Leftover Turkey Pasta

A face only a mother could love…  It’s the same post-Christmas each year – a heap of leftover ham, turkey, cranberry sauce, etc etc.  Great if you want to avoid cooking for a few days, or if you’re up for it, turn it into something else.  Today I borrowed some ideas from a gnocchi recipe in Valli Little’s new cookbook, Delicious – Love to Eat (a Chrissy present from my parents) and turned our leftover turkey into a yummy pasta without even having to go to the shops.  I wasn’t sure whether this was worthy of a repeat, but Pete ensures me it is.  I’ll sound like a bit of a wanker saying that we just happened to have a good size piece of gorgonzola dolce in the fridge which needed to be used up (a gift from my brother-in-law and soon to be sister-in-law – thanks Ev and Sarah!), but without this very stinky piece of cheese the dish wouldn’t have been the same.  The original recipe was for gnocchi with a creamy sauce using the gorgonzola with some figs.  Well, fig season is a way off at our place, but a few daubs of Mum’s homemade cranberry sauce at the end provided that sweet contrast that complimented the cheese perfectly.  You could use Taleggio or another blue cheese instead or even a strong Camembert might work.  It was pretty good.

Ingredients

Leftover roast turkey, chopped

3 spring onions or half a red onion, finely sliced

a couple of handfuls of spinach or rocket, blanched and excess liquid squeezed

300mls thickened cream

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

pinch of nutmeg

leftover turkey gravy (optional)

½ cup veg or chicken stock

150-200g gorgonzola dolce or Taleggio, chopped

500g pasta spirals, penne or rigatone

½ cup finely grated Parmesan

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Grease a baking dish big enough to hold the pasta and other ingredients with a little olive oil.

Cook the pasta until al dente, drain, stir through a little olive oil and place in the baking dish.  Add the chopped turkey, onions and spinach and stir through.

Whisk the cream with the garlic, nutmeg, any turkey gravy and stock, and pour over the pasta.  Cover tightly with foil and bake for 15 minutes.  Uncover and sprinkle with Parmesan and return to the oven for another 5 minutes to brown up the top.

Serves 6-8