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Turkey Day’s Over; Now What?
The bird has been carved, the big games are over (I hope your team won, unless they played mine), the relatives have all gone home (if you’re lucky). The annual Question hangs over your head like a sleet-pregnant cloud:
“Whatever am I going to do with this massive pile of leftovers THIS time?”
It’s a personal theory of mine that Black Friday happens only because most folks are running from this question, and the only place they feel safe is the mall. (Clever marketing’s got nothing to do with it.) Well, don’t run screaming out of the house at 4 A.M. to participate in the mass smashup at K-Mart; I’ve Got A Plan that is fool-proof, and will give you the confidence you need to handle the Holiday’s toughest question. (If you’ve already forgotten the question, start at the top of this article and search until you find it.)
Here’s the Plan: Soup and Sandwiches.
Okay, maybe it seems a little mundane at first, but work with me here. It’s not like you’ve got any ideas of your own, after all…
In the Recipes section of the Chile Underground, later today I’ll post the full recipes. But here’s the synopsis: Turkey-bone soup, with rice and serranos; Turkey sandwiches with a strawberry-habanero jelly and jalapeno-boosted cranberry sauce; Ham chile verde with chipotle-bacon salsa.
Turkey-bone soup is often the best way to take care of the stripped carcass of that hapless bird your ravening horde hacked up and snarfed down. However, rather than simply add stock, onion and veggies, this version adds rice and serrano peppers. It’s a mixture that’s reminiscent of central eastern Mexico, like the soups made in Xochitla (pronounced something like so-SHEELa in Nahuatl; but you already knew that, of course).
The sandwiches are serious food, with heat AND flavor. If you’ve got any relatives you haven’t run off invited to stay a few days longer, they’ll undoubtedly clean you out of leftover turkey once you introduce them to these tasty hand meals. If you’re all alone, you’ve undoubtedly got enough to see you through the whole weekend of football. (Kansas and Hawaii for the title!) Either way, you win!
If you have leftover ham, you can avoid the sandwiches altogether and enjoy a nice chile verde instead. This is not your grandmother’s chile verde! It has just enough zest, spicy flavors galore, and a hit of sweetness (if you had a honey-cured ham; you DID get the honey-cured, yes?). If you really want to kick it up a notch, eat your chile verde in flour tortillas with a dose of chipotle-bacon salsa. Anything with bacon is better of course; that’s a given.
So get out there and munch those yummy leftovers, and
Enjoy The (Thanksgiving) Heat, You Turkeys!
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