A special treat for a turkey or how to use it to the last bite

I have a tendency to write about sad things and at the same time I do not like sad things, I like the happy things. So I decided to write about the good old roasted turkey for a change. Yes, ladies and gentleman, turkey.

I am kind of curious. Does anybody know what to do with it after Thanksgiving day is over? When no one wants to look at it as a meal anymore and there is still plenty of it left?
For me it was a problem once, because, you see, in my old country there was a tradition to cook a goose not turkey on a holiday and I started with that in Canada.

But that damn goose that I cooked in Canada looked like he flew from Eastern Europe to Canada without a single stop and just drop dead from the sky at Canadian border and was shoveled from there to a Toronto grocery and not just looked - tasted the same. So I did not have a choice but to drop the tradition and start cooking turkey as everybody else. After some trial and error I managed to produce a pretty decent dish- roasted evenly with nice brown (golden brown) skin, crunchy and tasty and spicy on outside and juicy and tasty inside.
But the problem was what to do the next day? I do not have big eaters in my family and next day after staying in the fridge it is not juicy any more and it loses its flavor too, becomes more and more dry. I worked a plan, which I want to share t with you, my patient readers.

Plan A. When plenty of white meat is still there.
Turkey sandwich.
You will need good multigrain bread. Not the cheapest kind, not too soft. You slice the white meat as well as you can, not very thinly. You spread some mustard on a slice of your bread if you like mustard or some hot sauce if you want it to be spicy.
Put couple of slices of turkey on that peace of bread, put your favorite lettuce on top or spinach, couple of red onion rings, spread some mayonnaise on another slice of bread, put some other marinated vegetables on top if you want, or pepper spread (they sell things like that in jars in Canada, if you like peppers, put everything together and enjoy (m-m-m-m! I want it. I want it now!).
Plan B. If only dark meat left around bones.
If you still have lots of chunks of bite size meat, you can create some fast food dish from it. Quick bites I call it.
Into a bowl you break 2 raw eggs, add pinch of salt and pepper, some dry herbs (half of a teaspoon), half a cup of milk or water, two tablespoons of any regular flour. Blend everything; the consistency should be like for pancakes, so you can coat your bites evenly with mixture.
Put two cups of small pieces of turkey leftovers into the mixture and mix thoroughly, so bites are coated with it.
Heat the deep frying pan with generous amount of vegetable oil hit it to the boiling point. Do not burn the oil, as soon as it is heated, lower temperature like in half and put coated bites of turkey in it. Turkey is not raw so you cook it couple of minutes on one side, flip it over and cook again till golden crust on both sides formed, take it out, drain on a paper towel (better) and let it cool down a little. It ‘s ready to disappear in you mouth.
Plan C. Just a little meat left around bones or it is too dry.
You can grind it in a regular blender with good blades, if you do not have a grinder and add some fresh parsley, white onions, you favorite spices, jalapeno peppers without seeds.
I usually use :

• 1 cup of leftover pieces of turkey, or chicken,
• 1 onion small (1/2 big one)
• 2-3 clothes of garlic,
• half a teaspoon of dry spices(black pepper,garlick,oregano,anything).

I grind it smoothly in a small blender. I have to use it couple of times, as it really is small.
I cook 450 grams of spaghetti, linguini, penne pasta, any pasta that cooks longer and stays harder (not like vermicelli, or Chinese noodles), drain it, put it into stir-fry frying pan with a little bit of vegetable oil, fry it like 2 minutes, add my grinded turkey with onion and spices blended and fry a minute more, long enough to mix everything and turn the heat off. Add more salt if you like. The dish is ready to serve.
Makes a very generous amount for 3- 4 people. That’s it. Bon appetite!
Nothing left from that big turkey, just bones. Okay, don’t expect me to cook the bones. Just discard them or invite your neighbor’s dog, if he (the neighbor of course) does’ not mind.
And wait for the next occasion to cook a big turkey. Happy Thanksgiving, guys, past, present and future one!