Thanksgiving Leftovers: Will They Raclette?

We are now four days removed from the American Thanksgiving holiday. (Yes, Canadians are also Americans, but their Thanksgiving was on October 8.) If, like me, you still have a lot of leftovers in your refrigerator, there’s a high likelihood that you are growing tired of recreating last Thursday’s feast every day.

I will provide that caveat that, while we ate a good meal at my boyfriend’s family Thanksgiving, we did come home and make our own feast the next day: turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy.

We ate the same meal on Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday afternoon for lunch—and then on Sunday night we had turkey sandwiches. Mine had turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and stuffing on it, while my boyfriend only sandwiched his turkey with mayonnaise and a bit of salt.

Needless to say, I’m a bit Thanksgiving’d out.

But if there’s a fast and easy way to revitalize any tired batch of leftovers, the important question to ask is: will it Raclette?

I believe that the answer is yes—at least most of the time. (Don’t know what Raclette is? Then read this first.)

Just pick up some lovely Raclette from the store (you can get the French stuff, Reading Raclette, or even some of Spring Brook Farm’s Ashbrook; really, any semi-soft washed-rind cheese will do). Then consider some pairings for the meal.

Leftover rolls? Perfect. No leftover rolls? Get some pretzel slider buns. No more mashed potatoes? Boil up some fingerling potatoes. Cornichons and pickled onions with stuffing? Yes. Quince & Apple’s Shallot and Red Wine Confit with that stuffing and turkey? Yes.

Just melt your Raclette cheese–either on a Raclette grill or by putting slabs of it on a nonstick surface and popping them in a hot oven for a few minutes until they get bubbly–and eat it on the turkey, the stuffing, the casserole, the roll, you name it. Theoretically speaking, if you could have put gravy on it, you can put cheese on it.

You can do that, or you can make little turkey-Raclette sliders or sandwiches.

Experiment by adding in cranberry sauce or a different sweet jam or jelly, mustard, gravy—try it all!

Soon enough, you will forget you’ve been eating four-day-old Thanksgiving leftovers. All you need is a little melted cheese.

Now that’s something to be thankful for!