It’s the day after Thanksgiving, and if you aren’t staring at a mountain of leftover turkey vowing to never make another turkey again, you’ve done something wrong. Eating Thanksgiving leftovers for more than one day can get old real fast, and I’m here to help with the daunting task of getting creative with all that extra gobble gobble.

Turkey Tetrazzini, apparently named after the Italian opera singer, Louisa Tetrazzini (maybe she really liked turkey?), is an American pasta dish that has many regional variations. It’s essentially a casserole, which for me is the epitome of Midwestern cooking, made of poultry or seafood in a cream sauce topped with cheese. A classic Midwestern casserole formula.

This dish is a bit nostalgic for me, and is something I ate a lot of growing up. It’s definitely not a family recipe, rather something I’d often order from my favorite hometown, Italian-American restaurant, even though this dish is nowhere close to being Italian.

The version of turkey Tetrazzini that I know and love was made with turkey, mushrooms, and onions in a white, garlicky, cream sauce over penne pasta, and topped with a 1/2” layer of mozzarella cheese, which is so on brand for a suburban Chicago Italian joint.

My version is slightly more elevated while still retaining that Midwestern casserole feel. I used a blend of meitake, cremini, and chanterelle mushrooms, an herby, garlicky, white wine cream sauce, and topped with a blend of ricotta, mozzarella, and pecorino cheeses, baked until bubbly and oozing with everything you want in a baked pasta dish. You can use any pasta shape you’d like, but I find that pasta made for collecting sauce is the best. Ziti, rigatoni, penne, rotini, orrechiette, or casarecce would be lovely here! It also uses a hefty amount of turkey which will help make a decent dent in your Thanksgiving leftovers. #goals

Cheer’s to surviving another holiday!

Turkey Tetrazzini

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp unsalted butter

4 oz meitake mushrooms, torn into large pieces

8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced

4 oz chanterelle mushrooms, torn into large pieces

10 thyme sprigs

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp dried oregano

1 medium onion, thinly sliced- approximately 2 cups

1/4 C garlic, sliced

1/4 C dry white wine (I used sauvignon blanc)

3-4 cups turkey, diced

3 Tbsp all purpose flour

2 C whole milk

pepper

1 lb pasta, cooked to al dente (I used casarecce, but penne, rigatoni, rotini, or orrecchiette would work great)

1/4 C parsley, chopped

2/3 C whole milk ricotta cheese

1/4 lb mozzarella cheese, chopped into small pieces

1/3 C pecorino cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large oven safe pan or dutch oven, melt butter over medium low heat. Add mushrooms and thyme and sauté for 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms have started to release their water. Turn the heat up to medium high and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or so until the mushrooms have browned.

Lower the heat to medium or medium low, and add salt, oregano, and sliced onions to the pan. Cook onions until they have become translucent. Next add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute more. Deglaze the pan with the wine, making sure to scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Add turkey to the pan and sprinkle the flour over the top, stirring to combine into the mushroom and onion mixture. Cook for 2-3 minutes more, then add the milk, again scraping up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Bring the milk to a boil to thicken the sauce. Once the sauce has thickened, season to taste with salt and pepper and remove from the heat. Add the cooked pasta and parsley to the sauce and mix to combine.

Top the pasta with dollops of ricotta cheese and sprinkle the mozzarella and pecorino over the top. Bake for 20 minutes to melt the cheese, and then broil on high for another 3-5 minutes, or until the cheese has browned and is bubbly.