; Supermarket Serenade: Leftover Turkey!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Leftover Turkey!

OK, I know it's the day before Thanksgiving and you haven't even cooked the turkey yet, but it's not too early to plan for what to do with your turkey leftovers.

This month I have a recipe appearing in Cook's Country that won the grand prize for their leftover turkey recipe contest. I actually look forward to leftover turkey more than turkey on Thanksgiving Day because there are just so many delicious things you can make with the leftovers. This recipe combines pecans, blue cheese, cranberries and pears in a rustic tart.

Super tips: make this tart any time of the year using leftover roasted chicken or store bought rotisserie chicken. For an extra rich flavor substitute creme fraiche for the sour cream and heavy cream. Add a few dried cranberries and crushed pecans to the top just before baking for a splash of color on top.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Rustic Turkey Tart

1 (9-inch) round prepared pie dough
1 1/2 cups leftover turkey meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
2 firm pears, peeled, cored and diced
1/4 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
salt and pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Gently press pie crust into 9 inch tart pan and trim excess dough with a knife. Prick bottom of dough all over with tines of fork. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes; cool on wire rack.

2. Combine turkey, 1/2 cup cheese, pears, pecans, cranberries, sour cream, heavy cream and thyme in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper. Transfer turkey mixture to cooled pie crust, then sprinkle with remaining cheese.

3. Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Tart can be refrigerated for 24 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving.


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We have a winner!!! Some of you have a lot of my favorite appetizers as yours!!

Thank you to all those who participated in my 100th post giveaway....and the winner is....Andi!! That green bean appetizer that you wrote about sounds very interesting...I would love to try it-could you send me the recipe for that too?!!

Andi please email me at vcallag61@aol.com with your mailing address and I will get your package out right away!! Congratulations.

20 comments:

The Blonde Duck said...

That looks so tasty! I'm going to see if i can steal some leftovers to make it!

Jersey Girl Cooks said...

Looks great but no turkey leftovers for us since we are going to a neighbors. I forgot to say congrats on your 100th post. Happy Thanksgiving!

Mary Bergfeld said...

Terrific recipe. Thanks for sharing. Happy Thanksgiving.

Megan said...

You sold me with the blue cheese! I'll have to try this one. :)

RecipeGirl said...

What a fun leftover turkey recipe!

And hey congrats on the grand prize. Terrific accomplishment!

grace said...

this makes me wish we had leftover turkey! as it is, we devoured the whole thing and if i was going to make this, which i feel an urge to do, we'd have to start from scratch. :)
and i just saw this in my email newsletter from cook's country--congrats!!

Amy said...

That looks delicious! I love dried cranberries in savory foods.

Maria said...

What a great way to use leftovers!

That Girl said...

I thought this was a pizza - but a tart sounds even better!

Shari said...

This looks delicious! Anything with pastry is good!

Aunt Julie said...

Congrats to your winner, and thanks for the post-Turkey Day recipe. Always looking for new things to do with Mr. Tom Turkey leftovers!

Anonymous said...

No wonder you won! This looks delicious.

Allie said...

I see why this was a winner it's a terrific recipe!

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

I'm going to see if I can find so leftover turkey to make this or maybe I'll cook a turkey breast so I can make this - it soulds wondrful.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Congratulations (again) on the Cooks Country winning recipe! You're such a creative genius.

~Cat

Emily said...

Oh yum! This tart looks wonderful! I'll skip the big bird and go for this next time!

vanillasugarblog said...

no turkey leftovers as we ate out, but wow, this tart has so many flavors going on in it. I love this!

Aggie said...

I have never made a savory tart like this, everything in it sounds wonderful! Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!

Anonymous said...

Found this after seeing the recipe printed in Cooks Country. They actually call for using 4 pears, which I thought sounded like a lot for a 9-in tart. Luckily, before making, found your original here, so hopefully will be doing it right the first time.

Anonymous said...

This is easily one of the tastiest ways I've seen leftover turkey used! I especially like the addition of the cranberries, very tasty!