My Favourite Holiday

Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday. A giant roasted turkey; bread stuffing poultry spiced out the wa-zoo; a hot mashed potato and gravy volcanos; pumpkin pie with a literal mountain of whipped cream; and last but not least, leftovers. Part of my love affair with the entirely food focused holiday is the fact that leftovers are not a sign that you over did it, but a reward for having done so well. 

This year was the first year we celebrated in TO. We decided that it was also going to be our first thanksgiving just the BF and I. We made a 15 pound bird. That's right. We had a double bunk berth on the train to Leftover Town, and we were excited. So with the pumpkin pie made and the bacon stuffing ready for turkey time, I pre-heated my oven, stuffed my bird and began the magic that is roasting a turkey. The magic = I put a timer on for 3 1/2 hours and walked away from the kitchen. 

Anyways. With turkey cooked and fixings ready we had ourselves a wonderful first thanksgiving. I even managed to get the kitchen cleaned up and food packed away within two hours. Record to beat.

We proceeded to make a meal plan for the days to come: Hot Turkey Sandwiches, Turkey Noodle Soup, Turkey Pot Pie, and, my favourite, Turkey Leftovers Pizza.  

This recipe comes from my days at the test kitchen. It was a weird recipe, I'll give it that. One of those recipes that you'll either gag at the thought of or wonder why you never thought of it before: The goodness of Pizza and Thanksgiving Dinner all in one. 

Turkey Leftovers Pizza

Dough
3/4 cup warm water (104'F/40'C)
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 pkg dry yeast (Or 2 1/4 tsp if you have a jar)
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cold mashed potatoes
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP oil

Toppings
1 cup gravy
1 cup turkey, pulled unto pieces
1 cup stuffing, broken apart into chunks
Cranberry sauce (optional)

Gravy, hot (for dipping!)

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400'F.
  2. Add sugar to warm water and stir to dissolve sugar completely. 
  3. Add yeast to sugar/water and let sit in a warm place (like the top of your oven range) for about 5 minutes or until yeast looks foamy. 
  4. In another bowl, mix together flour, mashed potatoes and salt. 
  5. Add oil into the foamy yeast mixture.
  6. Pour foamy yeast mixture over flour/potato mixture. Stir until the dough comes together. Knead dough for a minute until uniform (no potato lumpies). Use extra flour if your hands are sticking.
  7. On a baking sheet covered in parchment, pat out your pizza shell. 
  8. Spread gravy on shell (it's the sauce!). Cover pizza with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce (optional). 
  9. Bake for 25 minutes or until pizza crust looks browned. Serve hot with gravy for "dipping" sauce. 

Don't knock it till you've tried it! 

As I make the other leftover-insipred dinners I'll post them. Till then, have a peek at the stock I made. Mmm Turkey. 

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist