Turkey is, of course, the centerpiece of most Thanksgiving meals. Last night’s episode of Top Chef 5 featured Ariane redeeming herself from being in the bottom two for the first two episodes. Her strong performance was underscored by the fact that she hit a home run with the most important part of the meal – the bird – and that she did it using equipment other than a traditional oven.

Whether or not your Thanksgiving turkey was as successful, chances are at the end of the day, you’re going to have some leftovers. Here are a few ideas from the Top Chef universe about what to do with all that extra bird.

Top Chef Season 4 Chef and hat aficionado Spike Mendelsohn recently gave his local news station a recipe for a Turkey Pot Pie that can also use up some of that leftover cranberry sauce and mashed potato. He also gives a few cooking tips, including, “Throwing in some herbs, such as thyme, can freshen up the pot pie.”

If you have some turkey leg meat leftover, Michael Midgely offers a recipe for a Turkey Egg Canape on Bravo’s recipe finder that could be easily converted to an open faced sandwich by simply leaving the white bread in its full-slice size.

While we're on the subject: sandwiches, of course, are the go-to dish for leftover turkey. If you need some new inspiration for a flavor combination, consider a thought from judge Tom Colicchio's wichcraft restaurant: he serves turkey with avocado, bacon, onion relish and aioli on a ciabatta roll.

While the product placement on Top Chef can be a bit excessive, one must admit that it makes sense to look to last night’s sponsor, Butterball, for some additional ideals. They have an entire section on their website dedicated to ideas for the leftover meat, including Turkey Vegetable Soup with Angel Hair Pasta and Artichoke Turkey Pizza.

- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist

Sources: Butterball.com, WUSA9.com, BravoTV.com, wichcraftnyc.com

(Images courtesy of BravoTV)