Thanksgiving is over. The big question: Other than making tons of sandwiches, what’s the best way to use up all that leftover turkey? Jean Claude Garzia of Beau Rivage gave Lifestyle his recipe for Thanksgiving shepherd’s pie. And, as Christmas is coming, he also shared how he cooks the actual bird itself.

Thanksgiving Shepherd’s pie

Ingredients:

1 roasting pan approximately 12” x 10” (Aluminum will do, or any porcelain dish who can go in an oven.)

Any leftover cooked turkey from the previous evening!

1 large onion

3 fresh garlic cloves

½ bunch of fresh thyme

1 cup of dry white wine

1 ½ cup of turkey gravy (from the night before)

1 ½ lb of Idaho potato

1 ½ lb of sweet potato

Butter to taste

1 cup of fresh milk (Blue milk in Bermuda)

Or 1 cup of heavy cream for the one who likes to be richer!

1 cup of grated cheddar cheese

1 cup of grated Swiss cheese

Preparation:

Boil the potato in water to prepare a mashed potato. Once cooked, peel the potatoes, and make a mashed potato. Add a cup of milk or cream, 2tbs butter and 2 egg yolks. Mix well, taste and season with salt and white pepper, freshly ground.

Set aside in a bowl. Cover the bowl to make sure your mashed potato will not dry.

Peel the onion and the garlic cloves, then chop them finely. Sweat the chopped onion and garlic in a frying pan at low heat with a tablespoon of butter for five minutes. Take the leftover turkey and chop it the same way as the onion, or pass it through a meat grinder.

Add the processed turkey to the sautéed onion and put it back at medium heat. Pour the cup of dry white wine and let it disappear completely, then add the turkey gravy to it and bring it to a boil. Once done, set aside.

Take the roasting pan and brush the inside with room temperature butter, just enough so nothing will stick to your roasting pan.

Add 1” of mashed potato in the bottom of the roasting pan and spread it evenly. Pour over the turkey mixture and again make sure it goes all over the mashed potato. Now let it rest for ten minutes so that the juice has time to blend with the mashed potato. Once rested, spread the rest of the mashed potato all over the turkey mixture and smooth it well. Sprinkle the two cheeses over the shepherd’s pie, and put it in an oven, preheated to 350F, until the top is nice and golden. That should take about 15 to 20 minutes maximum.

Bon appétit my friends. Hope you will enjoy my recipe as much I do!

Roast young turkey the way I do it!

Ingredients:

1 turkey, 6lbs to 6 ½ lbs

1 large onion

2 fresh garlic cloves

½ log of white sandwich bread, crust off

1 cup heavy cream (35 percent fat)

2 fresh eggs

1 cup of cooked, peeled chestnut (You can buy them in a supermarket canned or frozen but fully cooked)

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp sage

1lb fresh cranberry

1 cup of granulated sugar

2 cups of water (Evian would be great!!!!! Just kidding)

2 stalks of celery

2 large carrots

1 onion

1 roasting pan large enough to cook the turkey

1 Knorr-Swiss chicken cube, diluted in 4 cups of warm water

Method:

Make sure your turkey is well defrosted. Fresh is even better. Put it on a cutting board and remove the two large breasts and the two legs, set the bone aside. (Make it easy on yourself and ask your butcher to remove them for you. He’ll be delighted to do it if you ask with a smile! Also get him to tighten the breast and legs with butcher’s twine.)

In a stainless steel bowl, soak the bread with the cream. In a sauté pan, add a bit of butter and sweat the finely chopped onion and garlic. Then add the finely chopped chestnut, sage and thyme. Let it sweat until the onion is nicely golden.

Add that mixture to the soaked bread. Mix it well with all the ingredients and let them cool. Once cool, add the eggs one by one and mix in very well. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. If you not sure about the seasoning take a small parcel of your stuffing and cook it on a frying pan for one or two minutes for you to taste! Now take a piece of silver foil and spread it with oil or butter. Add a nice quantity of stuffing and roll it tight, you should be able to make two rolls. To cook it, simply put it in a pan with a bit of water and let it cook in a 350F oven for half an hour. Set aside. Let it cool off in the fridge.

Making the cranberry sauce is easy. Add two cups of water to a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Pour in the fresh cranberry and the sugar. Let it cook for five minutes at slow heat then liquidise it with a long-neck mixer.

Season your deboned turkey with salt and freshly ground pepper. Brush it with oil. In the roasting pan, add the chopped celery, carrot and onion with a bit of oil in the bottom. Display your turkey breast and legs on the top of the chopped vegetables. Pour four cups of chicken stock and a small parcel of butter over the turkey and put it in a preheated oven at 360F. Baste every ten minutes. Once it’s golden in colour, cover it with aluminium foil and let it cook until the juice runs clear when you stab it with a small sharp object.

Remove from oven and let it rest to be as tender it could be.

Place the sliced breast on a platter. Put the legs in the middle with the sliced stuffing around them.

Make the gravy using the leftover bones and the cooking vegetables that remain in the roasting pan. Or buy it at the grocery shop, there is some great gravy out there!

If you decide to make it, roast the bones off the turkey, put them in a large pot and pour in the vegetables. Add half a bunch of fresh thyme, 1 bay leaf and three cloves of garlic. Cover it all with chicken bouillon and let it cook until two-thirds of the liquid is gone. Pass it through a fine sieve and pour it into a large saucepan. Add a roux to it (a combination of flour and butter cooked until white). Don’t add too much so the gravy stays soft and fluid. Taste again and pass through a fine sieve a second time.

Bon appétit my friends!