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Pilgrim Pie: NYC Chef's 'Day After Thanksgiving' Pizza

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Last week on CBSNewYork.com we introduced you to the massive, six-in-one Thanksgiving dessert known as "Cherpumple."  This week, we talked to a Manhattan chef who figured out how to make good use of the abundance of leftovers filling his fridge following his yearly Thanksgiving feast.

It's called the "Day After Thanksgiving" pizza and it's stuffed with all of your favorite Thanksgiving dinner ingredients for a unique taste you won't find in your neighborhood pizza joint. Essentially, it answers the annual question we often find ourselves asking after Thanksgiving dinner: "What the heck do I do with all of this food?"

It's quite simple, really. Just shove it right into your pizza, says Chef Bart Retolatto of La Bottega, the upscale trattoria tucked inside the trendy Maritime Hotel in Chelsea. Retolatto actually came up with the recipe last year, but only after he found himself stuck with what seemed like an endless supply of turkey and stuffing the day after Thanksgiving.

"It's basically, you know when you have Thanksgiving dinner and you wake up the next day and you're making turkey sandwiches for the next five days? That's pretty much how I came up with the idea," he told CBSNewYork. "I just took a little bit of sweet potato mash and cranberry sauce and spread it on the bread; then I added stuffing, old fashioned, traditional stuffing; roast turkey; and gravy, then I closed it up, put it back in the oven, let it bake a little, and I had myself a nice little Thanksgiving stuffed pizza."

The Day After Thanksgiving Pizza
La Bottega will charge $14 for the giant "Day After Thanksgiving Pizza," consisting of our favorite traditional Thanksgiving elements stuffed inside its crust. (Photo credit: La Bottega)

The "Day-After-Thanksgiving Pizza" will be served as a pizza for one, priced at $14, from the day after Thanksgiving until the new year. The Maritime Hotel at 88 Ninth Ave. at 17th Street. Click here for location info.

Chef Retolatto was happy to share his recipe with CBSNewYork and said the "Day After Thanksgiving" pizza can be styled to your taste. "You guys aren't even gonna be using my recipe, you're gonna be using your own leftovers to make that pizza. So you're gonna do mashed potatoes the way you want to, you're gonna do stuffing the way you like it," he said.

THE "DAY-AFTER-THANKSGIVING PIZZA"

Preparation Requires:

  • A pizza stone
  • A round pizza cutter
  • A spatula

Ingredients:

  • 5oz. Pizza dough (basic pizza recipe)
  • 3oz. Roast turkey meat
  • 2oz. Traditional thanksgiving day stuffing
  • 2oz. Sweet potato puree
  • 2oz. Cranberry sauce
  • 2oz. Turkey gravy
  • .5oz. Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Set oven with pizza stone at 400°F.
  2. Press out pizza dough until it reaches 9 inches in diameter. Season with salt, pepper, and olive oil.
  3. Place dough in on stone in oven. If you don't have a pizza stone a flat baking pan will do. Just remember to grease it with a little olive oil so the dough doesn't stick.
  4. Bake for 4 minutes and let rise slightly; the dough should not brown at this stage.
  5. Take the dough from the oven and slice in half with a bread knife.
  6. Smear one half with sweet potato puree and the other with cranberry sauce.
  7. Building from the sweet potato side, add the stuffing and spread evenly.  Pile on the turkey and drizzle with gravy.
  8. Close the pizza with the cranberry sauce side and slightly press down.
  9. Place back in the oven for 3 minutes and let brown slightly.
  10. Remove from oven and cut into 6 equal sized pieces.
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