ROSIE’S SEASONAL STARS
Turkey sandwiches have their place, but Rosie Birkett has fresh ideas for what’s left of Christmas dinner
Use up your Christmas leftovers in these dishes
Leftovers are the exhausted home cook’s best friend. At Christmas, when there’s so much catering to do, they really come into their own. While I’m the first to admit that a Boxing Day turkey sandwich is up there with Christmas lunch itself as one of my favourite meals of the year, I’m always looking for new ways to use up anything that’s left. These recipes will help you make use of pantry ingredients, plus the Christmas leftovers many of us will have lurking around.
I tend to go all out for Christmas lunch. I cook turkey once a year, and to mark the occasion,
I splurge on a flavourful, slow-grown bird, with all the trimmings. I make a couple of di erent stu ngs – one fennel and sausagemeat, one with watercress and chestnuts – as well as crispy goose-fat roast potatoes, sprouts, carrots and bacon-wrapped sausages. I always cook more than we can eat. The logic is, if I’m going to spend a couple of days prepping and cooking a celebratory feast, I want the days that follow to be spent at least partially with my feet up, not having to worry about what’s in the fridge. There are games of Scrabble to be played, films to watch and friends and relatives to catch up with, whether in real life or over Zoom. All of this is facilitated by making tasty meals using food that’s already been cooked.
There’s a LOT of beige food at this time of year, and while that’s no bad thing, after the initial lunch and subsequent turkey sandwich, I start to crave punchy, fresh, spicy flavours to give my tastebuds a lift. After all that gravy, I’m keen for textures and colours, as well as something that feels nourishing to make up for all the chocolate coins and red wine. The grain bowls on page 86 provide a satisfying, healthy vehicle for leftover turkey, with a zingy tahini, ginger and citrus-dressed rainbow slaw for crunch and freshness, spiced with a kick of harissa. I love aromatic za’atar, a wonderfully flavourful Levantine herb that’s dried, powdered and mixed with sesame seeds, sumac and salt. Here, it adds another layer of seasoning and brings the whole dish together.
My leftover Christmas lunch patties are a little more indulgent, and are a perfect Boxing Day brunch to soak up any dregs of overindulgence (p86). They bring together all the delicious components of your lunch, and can be adapted based on what you’ve got left. Don’t fret if all the sausages and stu ng have been eaten – a good ratio of mashable veg, starchy potato and bread sauce will help bind the patties. Gochujang, a Korean fermented chilli paste, is an ingredient I lean on for depth, sweetness and heat. It’s beautifully balanced, packed with umami, and adds piquancy and pleasant heat to mayonnaise, making it perfect for cutting through the richness of the patties. Use it in your turkey sandwich, too.
Are there many more divisive desserts than Christmas pud? I’m firmly in the ‘love’ camp, but by the time it gets to dessert everyone is pretty full, so there’s usually some left. I think a lot of people who don’t love Christmas pudding are put o by the tight, dense texture, but I’d wager that even pudding sceptics will be swayed by my soft, buttery rye cookies (p89). They taste intensely of Christmas. If you like, bake half, then freeze the rest of the unbaked dough so it’s ready any time you’re in need of a sweet treat. After the year we’ve had, I’m all for taking comfort where we can. Here’s to 2021!