"Traditional" Thanksgiving & The Accompanying Leftovers

Let’s face it, Thanksgiving is about food. We show thanks to our loved ones by preparing that food or traveling to the food preparers. This year, my family hosted the Cucina Calabrese family & my in-laws, the Lutkus family. The families taking time to drive through D.C./Baltimore traffic on the holiday was true dedication. In addition to the standard food items, we had Italian pasta (Cucina Calabrese Classic fusilli w/ Al Dente brand red sauce) and dessert Krupnikas, a Lithuanian honey digestif. It breaks from the typical menu, but is a sign of appreciation (through a bit of nostalgia) for those coming to visit and therefore aren’t with others of their family of origin. Lithuanian & Italian immigrants of the early 1900s were new to this United States holiday and rolled with it by integrating their own recipes into the mix. Both of our families, like many around the U.S., keep up that tradition of the ethnic spin on Thanksgiving as a sign of gratitude to our forefathers.

In the aftermath of this feast are always some leftovers (usually turkey!) and food waste is a huge problem in the U.S. Not everyone can eat the same foods in the same ways for 4 consecutive days. So we’re looking for some new recipes to repurpose Thanksgiving’s remains into some tasty pasta dishes. Mom always likes turkey tetrazzini (diced turkey w/ mushrooms & cream sauce) & turkey noodle soup, but how about you? Send or post your most original recipes to merge Cucina Calabrese pasta into those leftovers!