Turkey Tetrazzini Recipe

Have your turkey cut up in bite size pieces and ready to go into the pan. If you are using your Leftover Turkey, you may already have this part done.

The original recipe called for a whole chicken, so I don't have an exact amount of meat needed for the recipe.

The next thing you will need to do is cut up the vegetables. I like mine diced up small, because I really don't like to bite into onions, peppers and celery when eating my food. I know, I'm a little strange that way.

You can add more or less based on your preference. Like I said this recipe is very versatile.

Before you really get started with the rest of the casserole you need to put your noodles on to boil. I prefer to use thin spaghetti or vermicelli noodles. The reason behind this is that the noodles will plump up when you reheat the dish and this makes so many servings you will more than likely freeze some of it and pull it out latter for a quick meal. It's up to you to use whatever pasta you like.

Be careful not to overcook the noodles. You will need to pull the pasta off the burner and drain it about a minute sooner than you normally would. This is because you will have to put the pasta in the pan with the rest of the ingredients to finish cooking everything together. There is not much worse than mushy pasta.

Melt your butter or margarine in the pan and then put in your onions, celery and bell peppers. Cook them until they are translucent. That would be about the time they turn soft and before they caramelize or turn brown. When the vegetables are done you can add the turkey.

Once the veggies are cooked down some, you will add the Cream of Mushroom soup and Cream of Chicken soup. Add them one at a time and then mix it in some. Once you have those mixed in, pour the Chicken Stock in the soup cans and I like to use the spoon to get some of the soup left in the bottom of the cans then pour it all in the skillet one can at a time mixing it in as you go.

When you have the soup and stock mixed in, you can then add the Mushrooms and Pimentos. Then let that simmer while you cut up the Velveeta.

At this point, you have two options. You can add the whole amount of the Velveeta to the dish, or you can add half and then carefully slice or shred the rest and place on top.

I always like to add all of it. I like it really cheesy and to me it's easier and then you don't have to put it in the oven like a casserole to melt the cheese on top.

My grandmother would lay the rest on top and put it in the oven until bubbly to melt it. It's up to you on how you want to do it.

Once you decide, add the cheese to the soupy mixture in the skillet and slowly stir until it's melted. If you add all the cheese, you may need to add more stock to keep it from getting too thick.

When the cheese is melted, add in the Cooked Pasta and let it simmer for about 10 minutes with you stirring a few times to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the skillet.

If you decided to put some of the cheese on top, only simmer for about 5 minutes. Then you need to transfer it to a casserole dish. Chances are you will have to split it up into more than one dish. Once in the casserole dish(es) place the cheese on top and place in a preheated oven at 325 degrees and cook until the cheese is melted and it is bubbly.