Leftover turkey stars in saucy jambalaya
Thanksgiving brings with it a certain sense of inevitability. You WILL eat too much. You WILL start thinking about holiday gifts before you've put the last dessert spoon in the dishwasher. You WILL have too much turkey left over.
Don't get me wrong: Thanksgiving leftovers are a gift. The meal on the day after Thanksgiving, the reheated Friday repeat of the Big Meal itself, is in some ways even better than it was on Thursday. Everyone is relaxed. No one is worried about spills. There are plenty of leftovers — stuffing, potatoes, green beans, maybe even gravy — to go around. After that, though, you are left mostly with turkey. Turkey for sandwiches. Turkey for casseroles. Turkey for ... snore.
Enough already! Think big. Think bold. Think “bye-bye, turkey.”
It took me awhile to realize that many great poultry recipes can be adapted for leftover turkey. The jambalaya here is a case in point.
It comes from a ridiculously appealing new book called “Cooking My Way Back Home” by Mitchell Rosenthal (2011 Ten Speed Press). It's an unusual compendium of Southern-inspired dishes from a New Jersey-born chef who worked his way from a Greek-owned Jewish deli into an apprenticeship with Louisiana chef Paul Prudhomme.
Rosenthal cooked in some of the country's most famous kitchens (The Four Seasons, Le Cirque, Postrio) and now owns restaurants in San Francisco and Portland, Ore.
As published, the recipe calls for 2½ pounds of boneless, skinless chicken. It is probably even more delicious if you make it that way (see recipe note).
But it is also one of the tastiest ways to use up a lot of leftover turkey. It may, in fact, become as much a tradition at your house as Thanksgiving dinner itself.
• More about Marialisa Calta at marialisacalta.com.