Turning yesterday’s feast into amazing post-holiday dishes

Stuffing Re-Hash with Egg & Cranberry Hot Sauce

Serves 4 to 6

• 3 ounces breakfast-style sausage links*
• 1 medium russet potato, peeled (optional) and diced
• 1 to 1½ cups leftover prepared stuffing
• ¾ cup leftover turkey or ham (or a combination), diced
• 4 to 6 eggs
• fresh sage garnish, optional
• Cranberry Hot Sauce (see recipe at right)

In a large saucepan cook sausage until light brown and cooked through. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Reserve. Save dripping and sauté potatoes in the same pan until cooked and slightly brown. Add stuffing, turkey, ham and sliced sausage to potatoes. Cook over medium heat until heated throughout. Reserve. Prepare eggs as desired (sunny side up or poached). Place stuffing hash in bowls. Top with an egg. Garnish with sage and serve Cranberry Hot Sauce on the side.

*If the leftover stuffing mix already has sausage, eliminate it from the recipe and use vegetable oil or butter to cook the potatoes.

Cranberry Hot Sauce

• ½ cup leftover cranberry sauce
• ¼ to ½ cup water as needed, to thin out sauce
• 1 small jalapeño, deseeded and minced
• 1 to 2 whole garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• ¼ cup white vinegar
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¼ teaspoons salt, or more to taste

Place all ingredients in a sauce pot or pan and heat until cranberry sauce has a thin, pourable consistency and a sweet and spicy peppery flavor. Add more water, chili pepper, spice and/or vinegar to taste. Remove from heat and strain, if desired, into a heat-proof container. Chill and reserve.

Fall Pho Licious

Serves 4

• 1 package flat, narrow rice noodles (banh pho)
• sliced leftover turkey, 2 to 3 slices per serving
• leftover ham, thinly sliced, optional
• 3 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 whole star anise
• 2½ pounds turkey bones, cleaned and broken down
• 1 medium white onion, quartered
• 2½ inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• 4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
• 7 to 8 cups of water
• 2 to 3 teaspoons salt
• ¼ cup fish sauce, Vietnamese
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
• 1 fresh red or green chile, sliced (serrano, jalapeño, Fresno)

Garnish Set-up:

• trimmed turkey meat from the broth
• bean sprouts, small handful per serving, washed
• 2 red or green chili peppers (serrano, jalapeño, Fresno), thinly sliced
• 2 limes, cut into wedges, 2 wedges per serving
• fresh Thai basil
• fresh cilantro
• white onion, quartered and thinly Sliced
• condiments (soy sauce, Sriracha, chili flakes, fish sauce, chili oil, sambal, Ginger Dipping Sauce—see recipe at right)

Cook rice noodles according to package instructions. Drain, and evenly distribute noodles into serving bowls. Top with turkey and ham. Reserve under refrigeration until ready to use.

In a large stock pot, Dutch oven or Instapot pressure cooker, heat spices over medium heat until fragrant and slightly toasted. Add turkey bones, onion, ginger, garlic, water, salt, fish sauce, sugar and lemon juice or vinegar.

Simmer 45 minutes to an hour and skim off any foam on top while cooking. If cooking in an Instapot, adjust timing per manufacturer’s instructions. Strain broth and reserve any turkey meat from the bones for the pho. Return broth to pot, and adjust seasoning with fish sauce, salt and chili to taste.

While broth is simmering, prep garnishes and condiments. Reserve and chill. Pour broth over noodles, turkey and ham. Top with garnishes and/or serve on the side. Enjoy!

Ginger Dipping Sauce

• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 3-inch piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 cup of water

Stir mixture and heat over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Reserve.

No Hassle Sweet Potato Stuffed Pancakes (gluten-free!)

Makes approximately 14 (4-inch) pancakes

• ½ cup leftover cooked sweet potatoes
• 1½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 box gluten-free or traditional pancake mix
• ingredients on box: eggs, butter or oil, and milk
• salted butter
• maple syrup or honey

Heat oven to 200º. Prep the sweet potatoes. If you are using traditional-style leftover sweet potatoes (baked with marshmallow, sugar and nuts), drain excess liquid from sweet potatoes. Remove any visible skin from the potatoes and any nuts or marshmallows that are burned, as they will taste bitter. Crush any remaining larger nuts into the mixture, creating smaller bits. Mash mixture with the back of a fork until somewhat creamy.

If you are using whipped or pureed leftover sweet potatoes: If mixture is very wet, cook out some of the liquid and cool before using. The mixture should hold shape on a teaspoon and not be “soupy.”

Add spices to dry pancake mix and then follow recipe on box. Ladle batter into a prepared, hot, lightly greased skillet. Working quickly, use two spoons in a scraping motion to top pancakes with small dollops of evenly spaced sweet potato mixture. Use about three teaspoons of sweet potato mixture per pancake.

Carefully ladle more batter on top of the pancake and delicately smooth with the back of a spoon. Cook about 2 minutes. Flip pancakes over when the edges look done and small bubbles start to form, or when the bottom turns golden brown. Continue to cook another few minutes until set. Remove pancakes and place on a sheet tray in a preheated oven until serving.

Repeat until all pancakes are completed. Dollop with butter and top with maple syrup or honey just before serving. Yum!

TIPS:

• Topping the pancakes with additional batter lowers the yield for the box recipe, so you may have to sacrifice a few.
• The same technique of topping the batter with dollops of sweet potato can be used for waffles too!
• Don’t stir the sweet potato mixture into the batter, as it may alter the structure of the recipe creating gummy, flat pancakes or sticky waffles.