Use your leftovers

Leftover tips & recipes

Good morning fellow foodies. I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas? you are probably feeling a few kilo’s heavier & a few pounds lighter today!! To address the balance, here are a few tips & recipes to help you use up those leftovers. After all, do you really want your hard earned cash, dumped in the bin?

If you were up early enough, you will have heard me on The Graham Rogers, Morning Show BBC Radio Wiltshire at 8.50 this morning, sharing these ideas, with the good people of Wiltshire.

TURKEY  (cooked)

Left over turkey breast can be sliced into finger sized strips, dipped in beaten egg & tossed in a mixture of Polenta & grated parmesan. Leave in the fridge for 30mins. Fry lightly in olive oil, turning once & serve with a dip of pesto, mixed with mayonnaise, for the Italian touch.

If its Spicy you are after. Follow the above, but replace the ingredients as follows: Dip in beaten egg & a Tbspn Soy Sauce & coat in sesame seeds. Serve with sweet Chilli Sauce.

Boil some macaroni. Make up a cheese sauce, or use a can of Campbells condensed Tomato Sauce. Layer in a casserole, Macaroni, cooked turkey chunks, chopped peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, olives etc. Finish with a layer of macaroni. Pour over the sauce, or soup diluted with a little of the Macaroni cooking liquid & sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in a medium oven for 20-30mins.

CHEESES – SALAMI – HAM ETC

Place left over cheeses in a food processor, with chives & some butter. Process until smooth. Pot in small ramekins, seal with clarified butter & serve as a spread. (For adults, use stilton & a couple of Tbspns Port)

Recipe for savoury Truffles can be found by clicking the blue link.

Savoury Truffles Love your Leftovers

VEG & SALAD

How about a different take on that Boxing Day Bubble & Squeak. Whisk yourself up a Breakfast Frittata

Left overs. Breakfast Frittata

Have you looked in the salad drawer? I bet a sad looking lettuce & cucumber, lurk there, together with a few spring onions, the odd pepper & that bag of healthy shoots, that would go with….. you can’t remember what!
Well dig them all out, heat some oil in a large saucepan & throw them all in. Saute for a few minutes with a tspn cumin, add some veggie or chicken stock & bring to the boil. Simmer for 30mins & blitz with a hand blender. Season & serve with a spoonful of Greek yogurt on top.

Left over Veg soup

CHRISTMAS PUD & CREAM
Got an ice-cream maker?
Make a basic custard mix, allow to cool, stir in 500ml double cream & 1 tbspn Brandy. Process according to your manufacturers instructions, 10 mins before the end of freezing time, crumble in Christmas Pudding, or any meringues you may have left over.

Christmas Bombe

That it foodies. Hope you have found some inspiration to use up those leftovers. Have a great Boxing Day & Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Countdown 22 Recipes for a Merry Christmas

If you have been. Thank you for reading. This concludes the 22 recipe Christmas Countdown. All thats left for me to say is “I hope you have found these recipes useful & you have enjoyed, reading these blogs.

Click the photos below to take you to the individual recipes. OR the blue link below will take you to all the recipes, mentioned below in the drop down menu of Christmas Countdown.

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HEALTHY & HAPPY NEW YEAR

• 

  Lemon Mincemeat

• 

  Perfect Pastry

• 

  Late cake recipe

• 

  Chocolate & Coconut Vegan Truffles

• 

  Mascapone Pastry

• 

  Marzipan or Sugar Pan

• 

  Top those pies with Veg

• 

  The Christmas Starter

• 

  Do real men eat Quiche?

• 

  The icing on the cake

• 

  About Christmas Countdown

• 

  A Cooks Life

• 

  Chocolate Please

• 

  Vegetables & leftovers

• 

  A change from Sage & onion

• 

  Veggies, look away now

• 

  Roasted Mediterranean Veg

• 

  A little knowledge

• 

  Christmas Stollen Pudding

• 

  Easy Turkey thigh bake

• 

  The Social

Stollen Pudding

Leftovers recipe

If you are lucky enough to be given or bought a lovely home made Stollen this Christmas, you MAY have some left over, along with some drops in the bottom of your liqueur bottles!!!!

For this leftovers recipe you can use Brioche, Croissants or any other bread product you happen to have to hand.

Christmas Stollen with Home made Marzipan

 

INGREDIENTS. ALLERGENS IN BOLD. Serves 6 Oven 180c 350F Gas MK 5 Time taken 20mins + Standing time & Cooking

Slices of Stollen,( I used my own Homemade, filled with Cranberries, Pistachios & Marzipan) or any of the above.

3 Large Free Range Local Eggs

150ml Double Cream

350ml Milk

2 Tbspns Rum, or Cointreau

Grated rind of 1 large Orange

1/2 Tspn Freshly grated Nutmeg & Cinnamon.

METHOD.

Butter a large oven proof serving dish & lay the slices of Stollen over the base, building several layers.

Beat together the eggs, cream, orange rind, liqueur & spices.

Pour over the sliced Stollen pushing the slices down to cover in the liquid.

Leave to stand for 40mins.

Bake in the centre of the oven for approx 45mins until the pudding is just firm in the centre.

Allow to cool slightly, before serving, dust with Icing Sugar and add a good dollop of Clotted Cream or clotted cream Ice Cream. ( Marshfield Farm do a superb clotted cream & gingerbread Ice Cream if you really want to go mad).

If you want to use Croissants slice them & spread with Nutella. The addition of some of those bananas, wasting in the fruit bowl, also compliments this dessert. Omit, the alcohol, for a fruity childrens pud.

For more ideas on what to do with your Christmas Leftovers. I will be on  The Graham Rogers morning show at 9.10 on Boxing Day morning. BBC Radio Wiltshire

 

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Christmas Stollen with Home made Marzipan

Christmas Get Aheads

Time saving Christmas Tips.

Christmas Countdown. The big day is nearly here. Could you be interested in any time saving tips, on the run up to that festive feast. No. Of course not, you are not worried, or panicked, no doubt you are sitting down, with your feet up watching your favourite Christmas movie. Or, maybe you are tearing your hair out, bitting those finger nails & wondering how you are going to cope? Have a read, you might find something to assist you.

Lots of things can be prepared, ahead of the big day, saving you time & allowing you to demonstrate just how good a hostess you are:

1. Laying the festive table, the day before is alway a good idea. Delegate the task to someone else and check that all is in order, with nothing forgotten. Make sure you have enough glasses for all those festive drinks. Don’t stress if they are mis-matched. No one will notice, as long as they have a drink.
2. Peel the spuds & par boil them. place in a bowl, & toss in whichever hot oil you are using, on the day.
3. If you are serving mash, invest in a potato ricer. No only can you have your own, cheap, cauliflower, brocolli or carrot rice. It saves time trying to mash those lumps out. Start a new trend, to impress your guests. Place the rice potato in a serving dish, & hand butter or oil seperately. (will satisfy all dietry requirements!)

• 

  Mash me

• 

  Waiting for the butter

• 

  Riced potatoes

1. Of course, if you have chosen a cold starter, this can be prepared the day before. Was salad veg ready & wrap in kitchen towels & store in the fridge.
2. Slice carrots & celery sticks into chunky strips. Plave in a casserole or roasting tin. Sprinle with chopped parsley & pop in the oven to cook. Drain, reserving the stock for the gravy. & serve. (Any root veg can be cooked in the same way)
3. Make your gravy the day before, thicker than usual. when the Turkey is cooked pour some of the juices from the roasting tin, into the made gravy to add more flavour & thin it down. If lumpy, pass it through a sieve.
4. If you need a quick extra pud. Keep a shop bought pastry case to hand. Spread mincemeat over the base & arrange apple slices on top. Grate over some marzipan & bake. Sprinkle with icing sugar & serve.

Hope you find some of this useful. Just remember, delegation is the key. This is after all, just another roast dinner. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Above all. ENJOY. It is your Christmas too.

Vegetarians Look away

Recipe Sweet Potato & Pork

Christmas Countdown. We all need a quick warming meal, in the run up to Christmas. this recipe for Sweet Potato & Pork fits the bill. All you need is a roasting tin, some veg and your pork, which has been placed in a quick, cheats marinade for a few hours. Throw it all in the oven & forget about it, while you wrap those presents. In 45mins to 1hr, depending on the thickness of your meat, you have a delicious, one pot pork dish ready for the family. If you want to add another veg, serve on some lightly steamed, kale or Cornish spring greens. Yum.

Veggies Look away NOW

Spicy Pork & Sweet Potato Bake.  

Serves 4. Equipment: Large Roasting Tin. Oven temp 200c 400F Gas 6. G/F D/F

For the cheats Marinade:

4 Tbspns Sweet Chilli Chutney.

2 Tbspns Runny Honey

2 Tbspns Light Soy Sauce

5 cm Fresh Ginger, grated.

2. Cloves garlic Crushed

2 Tbspns Red Wine Vinegar

Mix all the above ingredients together in a bowl, spread over the meat, turning occassionally.

1 kg Belly Pork Slices, or 4 Pork Chops.

4 Sweet Potatoes, Quartered, unpeeled.

2 Large red onions, peeled & quartered.

1/2 kg Carrots, cut into large chunks.

• 

  Veggie Base

• 

  Chilli Marinade

• 

  Marinade in the mixing

METHOD:

Place the chunky veg, in a single layer, in a large roasting tin.

Place in a preheated oven & cook for 45mins -1hr, depending on the thickness of the meat.

(If you do not like your meat as crispy as in the photo, move the tray down a shelf, 15mins before the end of the cooking time.

Serve with freshly steamed veg.

If you have any particular recipe requirements or questions, please leave a comment below & I will answer tomorrow.

Until then. Have a great evening.