How often have you heard someone say, "No turkey curry for us this year – weran out of food on Christmas Day!" It'snot a familiar Boxing Day refrain, is it? We all tend to stock up to the rafters for the festive feast, and there's nothing wrong with that. Ihate waste, but I love leftovers.
In fact, the inevitable appearance of tasty odds and ends is, for me, one of the pleasures of the Christmas kitchen. The things you can cook up with them are often more stimulating than the well-loved but predictable meals that engendered them in the first place. Half a tray of cold roast roots, a boat of cold gravy and a carton of cream? Ferret out a few spices and there's a glorious soup to be had. Or a very outré ice-cream.
Maybe not, but letting your leftovers cooking stray into uncharted territory is definitely part of the fun. Bubble and squeak, for instance, needn't be made with the classic potato and greens alone. Fry some sliced apple or grated parsnip along with the onion to start it off. Add a few scraps of salty ham or smoky fish. Fling in a spoonful of curry powder or paste.
Brussels sprouts are a very under-appreciated vegetable (I know people who say they love them, yet eat them only at Christmas). They have a note of bitterness, yes, but so do much-admired leaves such as chicory and radicchio. One trick with sprouts is to dismantle them slightly. I like a whole boiled sprout, provided it's not overdone (six minutes tops), but they reveal new sides to themselves when sliced, shredded, chopped or puréed. You'll find one of my favourite raw sprout salads below; another tosses them, shredded, with apple, cheddar, hazelnuts and a lemony dressing – exactly the sort of thing you need after some heavy, meaty indulgence.
When it comes to the remains of the big roast – be it turkey, pork, beefor lamb – use them with a light touch. Go for dishes that switch the standard proportions, making them veg-heavy with a little meat on the side, or on top, or folded through the middle. Richer, fattier meats such as pork and lamb are irresistible when torn into small pieces and fried until crisp and well-coloured. Caramelised, intense and super-savoury, these shards are fantastic on top of soups, in hearty salads or with purées of veg such as parsnips or peas.
Leaner, rarer-cooked meat (beef, say) is delicious cut into strips and tossed with lentils, winter leaves and a mustardy vinaigrette. And as for that turkey, tear it into strips, sizzle in olive oil with onions, garlic and a pinch of mixed spice, and use to top a big pile of couscous spiked with dried fruit (apricots, dates, raisins), lemon zest (or a chopped preserved lemon) and toasted nuts.
Trust your instincts and take afewrisks, and using up leftovers becomes an art in itself, every bit assatisfying as the yuletide feast. Afterwards, you can sit down with that leftover box of chocolates and aglass of what you fancy, safe in the knowledge that all that Christmas fare has been honourably dealt with,and your kitchen stands readyfor the new year.
Brussels sprout, clementine and chestnut salad
It's not just already-cooked leftovers that are a fertile base for delicious meals. This wonderfully crisp starter uses the sort of raw ingredients you're likely to have knocking about after Christmas. Serves two.
160g chestnuts in shells (or 125g cooked, vac-packed chestnuts)
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to trickle
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
2 bay leaves, torn (optional)
150g small, firm brussels sprouts
2 clementines or tangerines
Juice of ½ lemon
If you're using fresh chestnuts, heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Cut a slit down the flat side of each chestnut, put them in an ovenproof dish and roast for eight to 10 minutes, until lightly charred. When they are cool enough to handle, peel away the shells and the thin inner husk. Crumble the cooked (or vac-packed) nuts into pieces.
Put a small pan on a medium heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil, the chestnut pieces, a generous pinch of salt, some freshly ground black pepper and the bay leaves, if using. Toss the nuts in the hot pan for a few minutes, coating them in the seasoned oil. Turn off the heat and leave the nuts in the pan while you make the rest of the salad.
Trim the sprouts, remove any tough or dirty outer leaves, then slice thinly from top to base. Arrange over two plates.
Peel the clementines and separate the segments, removing as much of the stringy white pith as you have the patience for. Cut each segment in half by slicing from the inner edge to the wide, outer edge without going quite all the way through, then opening up the segment like a butterfly.
Arrange the clementine butterflies over the sprouts and scatter the chestnuts on top. Generously season with lots of lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil and plenty of salt and black pepper, and serve.
Ham and parsnip cakes
A delicious brunch or light lunch, these tasty cakes take care of leftover ham, parsnip (and potato) and bread. Makes four cakes.
1 tbsp olive, rapeseed or sunflower oil, plus more for frying
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
About 250g cold, cooked parsnip (or a mix of parsnip and cooked potato)
About 50g chopped, cooked ham
1 tsp thyme leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
About 75g fine, slightly stale breadcrumbs
Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-low heat, add the onion and cook for 10 minutes, until soft.
Meanwhile, put the parsnip (and potato, if you're using a mix of the two) in a large bowl and mash with a fork – don't worry if the mash is a bit coarse and chunky (this will probably be the case if you're using roasted parsnips). Stir in the ham, thyme, fried onions and some salt and pepper, then mix in the egg.
Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl. Pour 1-2mm of oil into a nonstick frying pan and put over a medium heat. Take one quarter of the parsnip mix and form into a ball, then squash it into a shallow cake. Coat this in breadcrumbs, pressing them on lightly. Repeat with the remaining parsnip mix.
Fry the cakes in the oil for about 10 minutes, turning them once or twice, until the breadcrumbs are golden brown and crisp and the cakes piping hot right through. Serve at once, with a poached or fried egg.
Christmas pudding parfait
A very elegant way for a Christmas pudding to end its days, the fruity, spicy chunks embedded in a fluffy, snow-white parfait. Serves eight.
125g caster sugar
5 large egg yolks
Seeds scraped from ½ a vanilla pod
250ml double cream
250g leftover Christmas pudding, crumbled into small nuggets
Line a 1kg loaf tin (about 10cm x 20cm base measurement) with clingfilm. Put the sugar in a small saucepan, add 100ml water and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat until the syrup is boiling, put a sugar thermometer in the pan and boil the syrup until it reaches 120C. This will take at least 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, put the egg yolks and vanilla seeds in a large bowl and beat lightly with an electric whisk.
As soon as the sugar syrup has reached the right temperature, take the pan off the heat. With the whisk running constantly, trickle the hot syrup in a very thin thread into the egg yolks. Keep moving the whisk around so the syrup is incorporated immediately and doesn't get a chance to pool on the base of the bowl, where it will set. The idea is to"cook" the egg yolks with the hot syrup. Keep whisking until all the sugar syrup has been incorporated, then whisk for several minutes more, until the mixture is very pale – almost white – and thick enough to hold atrail when the beaters are lifted.
Leave this egg mousse to cool to room temperature (this should onlytake a few minutes), then lightly whip the double cream and fold it in carefully, using a light touch so you don't knock out too much air. Add the crumbled Christmas pudding and fold in lightly. Tip the mixture into the loaf tin, flip the overhanging clingfilm over the surface of the parfait and freeze for at least eight hours, and preferably overnight, until firm. Next day, when you're ready to dish up, peel back the clingfilm from the top, invert the parfait on to a plate and peel off the clingfilm. Cut into thick slices and serve.
