What Are You Going To Do with All of Those Thanksgiving Leftovers

So Thanksgiving is over, all of the family members have gone back to their respective homes, and you are left with more leftovers than you know what to do with. One can only eat so much traditional turkey day dishes until they get tired of it all and decide to toss it all away. I however have some ideas for what you can do with those leftovers so that you don't get food boredom.

Turkey Croquettes
Got some mashed potatoes and gravy leftover? Take some of that leftover turkey (about 8 oz.) you've got, dice it up small and mix in some of that gravy to moisten it. Now take the mashed potatoes (a couple cups will do here), mix in an egg until smooth. Take a few ounces of the masked potatoes, flatten them and cup slightly so that you can add a few oz. of the turkey and gravy. Wrap the mashed potatoes around the turkey and seal on the edges. Now roll the stuffed potatoes into a cylinder and then dredge in some bread crumbs. Prepare a fryer or a pot with some frying oil (vegetable oil work well) to 370 degrees. Deep fry the stuffed mashed potatoes until golden brown, and you've now got some delicious turkey croquettes. Perhaps some of that leftover cranberry sauce thinned out a little with some orange juice and heated slightly would make a good sauce to go accompany the croquettes.

Turkey Soup
I enjoy soup in the winter, and if you aren't a vegetarian then you likely have a carcass left from your turkey along with some meat. Peel and small dice three onions, five carrots and five stalks of celery and mince a couple cloves of garlic. Now take your turkey carcass, remove all the meat from it, dicing the meat into small pieces and reserving. Break the carcass into smallish pieces. Heat up some olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, add half of the diced vegetables and saute until soft, about five minutes. Add five peppercorns, a bay leaf and a couple stems of thyme, then add the turkey carcass pieces and add water until fully covered; bring the pot to a boil, reduce to a simmer for 60 minutes. Strain the solids out of the liquid, this will be your broth for your soup.

One more vegetable to dice, peel and dice two large turnips. In a clean large pot heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute all of the remaining vegetables until the onions are soft. Add one cup of a fruit red wine, perhaps that Beaujolais Nouveau and simmer until reduced by half. Add the diced turkey and the turkey broth you made earlier and bring to a boil and simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the carrots and turnips are tender. Season with salt and pepper as desired. A couple cups of boiled egg noodles added to the soup will make this a delicious turkey noodle soup. If you don't like noodles, you can substitute a couple cups of boiled long grain rice.

The What the Heck Do I Do With All of Those Thanksgiving Leftovers Casserole
This one os pretty simple. Take one of those 13x9 glass casserole dishes you've got hiding in the cabinets and spray it with some non-stick spray or better yet grease it with some soft butter. Put down a layer of stuffing on the bottom of the dish. If you have some green bean casserole lay it down on top of the beans. Next, dice some of your leftover turkey and put down a layer, if it looks a little dry, add some gravy, but hopefully you have enough liquid from your green bean casserole becasue we are going to need some of that gravy later. Now layer your mashed potatoes ver the top of the turkey, place some pats of butter on top of the potatoes, this will help in the browning of the top of the casserole. Place the casserole into a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes or until the top of the casserole is lightly browned and the filling is nice and bubbling hot. Heat up your remaining gravy and place a little on top of each serving of the casserole when serving.

WNYT Truffled Salt Cod Cakes

Hello everyone, I was on WNYT Channel 13, a local channel here in upstate New York. I thought I would share with all of you the recipe I prepared today. It was actually a componant of a dish I prepared a few weeks ago at an American Culinary Federation competition which I took a gold medal in. I hope you might enjoy making this recipe, it is a contemporary interpretation of a traditional New England Salt Cod cake.

Truffled Salt Cod Potato Cake

by Chef Christopher Ingredients ¼ lb. Salt Cod ½ lb. Yellow potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes ½ each Spanish onion, small dice ½ teaspoon Rosemary, minced ½ tablespoons Flat leaf parsley, minced 1 each Egg, large 1 each Egg yolk, large 2 tablespoon Truffle oil To taste Black pepper, ground fresh As needed Flour, all purpose As needed Grape seed oil Method 1. Place salt cod in a small pot and cover with water and bring to a simmer for five minutes. Drain and reserve. 2. Place potatoes in a separate pot and cover with water and bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and boil until tender. Drain and dry in oven for 2-3 minutes and reserve. 3. Heat sauté pan over medium-high heat and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Saute onion until soft, add rosemary and sauté another minute. 4. In a medium bowl combine simmered salt cod, potatoes, onions, parsley, egg yolk and egg, truffle oil and black pepper. Use a pastry cutter to mash all ingredients together until smooth. 5. Shape potato/salt cod mixture into four cakes and coat with flour. Heat a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat with enough grape seed oil to coat the bottom. Place the salt cod cakes into the heated pan and pan-fry on each side until golden brown. Christopher Allen Tanner, CEC Professor Department of Hotel Culinary Arts and Tourism Schenectady County Community College

Thanksgiving with Dad

Oh goodness, so what does one do that has cooked everything for Thanksgiving. I've done the turkey, I've made a fairly large number of turduckens, I've done the Asian themed, Creole themed and every other theme in between. This weekend I thought of what I truly want this next Thanksgiving, simplicity. It will be just my father and I, and as I don't get to see him as often as I have in the past, I want to make the dinner really special.

Now simplicity doesn't mean boring. I just finished ordering a wild turkey from D'Artagnan, a company I love to do some of my specialty ordering through, they may be a bit expensive but the quality is well worth the price. The 5-7 lb. bird costs 78.99 retail. Yes, it is more expensive than your supermarket turkey with the freakishly large breasts, but unlike the supermarket freak, it will have much more flavor.

I'm thinking of slicing some pieces of butter underneath the skin along with some minced rosemary and then drizzling a bit of black truffle oil over the skin. Gonna do some simple roasted fingerling potatoes with rosemary (got tons from the garden still) along with some porcini oil and salt and pepper.

For vegetables I'm gonna go with so haricot vert with obliques of carrots tossed in a veloute sauce with some fresh tarragon, chervil and parsley. I also have to make Brussels sprouts this year. I made an amazing brown sugar smoked bacon recently, which I am going to render and then caramelize the quartered sprouts in, seasoned with (wait for it) rosemary and thyme, and then add a bit of Calvados along with apple cider, cover them in my copper saute pan until they are tender.

Well we need stuffing don't we, I so love a cornbread stuffing, a simple American standard that can't be beat. As for gravy, I have a recipe for sweet potato eggplant gravy from Paul Prudhomme which I will be using this year, pretty tasty with great texture.

So there ya have it, oh wait, dessert you say. Well I am getting it from my students this year. I ordered a pumpkin pie and pecan pie. my dad's favorite pie is pecan, so I'm hoping he will enjoy it. I think I might make a honey and lavender ice cream to go along with it. That's all, nothing else, I think it will go well with the Beaujolais Nouveau for wine.

Judged an ACF Show in Washington DC

I just spent the last weekend in Washington DC judging an American Culinary Federation competition. A great time was had by all, including the competitors and the judges. The event took place in the Washington Convention Center. There was two days of competition, the first day on Saturday was the Market Basket competition. One version was an F/1 which was a four course meal, ten portions each and the competitors had no idea of their ingredients, sort of like Iron Chef, but on steroids; they had four hours to prepare the meal. The second group had the same guidelines, except they had a shorter time frame and there were two people on each team.

On the second day we judged about 30 competitors in a category known as Contemporary. The category involves the competitor creating one entree course, preparing four portions, in 60 minutes, with a 5 minute plating window. Additionally there were competitors that produced some amazing watermelon carvings (one of the competitors happened to be the guy who won the TV Food Network vegetable carving challenge); while others prepared a variety of "cold food" (charcuterie) show platters.

It was a great time, a number of golds were attained in the contemporary category, a guy I have known for awhile who has improved vastly over the last year or so I have known his. Another chef who I would call a friend Peter Dweyer did a great job in the F and cold food categories. More admirabley, he trained five students to compete who preferomed wonderfully in the contemporary category. One student attained a silver, after haveing never competed before this point. Peter himself attained a few medals in the categories he comepted in.

I judged with some amazing chefs, humbling actually looking at who they are, Chef Alfonso Contrisciani CMC, Chef James Hanyzeski CMC , Chef Rene Marquis, and Chef Gunther Heiland CMPC. We had a few great meals at restaurants in DC, Jose Adreas' Turkish/ Israeli style tapas restaurant and an ACF member's restaurant, Agraria which was even more amazing than Andreas place.

I had a great time, can't wait to see the judge's I worked with and the chefs that competed again soon.

Cooler Weather Calls For Pot Au Feu

Man it got cold real quick this past few weeks. It was really cold at my home last night, I even lite the fireplace last night it was so cold. Cold weather brings my mind back to some of my favorite dishes. Most of my friends know of my love for cassoulet, I have another favorite French cold weather dish, pot au feu.

Pot au feu is a regional French dish consisting pretty much of various tough cuts of beef simmered in liquid with vegetables and seasonings. The stewing vegetables are then removed and replaced with hearty root vegetables. I have my own personal twist which comes from my Alsatian heritage which adds fresh bacon to the dish. I have some bacon in my fridge that I cured for a month, so it is ready for the pot.

Pot au feu Recipe

Ingredients

4 medium leeks, white part only
8 carrots, peeled and halved crosswise
8 stalks celery, halved crosswise
1 large onion, quartered
2 pounds beef top round, trussed
2 pounds oxtail
2 pounds brisket, trussed
2 lb slab bacon, (in one solid piece) trussed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
3 small turnips, peeled and large diced
1 medium rutabaga, peeled and large diced
1 lb fingerling potatoes

1. In a large stockpot place 4 leeks, 4 carrots, 4 celery stalks and onion, place meat on top of vegetables along with dried thyme, bay leaves, salt and peppercorns. Add enough water to cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer partially covered for 3 hours, skimming any foam which forms on the top.

2. Strain the broth and discard the cooking vegetables. Return the broth and meats to the pot and add remaining vegetables except the potatoes. Bring the broth to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 1 hour, adding the potatoes after a half hour.

3. Remove the meat from the broth and discard the trussing strings. Carefully remove the vegetables from the broth, place them on a large serving platter, and moisten with some broth. Cover and keep warm.

4. Carve the meat and place on the serving platter with the vegetables.

From the SCCC Kitchen: Skins stay on to give grilled potatoes a healthful kick

From the SCCC Kitchen: Skins stay on to give grilled potatoes a healthful kick

Grilled Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic

Text Size: A | A | A

From the SCCC Kitchen offers Daily Gazette readers tastes from Schenectady County Community College’s nationally accredited American Culinary Federation culinary arts program. Recipes selected by SCCC instructors can easily be prepared at home. Today, The Gazette concludes a summerlong batch of recipes offered by technical specialist (and certified executive chef) Christopher Tanner. The finale is a fall harvest of small potatoes — Grilled Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic. Tanner offers more cooking tips at his blog, “Gastronomic Inspirations” at cheftanner.com.

Schenectady County Community College technical specialist (and certified executive chef) Christopher Tanner offers grilled new potatoes.
Watch Video»

Christopher Tanner has his own version of “tater tots.”

His spuds are small, like the baked staples kids (and some adults) smother with cheese and ketchup.

There are no toppings allowed on Tanner’s “Grilled Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic.” There’s enough flavor in them to bypass participation by Kraft and Heinz.

“People love starch,” said Tanner, whose recipe scores points for easy preparation, taste, health and simplicity.

The easy prep work comes courtesy of aluminum foil. The fingerling, baby Yukon gold and baby purple potatoes used for the dish are wrapped in a foil packet for their time over (or under) the heat. The taste comes from pepper, rosemary and garlic used to spice up the round vegetables; the healthful component is represented by skins that stay on the spuds. “If you take the skins off, you lose all the nutrients,” Tanner said.

Washing the dishes is simple because there are no dishes — once the seasoned and sizzled potatoes are off the grill or out of the oven, aluminum foil is rolled up and thrown away.

Unlike many recipes, chefs don’t have to keep a constant vigil near the flames.

“This is one of those recipes that you can kind of forget for 15 minutes on the grill or the oven and it will still be fine,” Tanner said.

The potatoes, in different shapes and colors, make a great side dish for autumn plates.

GRILLED POTATOES WITH ROSEMARY AND GARLIC

2 pounds varied small potatoes (fingerlings, baby Yukon gold, baby purple potatoes)

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3 sprigs rosemary, leaves removed and minced

5 cloves garlic, crushed

Heat a grill on medium-high heat. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients.

Place a large piece of aluminum foil flat on the counter, place the potatoes on top of foil, add a second piece of foil over potatoes and seal potatoes inside aluminum foil pouch by crimping the edges securely.

Place the aluminum packet over grill and cook for 10 minutes. Flip the package and grill and additional 20 to 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. You can poke them through the packet with a toothpick to check if they are tender.

Remove potatoes from the grill packet and serve.

Serves 4 to 6.

What the heck have I been up to?

Oh goodness it has been a long time since my last post. Well I am teaching full-time at Schenectady County Community College and things could not be any better. I seriously can't say I recall any better time in my life. I am the lead instructor for Garde Manger, I personally teach three sections of the class with two other instructors teaching under my curriculum. I also run the restaurant class on Tuesday nights (make reservations in advance, the days fill up quick) and I teach the basic baking class called Elements of Baking.

I have been working in an America Culinary Federation Knowledge Bowl team for the college along with a number of other great things. On the competition note, I haven't done much myself lately because of work. For those who are ACF members, you will see in the next National Culinary Review that I am named one of the newest ACf certified culinary judges, so proud and humble at the same time.

I am judging one of my first competitions this winter in St Augustine, Fl. I won both my first gold in cold food (garde manger) competition along with my first market basket (mystery basket competition) at this show. Again, I am humbled that I get the chance to come full-circle to judge at this competition.

In the next couple weeks I will be competing in a couple competitions. One will be in Pennsylvania, while the other will be in Delhi, NY. I have never competed in the seafood category, so I thought I would come up with a new dish for that category. To be honest the dish came to me by accident. I purchased some salt cod last week and decided to make some traditional New England salt cod cakes.

The dish I came up with is a sous-vide olive oil poached black cod, set upon a truffled smoke black cod potato cake with rainbow chard two ways (julienne stems sauteed in butter, and the leaves wilted with garlic and shallots with a bit of pumpkin oil. The sauce will be a beurre rouge (red wine butter sauce).

I hope you all are well, thanks for reading... I will try to keep you all up on my latest escapades. Be well, and be safe.