THE BEST THING ABOUT CHRISTMAS IS THE LEFTOVERS
It's Boxing Day and everyone is feeling a little jaded after a day spent eating and drinking and doing little. The fridge is full of leftovers - a few roast potatoes, some tired-looking sprouts, the remains of the bird or joint of meat, stuffing, pigs in blankets, some congealed gravy and bread sauce..... But no self-respecting cook would dream of throwing out these tasty morsels.
I am not very keen on Christmas food. A lifelong dislike of raisins, currants and sultanas means that Christmas cake and mince pies are off my food list (though I do like Panettone and Stollen), and I find turkey one of the most disappointing and uninteresting meats. (Having said that, I do like "the trimmings" - roast potatoes, roast parsnips, sprouts with chestnuts and bacon bits, gravy.) Even as I am tucking in to Christmas dinner I'm thinking of how to transfrom the leftovers into a succession of tasty snacks and suppers.
Roast turkey may be boring, but it's much nicer cold, sliced and slapped between a couple of slices of good bread (preferably sourdough or my homemade focaccia), a dollop of mustard and mayonnaise and maybe some pickle. Ditto beef (especially if cooked rare, as it should be) or pork. I slow-cooked a 3kg shoulder of grass-fed pork for our Christmas dinner this year - far too much meat for three adults whose appetites are fairly frugal. But I knew the remains would be more than sufficient to feed us for a few days post-Christmas.
Leftover turkey and pork make a great curry. I do a very simple take on a traditional korma, made with a medium onion, chopped, a couple of cloves of garlic, a little ginger and a generous tablespoon of medium curry power. To this I add coconut milk and some ground almonds to thicken the sauce. Then add the meat and simmer for about 15-20 mins so it is cooked. At the end, just before serving, I throw in some chopped apricots (a hangover from that 1970s English idea that all Indian curries have fruit in them!) and some flaked almonds. Served with fluffy Basmati rice and mango and/or brinjal pickle, it is warm, fragrant and comforting. (Use the same assemblage of ingredients for a turkey version.)
The remains of the veg and be chopped and fried as Bubble and Squeak, added to beaten eggs to make a frittata or Spanish omelette, made into a pasta bake or a pie; while potatoes and root veg can be cooked in stock, pureed, and turned into a warming vegetable soup. And of course the carcass or bones from the joint should be boiled, with aromatics, to make stock which can then be frozen.
As for Christmas Pudding, add the remains to some good-quality vanilla icecream et voila - Christmas Pudding Icecream is made!
Whatever you are doing this Boxing Day, enjoy the leftovers!
Happy New Year from Demon Cook
I am not very keen on Christmas food. A lifelong dislike of raisins, currants and sultanas means that Christmas cake and mince pies are off my food list (though I do like Panettone and Stollen), and I find turkey one of the most disappointing and uninteresting meats. (Having said that, I do like "the trimmings" - roast potatoes, roast parsnips, sprouts with chestnuts and bacon bits, gravy.) Even as I am tucking in to Christmas dinner I'm thinking of how to transfrom the leftovers into a succession of tasty snacks and suppers.
Roast turkey may be boring, but it's much nicer cold, sliced and slapped between a couple of slices of good bread (preferably sourdough or my homemade focaccia), a dollop of mustard and mayonnaise and maybe some pickle. Ditto beef (especially if cooked rare, as it should be) or pork. I slow-cooked a 3kg shoulder of grass-fed pork for our Christmas dinner this year - far too much meat for three adults whose appetites are fairly frugal. But I knew the remains would be more than sufficient to feed us for a few days post-Christmas.
Leftover turkey and pork make a great curry. I do a very simple take on a traditional korma, made with a medium onion, chopped, a couple of cloves of garlic, a little ginger and a generous tablespoon of medium curry power. To this I add coconut milk and some ground almonds to thicken the sauce. Then add the meat and simmer for about 15-20 mins so it is cooked. At the end, just before serving, I throw in some chopped apricots (a hangover from that 1970s English idea that all Indian curries have fruit in them!) and some flaked almonds. Served with fluffy Basmati rice and mango and/or brinjal pickle, it is warm, fragrant and comforting. (Use the same assemblage of ingredients for a turkey version.)
The remains of the veg and be chopped and fried as Bubble and Squeak, added to beaten eggs to make a frittata or Spanish omelette, made into a pasta bake or a pie; while potatoes and root veg can be cooked in stock, pureed, and turned into a warming vegetable soup. And of course the carcass or bones from the joint should be boiled, with aromatics, to make stock which can then be frozen.
As for Christmas Pudding, add the remains to some good-quality vanilla icecream et voila - Christmas Pudding Icecream is made!
Whatever you are doing this Boxing Day, enjoy the leftovers!
Happy New Year from Demon Cook
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