Day 316: Thanksgiving leftovers day 1--Sausage Bechamel Shells

So after a long weekend of eating actual leftover Thanksgiving dinners and a couple birthday celebrations, it was time to re-invent some leftovers.  Once the vegetables and potatoes ran out, we were left with 2 types of stuffing and massive amounts of turkey leftover.  What to do, what to do?

I started with the sausage stuffing to give us a break from turkey from a night.  I'll give you the original recipe first, then the recipe for what I did with the leftovers.

Roasted Chestnut Sausage Stuffing (Tyler Florence)
I replaced the chestnuts with walnuts, which I simply toasted on a dry skillet for a few minutes until they were fragrant.  Everything else in the recipe I followed exactly.

1 carrot, peeled & roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch fresh sage
1.5 pounds sweet Italian sausage (ground or loose)
olive oil
salt and pepper
5 cups cubed sourdough bread, crusts removed
1 lb roasted chestnuts
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 375* and butter a 9 x 11-inch baking dish.  In a food processor, puree the carrot, onion, celery, and sage into a fine pulp.  Brown the sausage in a large skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat.  When the sausage is good and brown, remove it with a slotted spoon and place it in a large mixing bowl.  Add the vegetable pulp to the skillet and cook until most of the moisture has evaporated.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the pulp to the mixing bowl with the sausage.  Add the bread cubes and the chestnuts (walnuts, for me!).
Mix together the chicken stock, cream, and egg.  Pour this wet mixture over the meat, bread, and vegetables.  Season and fold everything together.  Pour out into the roasting dish and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown on the top.

So, that was one of the stuffings I had leftover.  To turn it into a sausage béchamel shell dish, here's what I did:

Sausage Béchamel Shells
Béchamel sauce is simply a white sauce with nutmeg.  It's a little sweet and very smooth and creamy.

1 lb medium shell pasta
4 TB butter
1/4-1/3 cup flour
1 cup or more of whole milk
nutmeg
parmesan cheese
leftover sausage walnut stuffing
beef broth

Preheat the oven to 250*, just to warm the leftover stuffing.  Drizzle a little bit of the beef broth into the leftover stuffing to liven it up a bit and place the stuffing in the oven to warm.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season liberally with salt.  Add the shells to cook according to package instructions.  In a large skillet, melt the butter and add the flour to create a roux, or a thickening agent.  Add in the milk and whisk continually over high heat until it starts to bubble, then immediately reduce the heat to "low" and season with nutmeg.  Continue to whisk, the sauce should be thick.  Add more milk to thin it out if desired.  I also added about a teaspoon of fresh chopped sage to help bring out the sage flavor in the stuffing.  When the pasta is done cooking, drain it, and combine the pasta, béchamel sauce, and leftover stuffing.  Mix well, season with parmesan cheese if desired.  Enjoy!