Take Some Of The Fat Out Of Turkey Leftovers

If you find yourself with leftover holiday turkey, you may be tempted to turn it into a casserole. But beware: Most casseroles are loaded with fat, calories, cholesterol and sodium.

Turkey Tetrazzini, said to have been named after a plump opera singer named Luisa Tetrazzini, is traditionally made with cooked chicken or turkey and spaghetti, baked in a rich cream sauce and covered with a buttery topping of bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. One recipe we saw contained 14 tablespoons of butter and delivered a whopping 19 grams of fat per serving!

This revised recipe for Light Turkey Tetrazzini is made without a speck of butter, margarine or oil. It contains a mere 3.5 grams of fat per serving, which is just 15 percent of the total calories.

The new dish is lower in fat because the sauce isn’t thickened with a butter-and-flour roux, but with a paste of white wine and flour. The flour and wine is stirred into a mixture of chicken broth and evaporated skim milk, then cooked until the sauce thickens. In place of butter, the new recipe gets flavor from additional herbs and seasonings.

The revised recipe tastes just like the original, but it is significantly lower in fat, calories, cholesterol and sodium - lean enough that you could still “cheat” and add a tablespoon of cold butter to the finished sauce, or add a little melted butter to the topping. Each tablespoon of butter adds about 100 calories and 12 grams of fat to the recipe.

Light Turkey Tetrazzini

Nonstick cooking spray

2 (14.5-ounce) cans low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth (or 2 cups homemade broth, skimmed to remove fat)

2 (12-ounce) cans evaporated skim milk

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon thyme leaves

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup white wine or dry vermouth

4 cups cooked turkey or chicken, cut into strips or bite-size cubes

12 ounces thin spaghetti, cooked according to package directions

Topping:

24 reduced-fat classic oval butter-flavored crackers (such as Townhouse)

1/2 cup nonfat grated cheese topping

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9- by 13-inch baking pan or two 8-inch square baking pans with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large kettle or saucepan, bring the chicken broth, evaporated skim milk, water, thyme leaves, salt, paprika, nutmeg and white pepper to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low.

In a separate dish, whisk together the flour and white wine. Stir just long enough to eliminate any lumps, but not until the mixture becomes gummy.

Whisk the flour mixture into the broth and beat briskly to prevent lumps from forming. Return broth to a boil and cook until the sauce thickens. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the cooked turkey or chicken and the cooked thin spaghetti. Pour into prepared pans.

To make the topping, crush the crackers in a food processor or blender or place them in a heavy-duty plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Stir in the nonfat grated cheese and sprinkle the mixture evenly over the turkey mixture. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until mixture is bubbling.

Yield: 12 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 220 calories, 22 grams protein, 23 grams carbohydrate, 3.5 grams fat (14 percent fat calories), 37 milligrams cholesterol, 326 milligrams sodium.

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