Spiced turkey cups – Christmas leftovers recipe

For the last Epsom Supper Club of 2015 the guest list was on the generous side. I was catering for nearly forty guests which meant that the evening took on a party format. We had a wonderful evening, filled with lots of Christmas themed displays.

A local florist and  ceramicicst both collaborated on setting up a beautiful Christmas table, as well as providing floral decorations, wreaths and innovative place settings. There were hand-made Christmas cookies and jewellery on offer and it was my role to provide both the food and the Christmas cookery demos for the evening.

There were also prizes included. A festive ceramic garland by Clare Lovett, a Christmas floral centrepiece by Mary Woodbridge, a meal for 4 cooked in your home which you can still enter HERE if you live in Surrey and finally a framed print by PaperPlane appropriately named “How to cook everything”.

Providing food for a large number of guests can be done in many ways. A buffet, a one pot dish for all, canapés, finger food and in sunnier weather a BBQ or a hog roast. As I was going to be hosting a couple of cookery workshops through the evening, I decided to go for the canapés and finger food option leaving me enough time between the savoury and sweet courses to do my kitchen demo.

One of the canapés that I decided to make was spiced turkey cups. This involves making up a coronation style curry sauce, adding in chopped turkey and topping it with chopped papaya, red chilli and black sesame seeds. The mixture is then placed into cups of little gem lettuce and is eaten much like you would eat a wrap or a steamed bun.

Some of you may be aware that I have just hosted a giveaway (now closed) to win an award-winning Copas turkey. I was also sent one of their turkeys to try out for myself and I used some of the leftover turkey meat in theses spiced turkey cups.

Image courtesy of Copas Turkeys

All I can say is, if you are ever going to make one change in your Christmas meal, that change should be to order a Copas turkey. I have always been a take it or leave it turkey eater, preferring to fill up on the wonderful combination of stuffing,pigs in blankets  and all other turkey accompaniments. But, after cooking and eating a Copas turkey my tastes have been well and truly converted.

I now “ge”t how good a turkey can be. I have always loved the skin on a good roast chicken but the skin on a turkey, this turkey, was just as good as pork crackling. The bird produces its own rich gravy so that when you pull the bird out of the oven, instead of tipping out a bowl of fat you are collecting real gravy juices. So skin and gravy are sorted.

The meat on these fine turkeys is richly flavoured which is down to the fact they have been game hung. Another amazing fact about a Copas turkey is that they don’t have to be basted. They have a naturally well developed layer of fat which builds up as they are reared for longer – so no need for butter or bacon. You can read more about them on their site.

The lucky guests at the Christmas Epsom supper club did get to feast on this award-winning turkey. I told all the guests about my new-found turkey love during my cookery demo, so hopefully some of them will have been converted too.

So, if you are feeling uninspired by that half eaten turkey lurking in the fridge on Boxing day then I think you should try my spiced turkey cups. Simple to prepare yet striking on the plate. We all need a little bit of spice in our lives, especially seeing as the most popular answer to my turkey  giveaway question “What is your favourite way to eat leftover turkey” was “Curry”!

I am linking my leftover spiced turkey cups to The No Waste Food Challenge (Jen’s Food & Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary) and Credit Crunch Munch (Fuss Free Flavours & FabFood 4 All).

Here are a few more inventive festive leftover recipes:

Turkey Stroganoff – Ren Behan

Lamb, spring onion & hoisin lettuce wraps – Kavey Eats

Thai turkey croquettes – Fuss Free Flavours

Leftover turkey, bacon & leek pie – Fab Food 4 All

Leftover gammon & caramelised shallot quiche – CookSister

Baked bubble & squeak – Belleau Kitchen

Turkey enchiladas – Nelly’s Cupcakes

Turkey Bolognese – London Unattached

*Many thanks to Copas Turkeys for providing me with a turkey to enjoy and to Paper Plane for the poster. I was not required to write a review of either but have done so as I fully support both products*.

Print

Spiced turkey cups – Christmas leftovers recipe

A simple yet enjoyable recipe which uses up the trimmings of your Christmas turkey.

Course Appetizer, Christmas, Lunch, Snack

Cuisine British

Keyword spiced turkey cups

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 2

Author Laura Scott

Ingredients

• 300 g leftover turkey meat chopped
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp Greek yoghurt
• 1 tbsp curry paste
• 1 tbsp peach chutney apricot/mango would also be good
• salt & pepper
• 2 spring onions finely sliced
• 1/2 papaya peeled, de-seeded and finely diced
• 1/2 lime juice only
• 1 red chilli thinly sliced
• Black sesame seeds
• 1 head little gem lettuce washed and trimmed with the leaves left whole

Instructions

1. Place the turkey meat into a mixing bowl and add in the mayo, yoghurt, curry paste, chutney, spring onions and seasoning. Mix well with a spoon.
2. Lay out the little gem lettuce leaves on a serving plate and fill with the turkey mixture.
3. Squeeze the lime juice over the papaya then using a teaspoon, place a small amount of papaya onto the top of each turkey lettuce cup.
4. Garnish with the sliced red chill and black sesame seeds.

Recipe Notes

Enjoy these spiced turkey cups as a starter or as a main course with some spiced rice/cous cous salad.