Turkey Tetrazzini

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Our was fantastic. We invited two of our favorite families over to share the day with us and everyone brought their "specialty" dish. The food was A-MAZ-ING! I'm still stuffed!

During soup week I shared with you one of my favorite recipes using Thanksgiving leftovers and today I'm sharing my new favorite recipe for Thanksgiving leftovers. It comes from PW and it's wonderful!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, broke in half
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 4 Cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Pound white mushrooms, quartered
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 1 Cup white wine
• 1/3 Cup flour
• 4 Cups turkey (or chicken) broth
• 1 Block 8 ounce cream cheese
• 3 Cups cooked (leftover) turkey, shredded or diced (chicken would be good too)
• 1 Cup finely chopped black olives
• 1 1/2 Cup frozen green peas
• 4 Slices bacon, fried and cut into bits
• 1 Cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Extra broth for thinning
• 1 Cup Panko bread crumbs

Cook pasta until not quite done-al dente according to package instructions (it will finish cooking in the oven). Drain, rinse and set aside.

In a large pot, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Add mushrooms and salt, then saute for a couple more minutes. Pour the wine and allow it to cook with the mushrooms for several minutes, or until the liquid reduces by half.

Sprinkle in flour, then stir in the mushrooms around for another minute. Pour in the broth and stir, cooking for another few minutes or until the roux thickens.

Reduce heat to medium-low. Cut cream cheese into pieces and add it to the pot. Stir to melt (don't be concerned if the cream cheese remains in little bits for awhile; it'll melt eventually!) 

Add the left over turkey, the olives, the peas, the bacon, and the cheeses. Stir to combine, adding salt and pepper as needed.

Add the cooked spaghetti and stir to combine. Splash in more broth as needed; you want the mixture to have a little extra moisture sine it will cook off in the oven. If it's a little soupy that's fine! Add up to 2 more cups of liquid if you think it needs it.

Pour the mixture into a large baking dish (I put mine in two 9x9 foil pans. It made plenty and now I have one in the freezer for later!) and sprinkle the top with Panko crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until the casserole is bubbly and the crumbs are golden brown.

This was a crowded pleaser at dinner last night (once I removed everyone's mushrooms). The girls cleaned their plates and declared me the "best cooker ever!" I thought it was delicious, mushrooms included, and I'm looking forward to having leftovers for lunch tomorrow!