Stuffed!

Initially, I thought I'd be doing a full recap of our Thanksgiving meal yesterday ... but as it turns out, I went and got my hair done instead! A Diva's got to do what a Diva's got to do. Besides, I don't know about you, but I think I might be a little over Thanksgiving at this point.

At a minimum, I'm over the foods. We had a wonderful holiday, it all went off without a hitch, and the meal was as delicious as can be. I'm just tired of eating it. And, I bet you are too. Sure there was turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes and turnips, two kinds of stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans with mushrooms and onions, dinner rolls and an abundance of wine. The company was excellent and the desserts were plentiful. Really, we were well and truly blessed this holiday.

And now I'm blessed with a fridge full-to-bursting with the remains of the feast. Rather than recapping, suffice it to say that much of this week will instead be devoted to turning those leftovers into other meals. Let's start with breakfast, shall we?

Last week, Papa Diva told me about an idea he heard on his local radio station. Seems that a woman called in to describe her unusual use for leftover bread stuffing. She uses the stuffing to line a muffin tin and bakes an egg inside each little cup of stuffing. Color me intrigued!

On Sunday, I gave the suggestion a whirl ...

Baked Eggs in Stuffing Cups:

• butter for greasing the muffin tin
• some leftover bread dressing or stuffing
• large eggs

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F and butter your muffin tins.

Spoon some bread dressing or stuffing into each muffin cup, enough to cover the bottom and sides of the cup completely. Using your (clean) fingers, press the stuffing down to flatten the bottom and shape it to fit the cup, pressing it up the sides and slightly above the rim, making sure to leave a depression in the center that is large enough to accommodate an egg. When finished, you should have roughly 1/2 inch of stuffing lining each cup.

Crack a large egg into the center of each stuffing cup and bake in the middle of a 350 degree oven for 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the speed of your oven and your desired egg consistency. I baked mine for about 22 minutes and that was perfect for my oven - the whites were completely set and the yolks were slightly runny. Use your best judgement and begin checking the eggs at the 15 minute mark, then every 5 minutes after until they are done to your liking.

Remove the stuffing/egg muffins from the tin, garnish with some fresh herbs, serve and enjoy!

What an outstanding use for leftover stuffing! The savory herbed bread mixture was exquisite when paired with the silky baked egg. If I had thought of it, I would have been wise to mix a bit of leftover pork stuffing in with the bread for an even better stuffing McMuffin! Next time for sure.

I could also see adding a bit of cheese to the mixture, or perhaps dusting the top of the egg with a bit of shredded Parmesan or even some cream. We're mainly talking about a technique here and you should feel free to get creative with it. Heck, you might even decide to top the whole thing off with gravy or add a bit of mashed potatoes to the mix. The bottom line here is that this is a fun and festive way to start the day ... and a great way to make a dent in some of those holiday leftovers. Thanks, Papa Diva ... and thanks to the mystery caller, whomever she is!

Stay tuned for more of my Thanksgiving remix this week as I make my way through the fridge. And be sure to come back on Thursday for a very special edition of Thirsty Thursdays ... I've got a fabulous give-away to go along with a most unusual cocktail.

So, are you getting creative with your leftovers this week? Got any tips for something a little off-beat and unexpected? Curious Diva wants to know.

Bon appetit!

Edited to add: I'll be submitting this dish to 5 Star Foodie's Thanksgiving Leftovers Make-Over Challenge. Be sure to check out 5 Star Foodie - Culinary Adventures on Monday, December 7th for a full round-up of all the leftovers!

Thanksgiving Round-up ...

I know I said I'd do a better job with the turkey photography this year. The reality? It wasn't even on my radar screen! In the mad rush to get everything on the table any ideas I'd had about taking the perfect turkey picture flew right out the window. What you see here is *half* of our turkey ... the half we didn't devour. It was a fresh, organic, 18 pounder and it was spectacular! The smell of it roasting turned us all into ravenous animals. So eager to dig in was I, that I didn't even stop to take a picture of my groaning plate. Yikes. Sad too, because it was a thing of beauty. And really sad because I'm running a food blog here. Duh! Oh well, I'm in this blog thing for the long haul, so there's always next year. ~sigh~

You'll have to take my word for it, but our feast was magnificent. The turkey was tender and moist, the pork stuffing was the best its ever been, and my gravy was so good I decided it should be bottled. Really. The rest of the sides were perfect as well and the whole meal came off without a hitch. Mad props go out to Papa Diva for procuring the excellent bird and for all of his help this year, and to bro for the last minute inclusion of brussel sprouts, fresh from the garden. Additional mad props go out to my amazing sister-in-law, Kath, for that magical crock-pot stuffing, the delicious butternut squash, the crisp and savory green beans with bacon and, of course, for her always-in-demand sweet potato pie. Last but not least, further props to the husband for his carvery skills, and especially for dealing with the raw bird - a task I am happy to delegate! I couldn't have done it without you guys.

Naturally, we indulged in a holiday classic on Friday afternoon ... the "Day After Thanksgiving Sandwich." Similar to the turkey slider that was offered at the October Foodbuzz event, this yummy treat is a Diva favorite. I was making this sandwich long before I knew what it was called and its the perfect way to enjoy the meal all over again, albeit in a much smaller dose.

The Day after Thanksgiving Sandwich:

• some sliced turkey
• some warm gravy
• a bit of bread stuffing
• a bit of meat stuffing
• a bit of cranberry sauce

The instructions are simple, the choice of bread is complex. Papa Diva prefers white bread - and frankly, he truly prefers a sandwich of sliced turkey on buttered bread - but that's a subject for another post entirely! Personally, I like to use a left-over whole wheat roll for my sandwich - its tasty and the petite size of the roll serves as much needed damage control after a day of indulgence! But, I digress. Simply heat your gravy until hot. Choose your bread and top it with some sliced turkey, the stuffing (or multiple stuffings if you're so blessed), spoon on some gravy and top it all with a dollop of cranberry sauce. Gingerly place the top of the roll on the sandwich and do your best to take a bite without covering yourself in Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

This year Papa opted to go with a left-over Snowflake roll:

... and this picture doesn't do it justice at all. I'll do better next time, and maybe we'll have him write the "Minority Sandwich Report" next year so he can explain that mysterious turkey/butter combination in detail!

Suffice it to say the Diva Family enjoyed a wonderful holiday and we hope that you did too. You may have noticed that no formal props went out to Mama Diva here. This is not an oversight. She's milking this surgery thing for all its worth (I kid, I kid!) and was happy to play Queen for a Day as we hovered around her. And that's as it should be! She gets all the props in the world just because and we were all happy to dote on her as she's doted on us over the years.

So, how did your holiday go? Curious Diva wants to know.

Bon appetite!

To Stuff or Not to Stuff

... that is the question. And frankly, I think the answer's an obvious ... yes! Stuff your turkey!

Seems like the chorus of stuffing nay-sayers grows louder every year. "Stuffed turkeys cook unevenly. A stuffed turkey is a dry turkey because it takes too long to cook! Stuffing breeds bacteria!" Doom! ... Gloom! ... Disaster! ... Peril! ... whatever. I come from a long and proud line of turkey-stuffers and no one's died yet. I'm not at all belittling the real and serious health concerns here - but I'm not about to forgo the stuffing either. You can have both a properly cooked turkey and stuffing. Like many things, all it takes is a bit of care and common sense. I can give no better words of wisdom than those contained in this page from Epicurious. Its a wonderful primer on the safe way to stuff. Check it out!

In Divaworld, the larger question by far is the contents of that stuffing. Alas, we are a family divided! Having grown up delighting in Gram Pam's traditional bread stuffing, you can imagine my shock - neigh horror - when I learned that the husband's family stuffs its turkey with meat ... and only meat. What the ...?! (Seriously, these people are the most dedicated carnivores on the planet.)

But here's the thing - many years ago, in a stunning display of courage, I took a bite of that stuffing ... and ~swoon~ I've been hooked ever since! Not so much so that I abandoned our traditional bread stuffing, but enough that I now honestly crave both. When the husband and I began hosting both sides of the family for Thanksgiving, sometime back in the late 90's, the major stumbling block was the stuffing. Would we use his family's pork stuffing, or my family's bread? Knowing that neither side could live without their preference, we went with both. His mom made the pork stuffing and my mom made the bread. I put the pork stuffing in the bird and baked my mom's stuffing off on the side. Win/win. (And an even bigger win for me, because I didn't have to make either.)

Thus it was for a few years, two families united around the table - each content with the stuffing of their choice, yet blessed with the option of adding a scoop of the unfamiliar to liven up the plate. And thus it remains today - only now I'm the one making the pork stuffing. My mother in law passed away in November of 2001, just a few days before Thanksgiving. Needless to say, it was an awful time for all of us. Betty, was an *amazing* cook and that pork stuffing was one of her signature dishes. Though we were grief-struck and dazed that year, I was bound and determined to honor her memory - and comfort my family - by making her stuffing. We cobbled together a Thanksgiving dinner, because she would have wanted us to, and I somehow managed to recreate her stuffing without a recipe.

I made an exhaustive search of her extensive recipe collection and her kitchen, and the stuffing recipe was nowhere to be found. It never did turn up. I did my best to remember all the wonderful flavors contained in that stuffing, went with my gut and my formidable palate, and just started cooking. I don't think it was exactly right back then, but I've been honing the recipe ever since and by now I know I've got it. To this day I wonder where she kept that recipe? Perhaps it was in her head; I know it was in her heart. Betty was never happier than when her family was at her table - and our table is incomplete without her.

This is my version of her pork stuffing - written with no amounts, because there is no recipe. It is the epitome of my "pinch and dash" style of cooking. As such, it may be of little use to you - yet I offer it in tribute to Betty and because I hope you'll find it interesting.
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Pork Stuffing:

Get the biggest skillet you can find, and in it, saute 4 pounds of very lean ground pork in a bit of butter and olive oil, along with one large minced onion and two large ribs of minced celery over medium-high heat. Once the meat has cooked, pour off most of the fat and add: lots of Bell's Poultry Seasoning, some ground sage, a few shakes of fennel seeds, a healthy dose of pumpkin pie spice, some fresh thyme, a tiny bit of ground cloves, a shake or two of celery salt, a grating of fresh nutmeg, and some kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. To the pan, add two Yukon Gold potatoes that have been peeled, par-boiled and cut into small dice. The potatoes will cook down and give the stuffing a nice texture. Add some chicken broth to the pan, reduce the heat to low, and simmer the the mixture, covered, for about an hour, stirring occasionally and adding a bit of broth as needed to keep it moist. After an hour, taste and re-season with any and all of the above spices - adding more until it tastes like "mom's." Once the proper taste has been achieved, add a tablespoon or two of seasoned breadcrumbs to bring it all together. Remove from heat, transfer to a large bowl, cover and refrigerate.
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As it turns out, today is the anniversary of her passing. Though I hadn't intended it that way, it seems fitting that our discussion of stuffing should take place on this day. I wish I knew the real recipe. And more than that, I wish I had taken the opportunity to watch her make the stuffing when I had the chance. How many treasured family recipes have been lost to the ages for lack of them being written down? The husband is thrilled with my recreation efforts - and so am I. I can't imagine Thanksgiving without both stuffings and, happily, I don't have to. Though let this be a warning to you - write down those secret family recipes! Future generations will thank you and present ones will not have to spend seven years recreating them.

So, what's inside your turkey? Curious Diva wants to know.

Bon appetite!