Turkey Hash Patties

The eternal question: what to do with all those Thanksgiving leftovers? I confess that I have never been particularly adventurous when it comes to leftovers, I typically just put everything on the plate as it was originally served and then heat it up in the microwave. Exciting, right?

But this year, I have decided to try some new recipes. I've been trying to be more adventurous with my cooking all year long and the holidays are certainly no time to drop the ball. This past weekend presented the perfect opportunity when my friend Selvi hosted her annual "Friendsgiving" dinner. A whole bunch of us get together for a Thanksgiving potluck and bring donations to the charity, SOME. Giving money to a charity dedicated to helping hungry folk makes us all feel slightly better about stuffing our faces.

 The spread at the first table at Friendsgiving.

This year, I came prepared. I brought some tupperware so I could take home some of the yummy leftovers. Especially Selvi's curry mashed potatoes, which I swear to god, were the best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten. I ended up with two tupperware containers bursting with roast turkey, curry mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli. But what to DO with it?

While on a plane recently, I was reading O magazine (...what?) and I came across the answer. Turkey Hash Patties! The recipe is super easy. You chop up your leftover turkey, a green veggie (the recipe called for green beans, but I had broccoli), onion, and combine it all with the potatoes. You can form the mixture into patties and fry it in some oil on your stove top.

I was a little surprised by the texture of these; they ended up...I don't know, mushier than I had expected. I'm not sure what I was thinking though, I mean they are held together by mashed potatoes which aren't exactly solid. The good news is, they were delicious! All the yummy flavors combined and with the spices in the curry mashed potatoes it was just fantastic. And like I said, they were super easy.

I wasn't able to find nutritional information for the official recipe, but I put the ingredients (including the oil you use for the frying) into the My Fitness Pal recipe calculator, and it indicated the patties were about 170 calories each. They're a good size--two of them made a hearty dinner, so that doesn't seem too bad.

The finished product! They may not look like much, but trust me, they were delicious.

And now the good stuff, the recipe!

(I made some changes when I cooked these. As noted above, I used broccoli instead of green beans and I left out the salt and pepper--there was definitely enough seasoning in the curry mashed potatoes. If you are using regular mashed potatoes, I would recommend throwing in whatever seasoning strikes your fancy, maybe some garlic, curry powder, paprika, basically anything could work)

O Magazine Turkey Hash Patties

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups roast turkey, finely chopped
• 1 cup cooked string beans, cut into 1/4" pieces
• 3 cups mashed potatoes
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• Fresh parsley (to garnish)

Directions

Active time: 20 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes 

In a nonstick skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil over medium heat. Add red onion and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl with roast turkey, string beans and mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and form mixture into 8 patties. Heat 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Cook patties until golden, flipping once, about 5 minutes. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve with salad.

The turkey hash patties cooking on the stove.