a simple real food recipe :: thanksgiving hash

Have you had your fill yet?!

You know…the turkey.

I happen to adore turkey, but after a day or so of the same meal for lunch *and* dinner…well, the turkey that is left has turned a bit dry, and I start running out of all of those tasty side dishes!

I typically save a portion for a turkey soup, and another portion for making a sweet potato hash like this – everyone just loves it! I use the same seasoning blends as my homemade stuffing, so with a side of homemade cranberry sauce, this is like Thanksgiving – or better!I like doing leftover meals a few days after the big day when I have my first round of turkey stock done for soup or this recipe. It is the same process as making chicken stock – and you can really do a couple of “rounds” of making stock so you can really stock up your freezer – turkey stock is just delicious 🙂 I strained out a couple cups on Saturday to make this hash to show you!

You’ll need:

3-4 TB friendly fat to cook in  (butter, coconut oil, lard or combo of any of these)

1 small/medium onion, chopped

3 small/medium sweet potatoes, cubed

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups turkey stock (Chicken stock or beef stock would work. Homemade preferable to avoid MSG/BPA. To make turkey stock use the same method as the chicken stock)

2-3 cups leftover turkey (dark and/or white!), chopped

2 tsp dry sage

1 TB dry thyme

2 tsp dry parsley

Sea salt/pepper to taste

1. Sauté the onion and sweet potatoes in the friendly fat for 10-15 minutes. Throw in a few pinches of salt to bring out their natural juices to sweeten.
2. Add the garlic and cook for a minute.
3. Add the stock, turkey, and seasonings and stir to mix in.
4. Cook on medium/low until the turkey and sweet potatoes soak in the stock and cook through 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Kitchen Tips:

1. Sweet potatoes are in season this time of year and typically go on sale after Thanksgiving – be sure to take advantage and stock up! They keep for a good month!
2. Play around with the seasoning to your taste.
3. If you already had sweet potatoes baked up and leftover from your Thanksgiving meal you can still make this – it just won’t need to saute as long in the beginning! And the potatoes will come out super yummy – almost “twice baked”!
4. This is a GREAT dish to use up the dark meat if your family isn’t a fan. My husband loves the dark meat but I understand the flavor isn’t everyone’s favorite. It is pretty masked by all the other flavors of this dish so it is a great way to use it up!
5. You could make this with chicken or beef any time of year! Change up the veggies with the seasons!
6. I love love love turkey paired with the flavors of cranberry sauce (homemade preferable to skip out on the HFCS, colorings, BPA cans, etc) but this would also be great next to those leftover green beans 🙂
7. If you have gravy leftover, you could skip the stock in this recipe and do up gravy instead! Oh YUM!

YOUR TURN!

What is your favorite turkey leftover meal? Let me know how you like the leftover dinner if you try it!

This post was shared at Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesday, and Real Food Freaks Freaky Friday!