Thanksgiving Dinner Keeps Going And Going . . . Start With A Small Turkey, So There Aren't Many Leftovers From The Bird. Then Tinker With The Side Dishes To Get Your Follow-up Meals For The Holiday Weekend.

Turkeys are just too big. This buxom bird with the girth of a bursting watermelon always seems destined for a repeat performance. But like most sequels, Turkey II and III usually can't measure up to the original.

One way around the problem of a turkey that just won't quit is to start with a younger, smaller bird, and rely on the trimmings for meals for the remainder of the Thanksgiving weekend.

And because the turkey itself is small, it returns only once, incognito in a Mexican-style stew, inundated with spices and a transfusion of chocolate.

Don't panic. This isn't a poultry dessert. The chocolate gives this stew a deep, dark nuance that won't ever remind anyone of devil's food. The result is so surprising that the fact that it's made from leftover turkey rates hardly a second glance.

Rather than endless turkey meat for the post-holiday repast, entrees find their flavors in the gravy and vegetable side dishes.

The turkey gravy made from pan drippings and apple cider becomes a sauce for braising scallops.

The potato and spinach side dishes join forces for homemade gnocchi that are practically prepared before you enter the kitchen. And baked trout is dressed with crabmeat that's instantly seasoned by tossing it with a bit of the reserved turkey stuffing.

Never has a Thanksgiving turkey given so much.

THE THANKSGIVING DAY DINNER

Roast Turkey

With Apple Cranberry Stuffing

Sour Cream Twice-Baked Potatoes

Spinach Sauteed With Prosciutto and Pine Nuts

THE REMAINING HOLIDAY ENTREES

Spinach Gnocchi Carbonara

Scallops in Cider and Cream

Fruit-Stuffed Trout

Mexican Turkey Stew

Turkeys have a serious engineering problem. The breast meat is fully cooked at 170 degrees, but the leg and thigh will still be slightly pink at that temperature, and won't reach full doneness until 180 degrees.

This poses a dilemma for anyone roasting a turkey whole. There is no single right answer, and all cooks must come to their own sense of what doneness means. You can choose to take the bird out at 170 degrees for a moist breast or 180 for a fully cooked thigh.

My preference is to stop the cooking at 170 degrees, cover the leg areas with foil to hold in the heat, then let the turkey rest 10 minutes. This slows the cooking of the breast, but insulates the heat in the legs, encouraging their temperature to rise.

ROAST TURKEY WITH APPLE CRANBERRY STUFFING

3/4 pound bread (any type), cubed (about 4 cups)

1 turkey, 10 pounds, with its giblets

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup finely chopped onion

2 celery ribs, diced