Your leftover turkey, gently simmered with beans and veggies in a Sriracha-spiked broth.

Ingredients

1 cup dried cannelini or great northern beans, rinsed and picked through

6 cups lightly salted turkey or chicken stock

Coarse salt

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 carrot, diced small

1/2 medium yellow onion, diced medium (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup cremini mushrooms that have been diced small

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup roughly chopped spinach (pressed down)

1 cup cooked turkey or chicken meat that has been torn into small shreds

2 Tablespoons Sriracha

1 Tablespoon minced parsley

Ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Bring the beans, stock and 1 teaspoon coarse salt (or half this much if using table salt) to a simmer in a large saucepan. Adjust heat as needed to maintain a simmer; cook for 1 1/2-2 hours with the lid slightly askew, until beans are soft and cooked through. When done, reserve the beans in their broth. (You can soak your beans first if you want to; I almost never bother to do this. See notes for more on that.)

2. When the beans are ready, warm the olive oil in a separate pan large enough to hold all the ingredients, set over medium heat. Add the carrots and simmer for 3 minutes. Add the onions, mushrooms and 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt. Saute for about 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent and everything is softened.

3. Stir the garlic into the onion mixture and saute just until fragrant. Add the spinach and turkey/chicken meat, stirring to combine. Turn the heat to medium low and cook with the lid on for about 5 minutes, until the spinach has wilted.

4. Pour the beans with their broth into the pan with the turkey and vegetables, stirring to combine everything. Stir in the Sriracha and parsley. Taste and add more salt and some ground black pepper if needed.

Notes:

I almost never soak my beans ahead of time, but if you'd like to, be my guest. It's an extra step I am never organized enough ahead of time to take, and I find it completely unnecessary anyway. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, food science writer extrodinaire, agrees with me. The one benefit of soaking is that it reduces cooking time - so, depending on your situation, that might make things more doable for you. If you do, start checking doneness about halfway through the cooking time I call for here.

You can make this up to 3 days ahead and store it covered in the refrigerator. The beans may turn a bit mushy if you freeze it. Which would be perfectly fine if you're not bothered by that sort of thing (I'm usually not).

Spices and ingredients used in this recipe: