This is a great way to use up that leftover turkey - particularly the little bits left over after you have used the nice breast meat for sandwiches with mayo and cranberry sauce!
Turkey sandwiches on soft white bread or a dinner roll with mayo and cranberry sauce are a tradition in our house. We usually have them as a late-night snack or for breakfast the morning after the big meal. So now what when all you have left are the little turkey bits and pieces too crumbly to warrant a sandwich? Of course this recipe will work equally well with leftover chicken - especially leftover rotisserie chicken tidbits.
Here is the perfect answer! This recipe is all about using up leftovers so I wrote the recipe the way I like to serve it best but it lends itself to many variations. But the one thing you do want to plan ahead on is - buy the frozen pastry puff shells now and tuck them in your freezer so you will have them on hand. The rest of it you probably have on hand.
There are about 4 parts to this filling
- the leftover turkey finely diced
- something savory -like mushrooms, onions or shallots
- something veggie like leftover green peas, sweet red pepper or celery. You could use corn or carrots finely minced as well.
- a creamy type sauce. I happen to have fennel cream sauce on hand because I make batches of it and freeze portions. Any condensed cream soup would work too, cream of mushroom, cream of celery, cream of chicken.
- a garnish that is a bit tart - pomegranate seeds, dried cranberry sprinkles, mandarin oranges finely chopped. I have even put my leftover cranberry sauce into the sauce. It makes a bit pink and sweetish. Presentation may be a bit compromised but it tastes good!
Mandarin oranges and pomegranates and cranberries are available the same time as turkey dinners are on tap, in Canada at least. Check out this really simple way to seed a fresh pomegranate with no muss, no fuss! And you probably have onion, cream soup and some kind of veggie on hand.
So feel free to mix and match with whatever you want to use up or have on hand. You can also freeze that last bit of diced turkey and put this together in a few weeks time when you want something fast.
I serve it with this zesty Pomegranate Salad.
Related Recipes
Turkey Vol au Vent Shells
If you tried this, or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know it went in the 📝 comments below!
Save Print Pin FacebookIngredients
- 2 cups turkey meat finely diced can substitute leftover chicken
- 1 cup mushrooms finely diced
- ¼ cup white wine Optional
- 1 medium shallot
- ½ cup green peas
- 1 can condensed cream soup
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 6 frozen vol au vent shells (puff pastry shells)
- ⅓ cup pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Let frozen pastries rest at room temperature about 10 minutes while you prepare the filling.
- Sauté the mushrooms in a pan until they release their juices. Add wine, if using and cook until wine evaporates.
- Add the turkey and all the other ingredients (except the pastry shells) to the sauce pan and heat through.
- When the oven comes to temperature cook the pastry shells according to the manufacturer's instructions. Usually about 15-17 minutes. Let them sit for about 5 minutes after they come out of the oven. Remove the inner circle of pastry to create a deep well in the pastry. You can reserve the center and put it back on as a cap once filled.
- Divide the turkey mixture evenly among the six pastries. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries to garnish.
Leave a Reply