Learning from Leftovers

This year my Thanksgiving leftovers taught me something that is going to come in handy next year. I re-heated my cider braised squash with rosemary for lunch today (see 11/18/06 blog entry for the recipe) and it was actually much better today than it was yesterday. Next year I'm making it one day ahead and heating it up in the oven before the meal. Although I love this dish and wouldn't skip making it, it is a last minute dish that takes up a lot of space on the cooktop when I'm trying to finish gravy and saute brussel sprouts. I'm excited to save myself the headache next year. I'll do the whole dish ahead, but wait to sprinkle it with vinegar until right before I serve it on the big day.

This year I was feeling a tad lazy during the clean up. I noticed that my slow cooker was already out and plugged in since it had been busy keeping my potatoes warm all day so once I'd cut all the salvagable meat off the turkey I didn't bother to put it all away in the fridge, but just threw it in the slow cooker (I had cleaned out the leftover mashed potatoes - just so you know) along with

all the leftover celery I could find - about three stalks,
one whole onion (skin still on) sliced in half
two bay leaves
and an entire bunch of parseley that I hadn't used
water to fill
2 teaspoons kosher salt
5-10 whole peppercorns

I set it on low and left it until this morning after breakfast. This was the best turkey broth I've ever made. It was clear and amber colored and rich and tasty. I've strained it now, discarded all the bones and vegetables and frozen most of it in small batches.

When the broth was finished, I salvaged the little pieces of turkey meat from the bones - most of the time I would just toss it along with everything else, but I felt like saving it this morning so I picked it carefully out of the tangle of overcooked celery, parseley and turkey bones and found that I had about 1 1/2 cups. The texture was reminiscent of canned tuna -since it had been cooked to death - first roasted yesterday and then in the slow cooker for 12 hours - so I ended up making a turkey salad with it - adding mayo, chopped celery, an entire bunch of scallions chopped - both green and white, and a grated carrot, and some fresh ground pepper. It is good as it is, but I'm thinking maybe a little curry and some red grapes or diced apple might be a nice addition.