and orange mini peppers)
4 green onions
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 TBSP unsalted butter
12 oz plain yogurt (don't use non-fat)
1 TBSP deli mustard
1 shallot, roughly chopped