Good morning! I won’t take too much of your time with this post, but I just had to share a little discovery I made last night that will make a big difference in my post Holiday Feast ‘Turkey Encore’ menus from now on. And I think you’ll enjoy my new twist on ‘leftovering’ as much as I did…
Turkey and Stuffing Breakfast Bake with Fresh Basil Leaves.
So… I was looking over the smorgasbord of Thanksgiving leftovers I had in the fridge, trying to figure out where to start in using them up via ‘Turkey Encore’ meals. I was determined not to take the easy way out and go with the usual Turkey Soup, Turkey Sandwiches or Turkey Burritos I often fall back on, but I just couldn’t come up with anything new or exciting. My brain was completely Turkeyed out. I’d gone recipe blind.
The answer was right there in front of me
By then my eyes came to rest on the big casserole dish of extra Stuffing I made, to ensure that everyone would have seconds. As it turned out, we barely made a dent in that dish; there was so much other stuff going around and everybody wanted to have a taste of everything. We were pretty much stuffed ourselves after the first round. Loathe to think of all that lovely stuffing going to waste, I set myself the task of coming up with a Turkey Encore main that featured it, rather than simply employing it as a side. At first, I was unsuccessful, my mind simply replaying my list of known leftover dishes that incorporate Stuffing and getting no satisfaction. Then, I decided to try ‘living in the moment’, and made the casserole dish the meditative focus of all my collective senses.
And it came to me
For just a second, my eyes went out blurry and I thought I was looking at one of my all-purpose Breakfast Bakes. I could see it crispy, brown and beautiful on top, bursting with all the good things in my Stuffing plus a couple of generous handsfull of shredded or cubed Turkey… All bound together by a simple Egg Custard and baked until tender and tasty.
What I did
I greased a medium-sized 9 in. x 13 in. / 22.5 cm x 32.5 cm shallow casserole dish and set the oven to preheat to 375 F.
In a large steel mixing bowl, I crumbled 4 cups /1 L of leftover dressing and then added 2 cups / 50 ml fresh Bread Cubes, to help break up the moist sticky texture of the Stuffing so that the Custard mixture would be absorbed evenly by all parts of the Solid base.
I gave that mixture a good, gentle, mix trying to create some small air spaces between the Stuffing and Bread Cube chunks. Into that, I tossed 3 cups / 750 ml of shredded and cubed Turkey, both Dark and White Meat, and gave the whole thing a nice toss to ensure that all the various components were evenly distributed.
Then, in a smaller bowl, I whisked up 6 Eggs and 1/2 cup / 125 ml of whole milk until the colour became a smooth, even light yellow, and poured that over the ‘dry’ ingredients, and gave the mixture a gentle stir until all the dry chunks were coated with Egg. Then, I turned the mixture out into the new casserole dish, gave it a little shake to settle the chunky ingredients and eliminate any air pockets. I baked the dish for an hour (or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the dish comes out ‘clean’) and let it rest for the time it takes for the gang to get to the table before cutting and serving in squares.
Ta-Daaaaah!
Wow! I was blown away by the flavour and texture of the Turkey Bake. You’ll note that nowhere in the instructions did I say to add Salt or Pepper, or Herbs or Spices. The Stuffing has enough seasoning in it to flavour the whole dish. Easy-peasy! Everyone at my table loved the Bake, even the folks who aren’t huge Turkey fans to begin with. The Stuffing Bake can be served at any meal or just for a late-night nosh. Just microwave a serving for 2 minutes, or until the Bake starts to steam.
Cheers!
~ Maggie J.