Friday, November 27, 2009

Food Week: Thanksgiving Leftovers

On "Top Chef," contestants sometimes prepare an ingredient multiple ways. "Kobe Beef Two Ways" or "Salmon Two Ways." Today, I offer you a Thanksgiving leftover--yesterday's cranberry relish--prepared five ways.

Cranberry Muffins
I used a basic Bisquick recipe and added 1 1/2 cups of cranberries.
Bryan's rating: 2 turkeys
Comment: "The high points are the cranberries and nuts. But they're a little doughy." I agree. Next time, I'll use a real muffin batter recipe.

Cranberry Salsa
Equal parts salsa and relish, plus a few drops of Marie Sharp's hot sauce.
Bryan's rating: 3 1/2 turkeys
Comment: "Pretty good."

Bread, brie, cranberries, more brie, a second slice of bread. It's then grilled in a pan with butter.
Bryan's rating: 5 turkeys
Comment: "On a scale of four, it's a five." I agree, this is aMAZing.

Cranberry Vinaigrette
Along with leftover cranberries, we also have leftover apricot-walnut-crouton salad. So I added a little balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and cranberry juice to the relish, and then poured it on the salad. I found this idea online, but can't find the link.
Bryan's rating: 4 turkeys
Comments: "Delightful!"

Turkey burgers topped with cranberries would've been to easy. Inspired by the above-linked recipe, we decided to make cranberry-stuffed meatballs. Several of them split open, but not too much spilled out. After the photo was taken, we topped them with turkey gravy.
Bryan's rating: 4 turkeys
Comments: "Now THAT is one satisfying dinner."

It's been a good run, but I hope tomorrow will be cranberry-less.

4 comments:

Mom said...

I read this after dinner, and even though I was full, they all looked delicious. I'm going to buy some brie today and start the weekend off right!

Thanks for the ideas!

Mom said...

If you're looking for even more cranberry leftover ideas, I just saw this in the LA Times in the dessert category:

Frankly, I could eat cranberry relish 365 days of the year, especially when it involves some citrus and spice. But because we have to be somewhat aspirational with our leftovers, how about a dessert that would be a decided break after all that pie?

There are as many routes as there are holiday takes on cranberry relish. You could take that relish and make a sherbet. Ice cream. A tart. A dessert bread. Gelato. But a frozen yogurt just might be the easiest, and it will be light and tangy after all the heaviness of the holiday.

My colleague Jenn Garbee has a great one that couldn't be simpler to make. Just whisk, freeze and fold, as in whisk everything together into yogurt, freeze a bit, and then fold in your leftover cranberry sauce.

The best part is that this is a dessert you can start right before making dinner, and let it set up while you eat.

Michelle Panik said...

I never even thought of frozen yogurt/ice cream!!! I'll have to try it next year.

Michaela said...

I want one of those brie sandwiches -- those look great!