In honor of Thanksgiving week, I present to you an amazing SueG leftover: Turkey tetrazzini. (Note that we have no Italian blood so the ethnic origins of this dish are questionable but it is delicious.) First, as readers of this space undoubtedly understand by now, being highly economical of nature (ahem), my mother approved of and made great use of leftovers.

Thanksgiving week would see a range of leftovers put to use, from turkey sandwiches (with huge protruding pieces of white meat and absolutely NEVER with additions which one saw elsewhere such as cranberry or stuffing ON THE SANDWICH) to turkey rice soup (bland but comforting) to turkey pie (quite good) to the prized turkey tetrazzini, a dazzling carbohydrate feast. (In this household the adults will now revert to low-carb eating through the end of the year — at least, when festivity does not intervene.)

Turkey Tetrazzini

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

A lot of leftover turkey, white and dark meat, cut into larger than bite-size chunks

One large onion, chopped

White mushrooms, chopped (honestly does not matter how many you use, maybe four ounces?)

Shredded parmesan cheese

Your leftover gravy — as you now have a gravy gene (or about a half-can of cream of mushroom soup)

Sour cream (let’s say four ounces)

Crushed Ritz crackers (I said it was carb heaven!)

Melted butter

Spaghetti (12 ounces or 1 pound, doesn’t really matter)

Cut up the turkey and veggies as above. Sautee the onion in butter until translucent; add the mushrooms and sautee for a minute or two more. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot according to the package directions making SURE it comes out al dente. Drain pasta.

Microwave equal parts gravy (or cream of mushroom soup) and sour cream until just liquid (don’t overdo this step). In your large pasta pot, mix the cooked spaghetti with the turkey, the onion/mushroom mixture, maybe a half-cup of shredded parm, the sour cream-gravy mixture and lots of black pepper. (I would not add salt at this point as the gravy/soup has lots of salt in it. You can always add later.)

Mix well with two spoons. Transfer pasta mixture to a large casserole dish. Top with a layer of shredded parm. Top with crushed Ritz crackers. Drizzle with melted butter. Put covered casserole into oven and bake for 30 min. Let stand 10 min. before serving. Heaven the next day!