More Leftover Turkey Stuff

Soup. Plain, minimal-ingredient soup. So good that they ate all but one cupful and The Nice Kid took that to lunch today.

Turkey and Noodle Soup
2 cups chopped turkey
1 can chicken broth
2 cans water
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 bag egg noodles

Saute the onion, celery and carrot in olive oil for a few minutes. Add the broth, water and turkey and throw in a couple of bay leaves. I stopped here because The Inmates were at the afternoon symphony, and just let it set. When they got home, I brought the soup to a boil and added the egg noodles...the curly kind because that's what kids like. Cooked until done, salt and pepper to taste, then pulled the hot cornbread out of the oven. These kids luuuhve their mama.

And thank the Lord that was the LAST of the turkey!

Not Black-Eyed Pea Cornbread Eggs Pablo

What a stretch for a name. Supposed to be a play on Eggs Benedict but I may have pushed it a bit!

I think there is a Tex-Mex gene, and everyone in this institution has it. We could easily eat Mexican five nights a week, and never get tired of it.

There were five or six pieces of the cornbread (preceding post) left. I split and toasted them, topped each with a poached egg, melted queso from a jar and salsa. Sprinkled fresh cilantro about the plate and we INHALED them.

In fact, it was so good I made another batch of the cornbread for us to have breakfast this long weekend.

Not Black-Eyed Pea Cornbread

City Girl and I have antique dealer friends who are also fun cooks. They LOVE putting out a spread, and are very good at it. A while back they sent me a recipe from a client, for Black-Eyed Pea Cornbread. A couple of times after that they made reference to the dish; having used it for a couple of dinners and things. So yesterday, when I had to cook for The Other Family's Thanksgiving, this seemed like a good idea.

Except, I don't like sausage and this recipe had a pound of sausage in it. I like the IDEA of sausage, and I like most KINDS of sausage, but I don't like country sausage. No idea why...this isn't in my genes...but I don't like country sausage. So off we went.

I knew when I started that I was going to substitute chorizo (I like chorizo), but the rest of the recipe was going to stand. Except then, I remembered that there is a black-eyed pea cornbread recipe in the Neiman Marcus cookbook and when I pulled it out...there were some improvements that could be made. Starting with substituting creamed corn for cream cheese.

And THEN...when I got to Aldi on the Friday afternoon before Thanksgiving...they didn't have black-eyed peas. But they DID have black beans and...that's 50% of the equation so that's what I went with. A wing and a prayer. And this was SOOO good that this morning, I made breakfast out of the leftovers. That's another post.

Chorizo & Black Bean Cornbread
12 ounces chorizo sausage
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cups self-rising cornmeal mix (around here, that's White Lily)
2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup grated cheese
1 small can creamed corn (I threw away the can, but I think it's 8 ozs. Or so.)
Canned jalapenos, to taste, I used about 1/2 cup and it was warm
1 14 oz can black beans, rinsed

Brown the sausage and onion in a skillet, breaking the sausage up into a fine crumble. Drain well; I put it into a metal strainer and rested it on four layers of paper towels. Just get the grease out.

Measure the cornmeal mix into a large bowl. Add the grated cheese, creamed corn, sausage & onion, and black beans. Don't stir. Put the jalapenos, eggs, oil and buttermilk in a blender and process until the jalapenos are finely chopped. Add to cornmeal mixture and fold with a rubber spatula.

Pour into a greased 13x9 pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting.