Got a turkey leftover hangover? Try a Turkey Vatapa

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

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If you’re anything like me by the second day after Thanksgiving you’re tired of eating turkey with all the fixings. Not to fear, I have a cool way to spice up your leftover turkey into a hearty, yet light stew that is easy to make and a real delight to eat.

Just before our first Christmas together my wife and her family that was in town recreated Thanksgiving dinner one night. Her sister had recently moved overseas and missed having a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

One night she decided to make a recipe she found in the Cooking Light magazine for a Brazilian style stew using the leftover turkey. This was the very first time that she ever tried cooking for me and things turned out great.

Since I prepared a full turkey for the first time in three years for only three people I had a quite a bit leftover. For whatever reason we forgot about this stew until a few days ago, but we were able to dig up a hard copy of the recipe from deep in the archives. I made a few changes from Cooking Light’s recipe based on either availability or to suit our tastes.

Leftover Turkey Vatapa

adapted from Cooking Light

Hardware

Large sauce pan or dutch oven

Software

Olive oil
3 strips bacon, cut into lardons
1 medium leek, washed, halved and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 12 ounce light beer (I used a Corona Light)
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup chicken stock
3 cups leftover turkey, diced
1/2 cup light coconut milk
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts (reserved half for serving)
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Assemblage

Take the bacon cut into lardons (tiny strips) and render until crispy.
Drain off half of the bacon grease, add the olive oil, leeks, onion and garlic, then saute for about five minutes
Add the ginger and jalapeno, saute for one minutes while constantly stirring
Pour in the beer, chicken stock and undrained can of tomatoes, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about thirty minutes
Using a spice or coffee grinder (or food processor) finely grind 1/4 cup of the peanuts and add to the base along with the turkey and coconut milk
Bring the mixture back to a simmer and cook for five to seven minutes
Stir in the parsley, cilantro, salt and pepper
Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary

Presentation

After ladling out this stew into some bowls all I added was a few leaves of fresh cilantro and some peanuts to provide a textural element to the soup.

If you’re interested in checking out my Thanksgiving culinary adventure, please check out the peaches en risotto blog.

Tagged as: Cook, Cooking Light, Garlic, Home, Olive oil, Onion, Soups and Stews, Stock

Keith Wilcox

Wow! that sounds great. I still have the bones and neck and stuff from the turkey and have been contemplating what to do with it all. I only have about another day or so to figure it out. This sounds wonderful! Usually I just make sandwiches or something equally uncreative. You are a culinary lifeline for me :-)

PJ Mullen

Ha! Thanks. If you make it, you have to let me know what you think. Also, with the peanuts, obliterate them for only a short time. The first time I made it I almost had peanut butter in my spice grinder.

Chris | CleverFather

I must be the minority, I love turkey leftovers.... I'd eat turkey sandwiches everyday if I could!

PJ Mullen

That's cool, I used to be like that when I was a kid. Although my enthusiasm waned as the sauce of cranberry sauce became depleted. Now I'd rather have a ham.

theteachertom

Man are we sick of Thanksgiving. This morning we ate the last of the gravy (this is the strength of my Thanksgiving cooking) with some biscuits one of our guests brought. There is some turkey left -- enough for this stew -- but almost nothing else. I feel good about my resource management. =)

PJ Mullen

That sounds like excellent planning. Whenever I'm shopping I always feel the presence of my Italian grandmother telling me it isn't enough :)