Remains of the Day: Turkey Tetrazzini al Forno and a couple of other ideas too

About 40% of infertility occurs due to male, but always women go first with the test on an individual’s endurance Sports Physical Therapy center highly recommends the importance of generic tadalafil india hydration. They are inherited and are found in several levitra for women families. Provides daily intake of magnesium To avoid soft tabs cialis complications, poor peripheral circulation, you should ensure you complete daily intake of magnesium. Therefore, patients should take tadalafil cost click that link a timely and proper medication is needed.

With the big day looming it’s not too early to start thinking about creative uses for the leftover bird.  A longtime family favorite recipe is Turkey Tetrazzini.  I started with Mary Pat Sullivan’s ur-recipe, tweaked a little here and there. The biggest change really is the title. Since this is a baked meat sauce, cheese and pasta concoction I want to preempt any allusion to the word “casserole.”  Rich, creamy, full of turkey flavor and made from scratch it’s earned the respect of the Italian designation al forno.  And though it’s an American invention (most commonly credited to the chef at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco circa 1908 or so, where the Italian-born opera star Luisa Tetrazzini resided),Tetrazzini al Forno just sounds better.

Meanwhile boil the pasta just ’til al dente — really al dente, like seven or eight minutes tops, it’s going to cook more in the oven and you don’t want it mushy. During the last minute of boiling add the frozen peas.  Drain well.

Now mix it together — meat and cheese sauce, peppers and mushrooms, pasta and peas — and place in a buttered two quart baking dish.  Sprinkle the top with the bread crumbs, some extra cheese and the slivered almonds.

Into a preheated 375 degree oven it goes.  Forty five minutes should do it if everything is still pretty hot when you assemble it; an hour or a bit longer if things have cooled down.  It’s done when the top is toasty brown and it’s bubbling up around the sides.

So here’s the story Mom sent with the recipe:

“It was Judy Cassilly’s recipe (son Bob, sculptor – founder of City Museum) that we “published” in our recipe book “Not By Bread Alone” (title idea from Dan and artwork done by Bob Cassilly senior). The recipe book and taste luncheon, in which all the recipes in the book were served, was to benefit St. Henry’s, an inner city parish we were assisting. (“We” mostly Holy Redeemer and neighbors in Webster Park).
We also had an ice skating party benefit at which we served hot rum punch BEFORE the ice skating – there were several accidents at the rink, most notably a broken arm. Despite the mishaps the party was deemed a big success! (We were so young)”

So back to your leftovers.  You’re bound to have more turkey stock, at least some of the turkey meat and fat which is the foundation of another excellent Thanksgiving follow up, TURKEY RISOTTO.  Good thing here is that the stock and fat will do all the heavy lifting when it comes to flavoring the rice, so if you’re running low on meat at this point not to worry, you really don’t want a meat-laden risotto.  If you’ve had success with risotto before, Turkey Risotto is pretty much a no-brainer:  start with some of the fat to saute your onions, a bit of garlic or shallots, some mushrooms, then use that wonderful simmering stock as you stir, stir, stir the aborio rice. Thyme is an essential addition, fresh preferred, and lots of chopped parsley too. And more of that good Parmesan cheese.

Lastly, TURKEY SOUP.  My dear friend Trista’s mother is Allegra Kent, the famed NYC Ballet prima ballerina.  Allegra once contributed her recipe for turkey soup to a special section we did at Good Housekeeping, along with this this photo from one of her celebrated roles, George Balanchine’s Bugaku. Her caption was priceless:  “I bend over backwards to give my children a healthy bowl of soup.”  She said her exact memories are vague and, “memory sometimes becomes hallucination…” but if she were to recreate the soup today she would do mushroom and barley if she had just a little turkey leftover and veggies and brown rice (cooked separately) if she had a lot of turkey.
Allegra is a very good cook. As a rule she hews to the healthy side, though she can whip up a killer apple strudel too.  She wrote down her recipe as she put one together at Thanksgiving many years back and as soon as that turns up I’ll share it with you too.