Thanksgiving is right around the corner and, with it, time to get in the kitchen with your kids and cook up some mouth-watering treats. To help provide inspiration, we reached out to six chefs, restaurateurs and food experts and asked them to share their favorite seasonal dishes. Click through for some tasty inspiration for Turkey day — and beyond!

For a Fun Way to Use Leftover Turkey

Bryan Mayer
Director of Butchery Education, Fleishers Craft Butchery
www.fleishers.com

Dad to Yvie, five-and-a-half

Thanksgiving thoughts: “Save meatball parmesan for beef, pork or veal. Turkey meatballs are a great way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers, especially leftover gravy. It's fun for kids to get their hands dirty mixing the ingredients and there's a secret math lesson in measuring everything out. I use a 1-2-3 method to form the balls...I scoop, plop into my hands, and then whatever the ball looks like after 3 seconds that's it! I don't like perfectly round meatballs. I like lots of nooks and crevices to hold all that sauce, or in this case, gravy."

Recipe

Turkey Meatballs

1 lb. ground turkey (preferably from a full pastured and/or heritage bird)

1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs

1 tsp. minced garlic

1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

2 tbsp finely chopped parsley (if not using fresh a good rule of thumb is 3:1 fresh to dry)

1 1/2tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of pepper

Mix ingredients together and shape into round balls. Be careful not to overwork the mixture. Form meatballs using a small ice cream scoop, and drop the meatballs onto a sheet pan covered with tin foil (meatballs can also be placed on a wire rack inside the sheet pan, but I prefer to let them cook in their own rendered fat. Bake for 20 minutes at 350°

Meanwhile, heat gravy in a medium saucepan on the stovetop. Once meatballs are cooked, drop them into the gravy to get fully coated. Remove and serve with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce!

photo: Bryan Mayer

Share your favorite holiday recipe below!

— Lambeth Hochwald

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