Please help us welcome Victoria Hamilton to Mystery Lovers' Kitchen today. I love this recipe. I'm so impressed. After many years on this blog, it's hard to surprise me with a recipe. I am fascinated by the Poutine and must try it.
Don't miss Victoria's generous giveaway. Scroll to the bottom for details.
Happy Thanksgiving from a Canadian!
Thanksgiving dinner… my favorite meal of the year. I love the turkey, the stuffing, and everything else, including the gravy… lots of gravy! The way we cook our turkey the gravy from just the drippings is delicious, with no need of a boost with bouillon or any such nonsense. And the next day, we have the same meal again! And then after that we have turkey sandwiches, and I make turkey soup, the best soup I make all year. (Can you sense a trend about how I feel about turkey?)
But… how much turkey and stuffing can you eat before it’s too much? I’ve tried the casserole ubiquitous on Pinterest… you know the one, with the turkey and stuffing and all the trimmings in a casserole dish. It’s… okaaaay. But not good enough for all the trouble it is. So after our Canadian Thanksgiving in October I decided I wanted to do something different with the leftovers. We still had so much turkey and stuffing.
I’m Canadian (not French Canadian, but Canadian nonetheless), so my mind naturally turns to… Poutine. Have you ever had Poutine? In its classic French Canadian Quebecois form Poutine is French fries, cheese curds and lots of brown gravy hot enough to burn your tongue so it melts the cheese. Anglos have co-opted it - of course - and now Poutine is on every fast food restaurant menu in Canada, with a thousand variations, French fries being the base ingredient in them all. I have had Poutine with cheeseburger toppings (chopped up burgers and cheddar, with gravy) and an Italian version with pepperoni, mozzarella and marinara sauce. Even fast food restaurants up here have Poutine on their menu!
I think I actually dreamed this recipe. Have you ever dreamed a recipe? This came to me and I’m happy it did. Anyway, with apologies to my French Canadian brother and sisters, here is my own version, Thanksgiving Poutine, a wonderful way to use up turkey, stuffing and gravy!
Thanksgiving Poutine
Ingredients:
2 Cups Leftover Turkey, chopped into bite size pieces or shredded.
1 Cup Leftover Stuffing; you should be able to break this up into smallish pieces as well.
1 Pound Frozen French Fries (or equivalent homemade.) (I used Southern Style frozen fries for some zip!)
1 Tsp Ground Thyme
½ Tsp Old Bay
1 or 2 Tbsp Turkey Drippings (or olive oil)
2 Cups Turkey Gravy
2 Cups grated cheese (I used a mix of Monterey Jack and old cheddar.)
Cranberry Sauce (optional)
Method:
1 – Cube or shred the turkey and stuffing ahead of time.
2 - Preheat oven to whatever the directions on the frozen fries packaging says. Prepare the baking sheet – I use parchment under my oven fries to protect the baking sheet - and put the French fries in the oven to bake. They usually take about 20 minutes or so, but follow their recommendation. You could make your own fries, if you are so inclined, and you could certainly deep fry your French fries if you like.
3 – Warm the cubed or shredded turkey gently in a nonstick frying pan in some of the turkey drippings, or olive oil. Sprinkle the thyme and Old Bay over it and toss it gently as you heat the turkey. Leave room in the pan to warm the stuffing, as well, but do not put it on high heat! You don’t want to fry the turkey and stuffing, you just want it heated thoroughly.
4 – Grate the cheese and heat your leftover gravy. If you don’t have any leftover gravy, then make some packaged gravy.
5 – When the fries are done put some in a shallow bowl, layer some hot turkey, stuffing and cheese over it, a few more fries, some more turkey, stuffing, cheese and then, last but not least, drown it in piping hot gravy, which will melt the cheese. Serve immediately. Some may want a little cranberry sauce with it.
Enjoy! This is a decadent treat, easy and so very very good as a lunch or dinner. When I served this the comment was “Mmmmph… sooo good! You have to make this again.” I think it would be particularly popular with kids/teens/grandkids.
GIVEAWAY!
I would LOVE to hear what you all do with Thanksgiving leftovers. Do you make turkey salad? (I do,
with dried cranberries!) Or do you have a leftover turkey dish you swear by? I will choose one winner from all commenters to win a $20 USD Amazon or B&N gift card, all readers welcome! I will also send out bookmarks to some selected commenters in the US and Canada… let me know in your comment if you’d like to be considered for bookmarks!
To be entered comment by Midnight, Thursday, November 18th, 2020.
For more giveaways and updates, check me out on social media. I often do Facebook giveaways to, so check me out and follow me there!
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