What to do with all that leftover Thanksgiving turkey? Eat days and days of dry turkey you've heated up in the microwave? Make cold and honestly boring turkey sandwiches? To me personally those both sound like dreadful options. So what do I do? I turn it into a pot of leftover Thanksgiving turkey gumbo.
The base of any good gumbo is a dark silky roux. The roux truly does make the gumbo. A roux that is too light will leave you with a gumbo that is lacks the deep gumbo color we all know and love and a gumbo that lacks certain depth. A gumbo with a roux that has been cooked to the point of being burnt will bring down the whole pot with it, and leave a burnt and charred taste in your mouth.
I've written a separate post on how to prepare a roux that will be the base of a pot of gumbo you can be proud of.
Gumbo is all about time. The time it takes to make a good roux and the time you let the gumbo simmer on the stove to let all the ingredients in the pot meld together. You cannot rush gumbo, if you take care when preparing it it will take care of you and those you're enjoying it with. Cause gumbo is really one of those meals that's best eaten shared with friends and family.
As many of my recipes have this recipe in part is inspired by the late Justin Wilson. Watching his show with my family growing up made me realize that there was a better way to use leftover turkey outside of eating leftover turkey outside of your standard turkey sandwiches.
And why have a turkey sandwich when you can turn that leftover turkey sandwich into this?
Gumbo: With Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey
Yield 8-10 Servings
Ingredients
- Roux (recipe here)
- 2 white onions, chopped
- 1 belle pepper, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- ¼ cup parsley, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon dried mint
- ½ tablespoon tbsp dried thyme
- ¾ lb. smoked sausage
- ½ lb. andouille sausage
- Leftover Thanksgiving turkey, broken down into small pieces (about 2 lbs.)
- 8 cups chicken stock
- ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- Hot sauce
Instructions
- The first that I would recommend it to prepare prepare your chopped vegetables.
- In a large pot prepare your roux. This should take about 20-30 minutes.
- Add the onions, belle pepper, celery, and parsley to the roux over medium to medium high heat and cook until the vegetables are nearly translucent. (You can add a cup of the chicken stock to the roux at this point to keep it from burning if you'd like.)
- Add the garlic to the pot and cook for 5 minutes with roux and vegetables.
- Add the remaining chicken stock to the pot and stir until the roux has dissolved evenly into the stock.
- Add the dried mint, dried thyme, turkey, sausage, and Worcestershire to the pot.
- Season the gumbo with salt and hot sauce to taste. (You should continue to season the gumbo throughout its cooking time.)
- Lower heat to low, cover, and simmer the gumbo for at least two and a half to three hours.
- Serve gumbo over white rice, and enjoy!
Notes
You can substitute 2 lbs. of chicken to sub for the turkey.
Cuisine Creole
As always thank you for taking a few moments from your day to read over this and I hope that you are able to try this recipe sometime and that you enjoy it. Feedback is always welcome and appreciated.
Have a blessed day,
Benjamin
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