Quality over quantity

A more professional, on-the-ball blogger would probably have presented you with a multitude of recipes for Thanksgiving by now.  I don't have any Thanksgiving recipes.  (Well, if you peruse the archives, you could possibly find a few recipes for appetizers, sides or pies that appeal to you.)

Better bloggers would at least be at the ready with a list of ideas for your leftovers.  Honestly, I don't think my family has every had an amount of turkey leftover that couldn't be handled by a few turkey-stuffing-cranberry sauce-and-mayo sandwiches. However, I do have one recipe suggestion from the archives for leftover turkey to offer you this week - Giada's Turkey Bolognese, a very anti-Thanksgiving use for leftover turkey. If you don't want to get right to it, you could freeze the leftover turkey and make this later.



Turkey Bolognese
Giada’s Family Dinners Copyright 2006

 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 ½ pounds coarsely shredded cooked turkey (preferably dark meat)
6 cups marinara sauce she suggest her recipe but I used jarred Bertolli Organic
1 cup water
2/3 cup chopped fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ pounds spaghetti
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the celery and carrot, and sauté until the vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Add the turkey and sauté 1 minute. Add the marinara sauce and water. Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium-high heat, then decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer gently for 25 minutes, stirring often, to all the flavors to blend. Stir in the basil. Season the sauce generously to taste with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile in a very large pot of boiling salted water, cook the spaghetti, stirring often to prevent the pasta from sticking together, until tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes, Drain, reserving one cup of the cooking liquid. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to coat, add enough of the reserved liquid to moisten as needed. Serve with the Parmesan.
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It's only one recipe but it's a good one. Happy Thanksgiving!

Question of the Day:  Are you cooking a Thanksgiving meal this year?