Turkey Fricassee (with Leftover Turkey)

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A very quick and creamy turkey fricassee, a leftover turkey recipe. You can also make it with leftover chicken.

This quick leftover turkey fricassee is one of my favorite ways of using either leftover turkey or leftover chicken. Or meat leftover when making stock. It is fast, it is always delicious and comforting and I can be sure to make my husband very happy with it, it is one of his favorite meals.

And if you are looking for more ideas for using leftover Thanksgiving turkey, you could try this Cream of Turkey Soup or the risotto.

The traditional way to serve fricassee in Romania is with polenta, but for some strange reason, I have never enjoyed that combination. I absolutely love polenta or mamaliga, I think it is obvious to see that on the blog as well, I have lots of polenta recipes, but not necessarily with fricassee.

So I have adopted the German way of serving this dish with rice.

Ingredients

There are a few other changes I have made to my grandmother’s typical fricassee. First of all the above mentioned transition from polenta to rice.

Leftover turkey:

• I almost always make fricassee with turkey leftovers.
• When I make chicken fricassee I might need to cook a chicken or a few chicken legs occasionally, but when it comes to turkey, there are always the leftovers.
• Either from cooking legs in the oven or from the oven-roasted breast. Or from making bone broth with one bone, a huge wing, or maybe the neck of the bird.
• To use the cooked meat for the fricassee all I have to do is to cut or tear it into smaller pieces and add them to the almost finished dish.

Mushrooms:

• The ratio of meat and mushrooms is about 1:1.
• I prefer fresh mushrooms, which I fry lightly in a bit of butter before adding them to the dish.
• But canned mushrooms are fine as well. Drain well and add to the dish together with the meat.

Cream:

• I like to enrich the sauce with a bit of heavy cream, not much, just enough to give the dish the final touch making it really smooth, creamy, and delicious.

How to make?

If you do not have any chicken or turkey leftover, feel free to cook this dish with poultry leftovers from making stock or start from scratch.

How to make from scratch?

• Cook either 2 – 3 chicken legs/ 1-2 turkey drumsticks or about 450 g/ 1 pound chicken/turkey breast in about 800 ml/ 3 1/3 cups of water with some onion, 1 or 2 carrots, a piece of celeriac, bay leaves, salt, and whole peppercorns. When the meat is tender, strain and keep the liquid for making the white sauce. Proceed with the recipe as described below.
• The only thing to keep in mind when starting from scratch is that your cooking liquid will need more seasoning than when using stock to make the fricassee. The stock is normally cooked for a much longer time, so it develops more flavor than the liquid used to quickly cook the meat.
• So play with the spices here and be generous. If the cooking liquid doesn’t have enough flavor, you should consider adding one or two chicken stock cubes, I prefer an organic brand, but do use your favorite kind.

Turkey fricassee with leftover turkey

• Cut or tear the leftover meat into bite-sized pieces.
• Halve or quarter the mushrooms, depending on their size.
• To make the sauce melt the 50 g/ 3 ½ tablespoons butter in a saucepan large enough to hold everything at the end of the cooking process. Add the flour and stir well for a couple of minutes, until the flour turns slightly golden. Slowly start adding the stock while whisking all the time, so that there will be no clumps in the sauce.
• Cook the sauce uncovered until thickened, about 10-15 minutes. When the sauce has thickened, add the cream, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste. Be generous with the spices.
• While the sauce cooks, cook the mushrooms in 1 teaspoon butter in a large pan for about 3-5 minutes or until golden and set aside.
• Add the fried mushrooms and the leftover turkey to the sauce and stir well.
• Let everything get hot, season again if necessary, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with rice.

More leftover turkey recipes:

Leftover Turkey Risotto Recipe

Vegetable Strudel with Leftover Turkey

Leftover Turkey Noodle Casserolle

Light Cream Cheese Lasagna with Leftover Turkey