If you are reading this, I’m glad you made it out on the other side of Black Friday. Welcome to our favorite shopping day, Small Business Saturday! One of the best places to shop local here in Charleston is the Charleston Farmer’s Market held on Saturday mornings at Marion Square downtown.
We supported our local businesses this morning by getting some veggies to add to our Thanksgiving leftovers.
While I was thinking of what to do with the leftover turkey yesterday, Alfonso made himself a quick sandwich that ended up being super delicious. He said next time the only thing he will change is to add more of everything. He likes a big, fat sandwich.
It’s not exactly a recipe, but he added a layer of tangy goat cheese, some dark and light meat smoked turkey, a few crushed walnuts, spinach, and finally a thin layer of tangerine jam. The jam was a substitute for leftover cranberry sauce, so if you’ve got that- even better! The turkey was definitely the star of the sandwich. It was brined and smoked by my cousin from Hog N Around out of Lexington, SC. The juicy, salty turkey paired well with the bite of the goat cheese and the sweetness from the jam. This sandwich is convenient for when you have leftover rotisserie chicken as well.
We made some tapas (before Turkey Day) to take to Thanksgiving this year and it ended up being the perfect recipe for AFTER Thanksgiving when you need to use up your mashed potatoes. It works better when you have chunky, thick leftover taters. The recipe started like this:
“What can I add to these potatoes that I already have in the house? I have garlic, green onion, and sharp cheddar cheese. Hmm…that sounds delish. Fry it? Fry it.”
We roasted a whole head of garlic and added the green onion, garlic, and cheese to the cold potatoes (so much easier to handle and definitely more sturdy).
To make them fry ready you roll them into balls and then in flour, egg, and finally panko bread crumbs.
Serve them with our dijon aioli sauce and next year you’ll make extra potatoes just so you can have these!
Per suggestion, we will be adding some sort of crispy pork meat for next time, but feel free to go ahead and experiment with the recipe now!
Fried Potato and Roasted Garlic Balls with Dijon Aioli
*makes about 45 balls
For the potato balls
3 cups cold smashed potatoes
1 head of garlic, roasted (see roasting instructions below)
3 green onions, minced
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, small cubed
1 T salt
2 t pepper
1/2 t thyme
3 eggs
1 cup of flour
2-3 cups of Panko bread crumbs
3 cups GMO free canola oil
For the aioli
1 T olive oil
1/4 onion, minced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 cup mayo (homemade if possible)
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1 t thyme
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1/2 t mustard powder
1 t chili powder
juice of half a lemon
To roast the garlic: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut off the top 1/3 of the garlic head and place in an aluminum foil square. Drizzle with olive oil and close the foil around the garlic. Place in the oven for 40 minutes or until the center most cloves are very tender. Remove from oven, cool, and squeeze the cloves from the skin. Set aside.
To make the potato balls: Mix the cold potatoes with the garlic, green onion, cheese, salt, pepper, thyme, and 1 egg. Set aside. Prepare 3 bowls: one with the flour and a dash of salt and pepper mixed in, one with the last 2 eggs (beaten), and one with the bread crumbs. Roll some of the potato mixture into a ping pong sized ball and then roll in flour. It’s less sticky if you flour your hands too. Set aside on a baking sheet and put in the fridge for 20 minutes to firm back up.
After you have rolled and floured all the balls, cover each one in the egg mixture and then the panko bread crumbs and return to the baking sheet. At this point you can keep them in the fridge for a day or so (I wouldn’t freeze them because of the potatoes- they have a funny texture when they have been frozen) or fry them on the spot.
To fry, heat your oil to 350 degrees over medium heat with a candy thermometer in a deep medium sized pot. Drop 3-4 balls in the hot oil at a time and fry until golden brown. Remove and drain on a paper towel. As you continue to fry you might need to turn the oil down slightly if the balls are golden on the outside but not warm and melted on the inside.
To make the aioli: Heat the oil in a small frying pan and fry the onions and garlic until golden. Set aside to cool. Mix all of the other ingredient together and add the onion and garlic mixture when cooled. Make sure everything is evenly distributed.
Serve the potato balls on a platter with a small bowl of the aioli for dipping.
I finally figured out what I wanted to do with the left over turkey. Turkey Pot Pies! I love a creamy pot pie mixture topped with a delicate and buttery, but crispy puff pastry. The best pot pies are made with homemade stock. If you saved your turkey bones, you can whip up a delicious homemade stock with very little effort. For this recipe I used some frozen chicken stock from the last time we roasted a chicken, but you can do the turkey stock in the exact same way.
Crockpot Chicken (or Turkey) Stock
bones of 1 roasted bird
2 carrots, rough chopped
2 celery stalks, rough chopped
1 onion, rough chopped
First, preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the bones on a baking sheet and roast for about 20-30 minutes or until you start to see the bones turn golden brown. This gives a lot of depth of flavor to your broth. Remove the bones and let cool. Using a butchering cleaver (or the largest, strongest knife you have), chop some of the bones in half- the more the better. Watch your fingers! Place the bones in a large crockpot with the carrots, celery, and onion and cover completely with water. Turn the crockpot on the highest setting and keep it there for 24-48 hours. You can take it out sooner, but the longer it cooks the better it tastes.
When the stock is done, strain and cool then store in 1 quart containers in the freezer. If you know how to can things, do that.
For the leftover turkey pot pies I added some garbanzo beans to amp it up a little. And for my vegetarians out there, you can replace all the turkey with more beans and use a veggie stock to adapt the recipe to your needs. Really, pot pies are so versatile. You can use the veggies and meat you like and leave out the ones that make you frown.
One last note about the recipe: I attempted to make puff pastry for the first time and obviously followed a recipe. We haven’t leveled up to that skill yet! You can find the recipe we used here. I halved it.
Turkey and Garbanzo Pot Pies
*makes about 5 cups pot pie mixture
2 T olive oil (I had bacon grease, so I used that instead.)
1 T butter
1 large russet potato, peeled and diced
2 celery sticks, small diced
2 carrots, small diced
1 small onion, small diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 t dried thyme
2 t salt
1 t pepper
3 heaping T flour
3 cups turkey stock (see comments above)
1/2 can garbanzo beans, drained
2 T heavy cream, warmed
uncooked puff pastry, very cold but not frozen (see comments above)
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Melt the butter with the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes and cook until they are golden on the outside, about 5 minutes. They might not be done all the way through, but that’s ok. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Lower the heat to medium and add the onions, carrots, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes until the veggies are caramelizing and sticking to the bottom. They should be vey golden. Add the garlic and stir around for 30 seconds to a minute, until fragrant. Add the thyme, salt, and pepper and cook for 30 seconds. Add the flour, mix in, and let cook for 2-3 minutes to toast.
Slowly add the stock and use the moisture to scrape up the bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the garbanzos and the potatoes from earlier. Combine well and let reduce until thick, about 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Keep an eye on it. When it is reduced, add the heavy cream and mix in. Remove from heat.
Ladle the mixture into your dish (I used 3 two cup crocks) and top with a 1/2 inch thick piece of puff pastry large enough to hang slightly over the edges. Poke several knife holes in the top of your dough and place on top of a baking sheet to prevent oven mess. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes until the puff pastry is golden. Let cool 10 minutes before eating.
So there you have it- three recipes to use up some of those leftovers from Thanksgiving.
Before you go: Alfonso and I responded to an interview request for gardeners at our local community garden and we made the paper! There is mention of the blog, although not by name. To see what the Castejóns think about our little garden, read the article in the Post and Courier from Thanksgiving Day here.
Talk to y’all soon and be on the lookout for lots of Christmas sweets recipes throughout the month of December!