Roasted potatoes topped with cheese curds and gravy, with optional turkey, turning Thanksgiving leftovers into a new meal.
Gravy seems to be an orphan leftover in my house. We always seem to eat up all the mashed potatoes but not all the gravy. Yes, I know I can make a Thanksgiving casserole with all the same stuff I just ate moistened with gravy, but I like to find different tastes for my leftovers. So what do I do with my leftover gravy?
Well, it's the season of
[Big Ol' Honkin Disclaimer: I have never eaten real poutine. I am not even Canadian--my Canadian mom chose to take a job in the US where she met my dad--though I've got relatives and friends Up in the Great White North. But it seems very wordy to say "potatoes topped with cheese curds and re-heated leftover gravy" when "poutine" conveys the same idea.]
It never occurred to me to make poutine at home. For this, I give credit to my son. He and I share a similar affinity for unagi and furikake, so if he wants to try something it's a good bet that I would also like it.
In my house, on your birthday, you get to choose what you want to eat for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dessert. My son wanted the appetizer for his birthday dinner to be poutine.
Poutine is no amuse bouche. I had no idea what I was in for! I'd heard of it, sure, but had no clue that we'd be too full from the appetizer to appreciate dinner! I decided to try it again, when I had leftover gravy, as a stand-alone snack/meal thing.
Try this if you have more gravy than mashed potatoes!
Thanksgiving Leftovers Remade into Poutine
1 cup leftover gravy3-4 cups leftover roasted potatoes (or use French fries, eh)
1 cup cheese curds (the squeakier the better)
1 to 2 cups leftover turkey (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small pan over medium low heat warm the gravy. Place potatoes in an oven safe pan with sides (I use my cast iron skillet or a shallow baking pan). Place potatoes in the oven for 10-15 minutes to take the chill off. Top with cheese curds and optional turkey, then pour warm gravy over the lot. Return to oven for 5 minutes. Dig in! Eh!
This post is shared with the 60 week old Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up, the 44 week old What's Cookin' Wednesday, From The Farm Blog Hop, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Tasty Tuesdays
I like your son! Poutine is one of the best things ever, I think. I love adding leftover turkey to it - might have to try that in a couple of weeks. :) And no worries, I've never had it in Canada either. In fact, I cannot ever find cheese curds around here, so I just used shredded sharp white cheddar and call it good. Still delicious!
ReplyDeleteJulie,
DeleteThere will be no living with my son once he reads this comment! I must be in some weird cheese curd bubble since I've found them whenever I've looked in my last 2 homes.
I bet it's delicious with sharp cheddar.
Thanks!
Love that tradition - my parents always did the same thing - "on your birthday, you get to pick the meal" I'm definitely continuing it with my son as well :)
ReplyDeleteAlyssa,
DeleteIt's such an easy way to make a person feel special, you know?
Thanks!
What I want to know is where do you get cheese curds? Being in Ohio are you close enough to the north where they are available? I've never seen such a beast down here where fried okra rules the roost and cheese is often spelled CHEEZ. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in Virginia I'd get them at Trader Joes (I'm not sure if they had them anywhere else, since I didn't look for them anywhere else). Here I can get them at the local grocery store down the street or at Young's Jersey Dairy (which is where this batch is from). But the ones at the grocery store are from Wisconsin, and in the fancy cheese section.
DeleteNow you've got me craving fried okra, but too much time in the concession stand has turned me off cheez . . .
Thanks!
I get my cheese curds at my farmers market. Im very fortunate in Vermont we have several artisan cheese makers from around the state that come to my local market.
DeleteI found this post highly entertaining, although the word poutine makes me cackle like a dirty old woman for no real good reason; it just does.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds delicious and ideal for leftover Thanksgiving dinner. I usually have mashed potato remnants and I pat them into patties and cook them on the skillet with a little bit of butter. It's a potato patty and perfect next to a fried egg.
Meghan,
DeleteI can picture you cackling. I cannot imagine mashed potato remnants, but that's because my family consumes mass quantities of my mashed potato casserole every time I make it throughout the year. I love the idea of patties, though, and I'm tempted to try it with sweet potatoes because our farmers have done an amazing job growing sweet potatoes (and carrots, and radishes, and beets and really all the root crops) this year.
Thanks!
We never have leftover gravy. What is that like? :) We do the same thing on birthdays around here. And if you happen to have your birthday on a weekend, you get to pick most of the meals for the whole weekend. I love family birthday traditions!
ReplyDeleteSarah
Sarah,
DeleteHmmm, my birthday is on a Friday this year--I wonder if I can wrangle that into an entire weekend of me, me, me? Worth a shot. Though I probably won't get the plane tickets to Hawaii to eat a fresh hot malasada . . .
Thanks!
Being from Québec, Canada, the home "country" of poutine, I must say that it's a fair attempt!! We usually use brown gravy, like on a hot chicken, but it's slightly different, I must admit that at the time, I don't really know the "secret ingredient" but although it looks very closely to hot-chicken gravy it tastes a bit different. And we usually use french fries, and of course curddle cheese a.k.a "fromage qui fait squeek-squeek". Eventhough I've just detailed the usual poutine, nowadays there are plenty of variations around our province, some use bacon or/and foie gras, chicken and peas (poutine galvaude), aged cheddar cheese, brie, sausage, spaghetti sauce instead of brown gravy (poutine italienne "italian poutine") well whatever is fat, greasy and melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Hope you all like my small "poutine history", enjoy!! :D
ReplyDeleteFlorie,
DeleteThank you so much! I really enjoyed reading your history of poutine, though to be honest if you'd provided samples with the lesson it would have been even better! You made my mouth water.
Thanks for stopping by!