Second-Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Quesadillas
March 22nd, 2011 § 4 Comments
This time of year is so lovely. Everyone is chipper, the weather is pleasant, we all look forward to seeing family at Second-Thanksgiving.
What’s Second-Thanksgiving? Doesn’t everyone have Second-Thanksgiving? This isn’t a known tradition? You poor, poor people. You have been missing out on so much. Let me quickly fill you in. Here let’s go back in time a few weeks to a phone conversation I had with my mom on a Friday evening after work.
“Are you still up for a turkey dinner tomorrow?”
I stopped in my pickle and cheese snacking (aka dinner — yeah, that’s right) to answer, “Yeah, should I bring anything?” Wine, please say wine.
“No,” Score! “but you can come over early and help me cook.”
What? “What? How much are you cooking…Mom are you making Thanksgiving?”
“It’s not Thanskgiving. It’s just some sauteed green beans, creamy mashed potatoes, of course the turkey with cornbread stuffing and gravy. Then I’m working on a pumpkin bread pudding for dessert.”
“Mom, that’s Thanksgiving.”
And it was. There was even cranberry sauce.
Even though this is a family tradition, I am usually surprised by it. Really, it’s that time of year already? Somehow the pattern that starts every November doesn’t register in my mind. Perhaps it’s the fact that Second-Thanksgiving can be held at anytime outside of November or December and sometimes it’s a little less Thanksgiving like.
Just not this year. I had a long weekend. I used my Santa Claus mug the following day. My family participated in the traditional moving of the turkey and which plates should we use discussions. Even the weather was the same. The day started with short sleeves and ended wrapped in blankets.
And I was sent home with turkey leftovers. Even my cat, Myrah, fell into a turkey coma.
Turkey Quesadillas with Pineapple Salsa
tortillas
leftover Second-Thanksgiving Turkey
shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
cilantro
half a pineapple, chopped small
half a red onion, diced
large handful dried cherries
juice of 1 lime
1 chili in adobo sauce, chopped
For quesadillas: Sprinkle turkey, cheese and cilantro in between two tortillas. Cook in a skillet until brown on both sides and cheese is melted.
For salsa: Combine remaining ingredients.
I know you’re wondering why I didn’t use dried cranberries since it is traditionally Thanksgiving. It just didn’t sound right. Since it’s second-Thanksgiving I felt I had the right to choose a different round, red dried fruit.
Thanks to my Mom for being a good cook and letting me lovingly make fun of you to all the world…well, to the minuscule portion of the world that reads this, but with the possibility of all the world.
Meals to Die By, no. 6
September 29th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Today we will be traveling a far distance, a distance the religious amongst us may not feel to be far enough. Do not fear, we will be stopping just short of the double hockey sticks in order to rest in purgatory.
The idea of purgatory intrigues me because, as I understand, it is the place for lost souls; for those who are walking the line between heaven and hell, but the description seems a little closer to the latter.
I have tried reading Dante’s Inferno. I never even made it into Purgatorio. The book has gained a place on the forever reading shelf. Kind of like purgatory for my books, surely — that is if a books purpose is to be read plus enjoyed then those that are enjoy heaven and those aren’t go to hell. It is possible, that some of my inability to finish Dante came from choosing the flowery translation of Longfellow.
Which was chosen because of Dante’s Club by Matthew Pearl. I’m a bit of a sucker for history. Throw in a few murders set just after the Civil War, include real authors as the unwitting investigators and base it all on another book…I was helpless to resist. However, this book also stayed in the depths of fiery brimstone.
My favorite use of purgatory for purposes of entertainment is the TV movie Purgatory. Yup, another instance of murder, mayhem and manipulation of history for the purposes of fiction. Love it. Here, in the wild west, the most famous of famous outlaws attempt to follow a strict line of rules in order to make it into heaven. Which is when purgatory starts to sound a little less than appealing.
Since starting the Meals to Die By series I’m always on the lookout for a new death by food. To those who are unfamiliar with the series I come across as creepy, but hey, in the pursuit of passion or art or whatever. The moment a friend, Charlie, revealed the name of this dish my mind went “Ping!” Another post all ready to go though yolky eggs are generally not a part of my diet. Most of the recipes I found had the eggs swimming in a pool of tomato sauce — making for a rather gruesome image. However, the first description I heard of Eggs in Purgatory included vegetables. This is the way that sounded good, finding a recipe in this style was much more difficult, but not impossible. Potatoes, artichoke hearts and whatever vegetables you want were mentioned. I ended up with mushrooms.
Honestly, the dish was a little reminiscent of eggs with salsa. Which isn’t bad…just familiar.
Eggs in Purgatory
Adapted from Whole Foods and Smitten Kitchen’s shakshuka
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
pat of butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 jalapeno, seeds removed, diced
1 anaheim pepper, seeds removed, diced
28 ounce can of petite diced tomatoes (or crushed)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
generous ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
juice of ½ – 1 lime
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
In a large skillet saute mushrooms in butter. Remove. Add in olive oil. Saute onion, garlic, jalapeno and anaheim for a few minutes. Re-add mushrooms. Add in tomatoes, paprika, cumin, cilantro, lime and salt. Simmer for a few minutes more. Make little nests in the sauce for the four eggs. Gently add in the eggs. Cook a few more minutes until eggs are poached to taste.
Serve alongside bread or tortillas.
