Turkey for Dayyysss!!! (And how to make that not a problem)

Alright so, we’re really close to that time of year. The time of year where your family all get together and argue over a mountain of food. Where you make vats of mashed potatoes, roasted turkeys (because if one is good, then two is better), lakes of gravy and all the veg that you won’t actually eat. Yes, I am talking about yesterday: Thanksgiving. And yes, I know you do all this a month later as well but it’s too early to mention that. And I’m American. The thing is though, there’s only so many leftovers you can eat before you want something different or at least for them to taste different. With that in mind here’s a few recipes for using up some of those extra leftovers.  

Potato Cakes:

These are really easy to make. They’re also delicious when they’re hot, especially covered in cheese/butter/gravy/sweet chili sauce. They’re a handy breakfast food especially in the winter because once you’ve cooked them they keep for a few days and you just reheat them to eat. They are also vegetarian at the basic level, but not if you add in the bacon. If you don’t have that much mash left and need to adjust the measurements, the important thing is maintaining the proportions and having a workable dough. Servings: It’s potato based, so half a portion for an Irish personPreparation time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 10 minutesIngredients:3 cups of your leftover mashed potato1 cup of plain flour2 eggsOptional Extras;Spring onions or red onions, finely chopped and sautéedBacon, finely chopped and friedGravy, leftover or notEquipment:A frying panA mixing bowlA wooden spoonSpatulaPlateFrying pan heat; Medium Method;1) Warm up the mashed potato a little bit, so that it’s easier to work with.2) Crack your eggs into the mixing bowl with the mashed potato.3) Stir them until they’re well mixed.4) Add in any extras like bacon or onion you’re putting in and stir them in here.5) Gradually add the flour and stir it in until the mashed potato and eggs are in a workable dough (They should be forming a ball and giving you a decent enough work out when you’re stirring them)6) This is the slightly messy part; Take a half cup or so of the mixture depending on what size you want them to be, and form a ball out of it using your hands. 7) Put it on the plate and repeat until you’ve used all the mixture.8) Start heating the frying pan up with a bit of oil or butter.9) Take one of the balls and flatten it a little bit until it’s about 1cm-1.5cm thick. 10) Stick it in the frying pan and cook it until it’s golden brown (texture like sun), flipping it two to three times.11) You can fit more than one cake in a pan depending on the size of the cakes and frying pan but remember to leave space to make it easier to flip them. 

Everything Pie

This is a really easy pie recipe in the pot pie style of pie. It is, as the name suggests, a pie that uses up everything pretty much. It’s based around work with what you’ve got left and holds to the really simple concept of ‘bung it all in a pot and cook it’ and then you’ve got a food. So that being said I’m going to assume the level of leftovers my family usually has to give actual quantities in the recipe.Servings; 1 person would be really hard pushed to eat this much food at once, so I’ll say 3Preparation time: 20 minutes, Cooking time; 25 MinutesIngredients:300g of Turkey (or more, if you have it)450g of potato500g of assorted cooked veg100g of cheeseGravy/white sauce (enough to fill in the rest of the space in your pie dish when the rest of the filling is in)Equipment:A knifeA pie tin (or any baking tray/casserole dish that’s 2 inches, or more, deep roughly)Wooden SpoonA mixing bowlA chopping boardOven temperature: 180cMethod; 1) In case you haven’t already, strip the turkey. And no that does not mean to make it do the Full Monty, it means take all the meat off of the bones, generally by carving it off.2) Next chop or shred the Turkey into pieces no bigger than say 1cm.3) Put the turkey into the mixing bowl.4) Now if you have green beans, peas, or sweetcorn, they go straight into the mixing bowl.5) If you have cabbage, brussels sprouts, carrots or other root vegetables chop them up the same as you did with the turkey.6) Stir the turkey and veg together and pour them into your pie tin.7) Get your gravy or white sauce and pour it in so that its filling the tin but not in danger of overfilling if you can. If you don’t have any good gravy left (instant gravy won’t work properly) then a packet white sauce or a can of soup will work, go with chicken or mushroom. 8) If you have mashed potato, carefully spoon it on top on evenly sized and spaced lumps and then carefully spread it around with your knife to cover the top of the pie tin.9) If you have roasties or baked potatoes, slice them and lay the slices on top of the pie tin.10) If you have boiled potatoes, make them into mashed potatoes and then look at step 8.11) If you have no potatoes left, cover it in a sheet of pastry. Store bought or homemade, either works. 12) Sprinkle the cheese on top and cook it until its golden brown on top and the gravy is bubbling at the sides.  If you have something you want to see more/less of or you’re interested in passing on cooking tips, shopping recommendations or full recipes so your fellow students don’t have to eat pasta 5 days a week (or to at least make the pasta tastier) throw me an email at food@uccexpress.ie.