Why, you may ask am I making a dish with leftover turkey before Thanksgiving? I’ll explain.
My favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, is a week away. I will be having a larger crowd this year, which means I’ll be making all the same traditional dishes we love, but just in greater quantities.
I try to do as much ahead as possible, but most of the cooking must wait til a day or two before the feast.
Making the turkey stock for the gravy is an exception. This can easily be made ahead and frozen until a day or two before your feast when you will want to defrost it in the refrigerator for use in your gravy. I also add some to Mom’s Challah Stuffing. And if you still have some left over you can add it to a vegetable soup you make later in the week with the turkey carcass.
After making the stock, I removed the cooked turkey from the broth and refrigerated it. I realized last night when faced with nothing for dinner that I could turn that cooked turkey into a casserole of Turkey Tetrazzini.
Many years ago I had made Chicken Tetrazzini for a luncheon that I catered when we were living in Chicago. I knew immediately where to find that recipe. It came from my beloved James Beard’s American Cookery cookbook. In it he describes the origin of this dish…
This was named after the fabulous coloratura who reigned almost supreme in opera during the early years of this century. She had an astounding girth as well as a thrilling voice and was famous as a gourmande. As is true of most Italians, she was devoted to pasta, which forms the base of this dish. It was probably created in San Francisco, where she loved to sing and eat. Chicken Tetrazzini is not a dish to keep standing. Eat it freshly made.
So I simply followed that recipe and substituted turkey for the chicken and added some of the turkey stock for some of the liquid in the white sauce.
This is a comforting rich casserole composed of spaghetti, chicken or turkey, and a Veloute sauce. (A basic white sauce that has been embellished with some heavy cream, butter, and a sprinkling of nutmeg).
So when you are wondering what to do with that leftover turkey this year I really recommend Turkey Tetrazinni for a simple satisfying dinner.
Here’s the recipe adapted from James Beard’s Chicken Tetrazzini…
Turkey Tetrazzini
3 cups diced cooked turkey
2 and ½ cups sauce veloute ( I doubled the recipe below, and it was sufficient sauce for the casserole. I made the medium white sauce, adding 2 cups turkey stock for the liquid, and added a combination of ½ cup heavy cream and ½ cup whole milk to the finished sauce.)
¾ pound spaghetti
1 and ½ tablespoons kosher salt
Water
Butter
1/3 cup sherry
½ cup buttered crumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (or Peorino Romano)
Combine the turkey and sauce in the top of a double boiler, and heat over hot water. Meanwhile, boil the spaghetti in salted water til it is just al dente. Drain well. Arrange in a buttered baking dish which can be used for serving.
Add the sherry to the chicken and sauce and spoon over the spaghetti. Dust with crumbs and sprinkle with the cheese.
Either run the dish under the broiling unit or place in a 475- degree oven for a few minutes to glaze the topping. Serve at once.
Sauce Veloute (James Beard)
Basic white sauce (recipe follows)
Add ½ cup heavy cream to the finished sauce, and season with a few grains of nutmeg. Simmer a few minutes.
Just before serving, beat in 3 to 4 tablespoons butter, 1 spoonful at a time. (I omitted this extra butter, or cut it in half if you are concerned about all that butter!)
Basic White Sauce (Cream Sauce, Sauce Bechamel)
Basic white sauce can be made in varying degrees of thickness. The more butter and flour used, the thicker the base. A thick base is made, for example, if the finished sauce calls for additional liquid, which, of course will thin the base.
Thin Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup liquid
Medium Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup liquid
Thickish Sauce
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup liquid
Although in the past a white sauce was usually made with milk, we have learned that it can be made with any number of liquids, including all kinds of broths, a mixture of wine and broth, and of course milk or cream or a combination of both.