Thanksgiving leftovers filling your fridge?  Looking for a great leftover turkey recipe? Every year, we spoon leftover turkey onto our plates, smothering it with cranberry sauce and stuffing though there never seems to be enough gravy to make the rounds.  We make Thanksgiving casseroles and nourishing soups. This Thanksgiving, we served up a something a little different, something new that’s sure to become a mainstay in our home: leftover turkey hash with yams and fresh sage. Of course, subscribers to Nourished Kitchen’shealthy meal plans, will still enjoy turkey and butternut squash soup with quinoa this week – another one of my favorite ways to make use of Thanksgiving leftovers.

what to do with thanksgiving leftovers

• Leftover Turkey: turkey and yam hash (see the recipe), turkey soup with vegetables, turkey soup with wild rice, turkey enchiladas, turkey sandwiches.
• Leftover Cranberry Sauce: use on sourdough or sprouted wheat bread as a jam or jelly, make cranberry-oat bars, use in cranberry sorbets
• Leftover Mashed Potatoes: use as a base for potato soup, make colcannon or bubble and squeak, use in shepherd’s pie
• Leftover Stuffing: Combine with eggs and prepare a strata, use as a base for Thanksgiving casserole
• Leftover Yams, Sweet Potatoes or Squash: Use as a base in pancakes, waffles or muffins.

thanksgiving leftovers recipe

leftover turkey & yam hash with fresh sage

Savory, sweet and fragrant with the perfume of fresh sage, this turkey and yam hash is a perfect recipe to use leftover roast turkey from the Thanksgiving holiday.  While I love this turkey hash served with a dollop of cranberry relish or cranberry sauce, consider topping it with a fried egg for breakfast.  In this leftover turkey recipe, we pair roast turkey with fresh yams and a heavy dose of fragrant sage, for a nourishing an deeply flavorful hash.  Inspired by classic roast beef hash – a mix of leftover pot roast, potatoes and onions, this turkey hash is even more robustly flavored.  Like all the dishes served up in our home, it is also deeply nourishing.  Turkey is a rich source of niacin, vitamin B6, phosphorus and the famed mood-elevating amino acid: tryptophan.  Coupling turkey with yams, a source of vitamins C and B6 as well as the minerals potassium and manganese seems only natural.

ingredients

• 1/2 cup grass-fed butter or coconut oil (see sources)
• 4 shallots, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 cup minced fresh sage
• 2 large garnet yams, peeled and diced
• 3 cups chopped leftover turkey
• 1 cup turkey or roast chicken stock
• freshly ground black pepper and unrefined sea salt, as it suits you

equipment

• cast iron skillet
• wooden spoon

method

1. Melt one-half cup butter or coconut oil in a cast iron skillet over a moderate flame, then toss in peeled and chopped shallots and minced sage, frying them until they release their fragrance and become translucent – about three minutes. Toss in diced yam, and fry until tender when pierced with a fork, stirring frequently.
2. Add three cups chopped leftover turkey to the yams and shallots, and continue frying for five to six minutes.  Deglaze the skillet with one cup roast chicken or turkey stock, and simmer the hash until the liquid is completely evaporated, about ten minutes longer.
3. Serve hot.

YIELD: about 6 servings.
TIME: about 30 minutes.