When leftover Thanksgiving dinner got a fancy makeover for next day lunch/dinner…
Hope everyone had a Thanksgiving filled with joy and happiness. Did you all express your gratitude to your near and dear ones? I love thanksgiving as it brings food, family and friends together. Needless to say, food is the main attraction for thanksgiving, the preparations for the grant dinner had started couple of days ahead, started with the grocery and produce purchase, followed by going crazy while stacking up the veggies/meat in the refrigerator, few stuffs being forgotten, hence more shopping had to be done and finally the big bird got ready for the longest roast. For me, this thanksgiving was at the new place, in the new house. My husband and I pretty much lazed around at home, caught up with almost all new DVD released movies. Of course, we couldn’t just ignore all the shopping excitement, so we roamed around in the mall which is only 5 minutes away from my house, to be a part of the shopping spree and the crowd. I love huge crowd and excitement, hence holidays and celebrations are always my best friends.
On thanksgiving I whipped up a mini feast, as it was just my hubby and I. Since it was just two of us, I didn’t get the whole bird, but I got the basted turkey breast instead. I also made some of the other traditional dishes like cranberry orange sauce, Wheat bread Mushroom stuffing, Gravy and Mashed potatoes. After the sumptuous feast, we both tripped into the state of food coma. Leftover food was thrown into the refrigerator, hoping to make something out of it the next day.
Next day, when all the leftover food was taken out, at first I felt too lazy to make something fancy out of them and thought of just doing the simplest job of reheating everything and having it. But, my brain seemed to be hyper active that day and started giving me ideas about transforming the leftover food into a fancy meal. Then I got pretty enthusiastic about this and tried my luck on turning the leftover into a fancy lunch.
This is what I did, Carved the turkey breast into thick wedges and roasted it in a skillet, added little water to prevent it from drying out and finally glazed it with balsamic vinegar and sprinkled Rosemary for an aromatic flavor. Other dishes, like mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, I reheated them and used to top the turkey. Surprisingly, there was no leftover stuffing, so I had to make a veggie bed for the turkey. I made pomegranate-balsamic vinegar Glazed carrot and mushrooms. When serving, I made a bed of the veggies and placed the turkey wedges on this, topped with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. I felt really good after giving the meal a makeover, and it tasted phenomenal. I actually loved the turkey with the makeover than the actual thanksgiving dinner I had.
Here is the snap of the Mini Thanksgiving Dinner I whipped up:
How I gave the Thanksgiving dinner a makeover for next day lunch/dinner:
Ingredients:
- Turkey breast, carved into wedges- 1 pound
- Balsamic vinegar- 1/4 cup
- Ground black pepper-1tsp
- Thyme- 1 sprig
- Olive oil- 2-3 tbsp
- Water- 1/4 cup( as the turkey is already packed with flavor, I didn’t use chicken stock)
Instruction:
- In a wide skillet, add oil, place the turkey wedges and season with ground pepper and Thyme.
- Brown on both sides, if it is getting dry, add water to keep it moist.
- After the water has evaporated, glaze the turkey with balsamic vinegar.
Stir well, when the turkey has browned well, remove from the flame.- Keep aside until it is ready to be served.
Pomegranate-Balsamic Glazed Carrots and Mushrooms:
Ingredients:
- Carrots, halved and cut lengthwise- 4
- Button mushrooms- 1 box
- Pomegranate juice- 1/4 cup
- Honey-2 tsp
- Balsamic vinegar-2 tbsp
- Ground black pepper-1 tsp
- Chicken stock-1/3 cup
- Unsalted butter-2 tbsp
- Scallions- 1 tbsp
- Olive oil-2 tbsp
- Salt- to taste
Instruction:
- Combine the pomegranate juice, honey and balsamic vinegar in a measuring cup and whisk.
- In a skillet, add 1 tbsp butter with the oil over medium-high heat.
- When the butter has melted, add the carrots and mushrooms, add salt, ground pepper and toss well to coat.
- Cook without stirring until the bottom layer of carrots is lightly browned in spots, 5 minutes.
- Using tongs, stir and flip the veggies and again cook for 1-2 minutes to brown.
- Continue cooking, occasionally stirring and flipping, until most of the veggies are a bit browned in places.
- Now add chicken broth, cover quickly and cook until 1 tbsp of broth has evaporated, for 2 minutes.
- Uncover, reduce the heat and add the pomegranate mixture.
- Cook, stirring gently, until the mixture reduces and starts to get glazed.
- Remove from the heat and add the remaining 1 tbsp butter and give it a stir and let the butter melt.
- Serve in a bowl or platter, garnished with scallions.
How to plate the Thanksgiving dinner which is transformed to fancy next day lunch/dinner:
In a platter, make a bed with the pomegranate-balsamic glazed carrots and mushrooms, then place the Balsamic turkey wedges on top of the veggies.
Top each turkey wedges with 1 to 2 tbsp mashed potatoes and on top of this 1 tsp cranberry sauce. Place chopped scallion on top of the cranberry sauce for an extra color effect.
Voila, Thanksgiving dinner got an awesome makeover in less than 30 minutes.Who would think these are leftovers from the previous dinner, doesn’t this look like freshly whipped up meal?
- Turkey breast, carved into wedges- 1 pound
- Balsamic vinegar- ¼ cup
- Ground black pepper-1tsp
- Thyme- 1 sprig
- Olive oil- 2-3 tbsp
- Water- ¼ cup( as the turkey is already packed with flavor, I didn't use chicken stock)
- In a wide skillet, add oil, place the turkey wedges and season with ground pepper and Thyme.
- Brown on both sides, if it is getting dry, add water to keep it moist.
- After the water has evaporated, glaze the turkey with balsamic vinegar.
- Stir well, when the turkey has browned well, remove from the flame.
- Keep aside until it is ready to be served.
- Carrots, halved and cut lengthwise- 4
- Button mushrooms- 1 box
- Pomegranate juice- ¼ cup
- Honey-2tsp
- Balsamic vinegar-2 tbsp
- Ground black pepper-1 tsp
- Chicken stock-1/3 cup
- Unsalted butter-2 tbsp
- Scallions- 1 tbsp
- Olive oil-2 tbsp
- Salt- to taste
- Combine the pomegranate juice, honey and balsamic vinegar in a measuring cup and whisk.
- In a skillet, add 1 tbsp butter with the oil over medium-high heat.
- When the butter has melted, add the carrots and mushrooms, add salt, ground pepper and toss well to coat.
- Cook without stirring until the bottom layer of carrots is lightly browned in spots, 5 minutes.
- Using tongs, stir and flip the veggies and again cook for 1-2 minutes to brown.
- Continue cooking, occasionally stirring and flipping, until most of the veggies are a bit browned in places.
- Now add chicken broth, cover quickly and cook until 1 tbsp of broth has evaporated, for 2 minutes.
- Uncover, reduce the heat and add the pomegranate mixture.
- Cook, stirring gently, until the mixture reduces and starts to get glazed.
- Remove from the heat and add the remaining 1 tbsp butter and give it a stir and let the butter melt.
- Serve in a bowl or platter, garnished with scallions.
- In a platter, make a bed with the pomegranate-balsamic glazed carrots and mushrooms, then place the Balsamic turkey wedges on top of the veggies. Top each turkey wedges with 1 tsp mashed potatoes and on top of this ½ tsp cranberry sauce. Place chopped scallion on top of the cranberry sauce for an extra color effect.
