Thursday, December 27, 2007

Leftovers? We Call Them Ingredients

quicheI spent a happy day in the kitchen today dealing with the leftovers from Christmas dinner.

Juices and fat from the roast ham - became pease pudding with the addition of a bag of split peas.

Uneaten turkey, gravy - became two things. 1. two helpings of turkey in gravy (frozen) 2. turkey and caramelised onion flan (frozen)

Uneaten ham - was sliced and frozen in 8oz portions, trimmings were stirred into the pease pudding

Turkey carcase - became turkey soup

Leftover veggies, surplus cream, cheese - became vegetable quiche with cheesey pastry (eaten fresh with reheated leftover roast potatoes and sprouts)

Spare bits of cheesey pastry from the quiche and flan - became cheese straws for kids to nibble on

And there is still some sliced ham, turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing in the fridge for sandwiches (omelettes, stir fries etc.), along with loads of leftover pudding, mincemeat, Christmas cake etc.

Dad has gone up to Sunderland to spend New Year with Steph and our North Eastern relatives. He is under strict instructions to bring back some saveloys and stotty cake to go with the pease pudding. And two old uni friends came for a brief visit which made me very happy. Now they know where we are I hope they'll come again.

What are you making with your Christmas leftovers?

5 comments:

Artela said...

Leftovers?
Ah, I take the other tack - I tend to cook only just enough for the number of people present (which for Christmas dinner meant I only cooked 9 sprouts as I was the only person having them, etc)

Anonymous said...

I'm with Artela - but it's only a small family! We had a turkey thigh fillet, which did 2.5 of us two meals, with roast potatoes and parsnips, sprouts, mash and red cabbage. Boxing day we had the remaining meat with bubble and squeak. Sorted!

Moonwaves said...

I ordered an extra large ham so that I would have loads of leftovers! We also had a lovely piece of beef which has made several very nice sandwiches in the meantime and the remainder is sitting in the fridge, chopped up very finely and waiting to be turned into a cottage pie this evening. I cooked a chicken yesterday so that I can make chicken and ham pie too but the ham was just too delicious so most of it has already been eaten as just slices of lovely ham. I don't normally cook joints of meat so have really been enjoying just having the meat there and being able to take a slice off whenever I want.

The day after our big meal I put the leftover roast potatoes, boiled potatoes and carrots into an overproof dish, poured cream over them, grated cheese over that and whacked the whole lot in the oven for half an hour - yum. I've also had several omelettes over the last few days.

Anonymous said...

leftovers is lovely. but only if the dog doesn't grab the turkey carcass off the worktop, drag it onto the floor and set about it.

*sigh*. no turkey soup i guess.. and the dog is in the doghouse!

keth
xx

Z said...

We went to our son for Christmas day, but had a salmon for Boxing day and a ham the day after. Last night, the rest of the vegetables (leek and carrots) had chopped ham added, a bechamel sauce poured over and a topping of breadcrumbs and cheese, and was baked. Tonight, salmon fishcakes. The ham stock will be used for soup. Some ham will be sliced and frozen to come out and be used in sandwiches. The rest - instead of bacon for spaghetti carbonara, added to chicken in a pie, rissoles perhaps. I would hate not to have any leftovers if I've cooked Christmas dinner, as then the last thing I want to do is cook on Boxing Day too.