The Twelve Leftovers of Christmas

Christmas, the season of good cheer and gluttony.  After all the hard work in the run-up to Christmas, this little housewife doesn’t believe in lifting a finger beyond defrosting, re-heating or vaguely assembling ingredients in the days between Christmas and New Year.  If she could get away with it, she would see the inside of the supermarket for the duration either! 

With a bit of forethought, planning and some advanced prepping and cooking, you can join me in my well-earned holiday.

In no particular order, here are my leftover superstars:

Bubble and squeak 

A Boxing Day tradition, this is a lovely lunch before taking off for an afternoon at the beach blowing off the cobwebs and topping-up the mermaid blood.  This requires nothing more than chopping up the leftover cooked veg from Christmas Day in a little turkey, goose or duck fat – it’s Christmas, push the boat out!

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/bubble-squeak.html

Sausage and turkey pie with sage and onion stuffing

This is a lovely way to use up some of the leftover turkey and stuffing.  True, you will need to skin the sausages and roll out the pastry, but the results will be worth this bit of effort – trust me!

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/sausage-and-chicken-pie-with-sage-and.html

Golden turkey and vegetable soup

All this beauty requires is a bit of leisurely peeling and chopping of root vegetables and then you just pop the casserole in the oven for the magic to happen.  This is a lovely welcome-home after a long cold walk.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/golden-turkey-and-country-vegetable-soup.html

Brussels sprouts with bacon and Stilton

This is an absolute superstar of a dish and it requires no more than peeling and slicing some sprouts, chopping up some cooked ham, forking a bit of Stilton and stirring in a pot of cheese sauce. 

I make it to use up leftovers, or as a stand-alone meal, but it would make a lovely side-dish to any meal.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/sprouts-and-bacon-with-stilton.html

Broccoli, leek and Stilton gratin

This is another simple assembly job if you have leftover cooked broccoli.  If not, 10 minutes boiling won’t be too arduous and can be done ahead of time.  It’ll be worth that bit of effort!

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/broccoli-leek-stilton-gratin.html

Turkey Tettrazini

Strictly speaking this doesn’t come under my assembly- line Christmas rules, but if you make and freeze the sauce and the pasta before Christmas then all it needs are some cleaned, sliced mushrooms and the leftover turkey stirring in.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/turkey-tettrazini.html

Turkey and Ham Pie

Again, this doesn’t fit the assembly-line ethos, but you can make and freeze the sauce ahead of time to save doing it on the day.  I’d still be inclined to make the mashed potato on the day though, potato doesn’t do terribly well in the freezer.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/chicken-leek-and-bacon-pie.html

Quiche Lorraine

Aside from rolling out the pastry, this is simplicity itself and a lovely way to use up a bit of cooked ham.  If you have some Stilton to spare, fork a bit of that in as well – it’ll be worth the sacrifice!

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/egg-bacon-flan.html

Chicken tortilla soup

This is such a treat at Christmas, after all the rich food this is a lovely fresh soup and makes a complete contrast, it’ll be well worth the bit of extra effort required. 

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/chicken-tortilla-soup-with-avocado.html

Stilton stuffed chicken breasts

This only falls under the leftover category if you have leftover Stilton, but if you do then it’s a lovely way to use some up.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/stilton-stuffed-chicken-breasts-wrapped.html

Pan haggerty

This is a very calorie-laden dish, but a lovely way to use up some cooked ham – and it is Christmas after all!

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/pan-haggerty.html

Salmon Pasta Bake

Again, this is a sauce that you can make ahead of time and stash in the freezer ready for when you need it.  It’s a lovely way to use up some smoked salmon, or cooked salmon.

http://thehappyhousewife12.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/zingy-salmon-pasta-bake.html

From my home to yours, Merry Christmas!

Sprouts and Bacon with Stilton

I came up with this lovely 'recipe' last Christmas as a way of using up the last of the Brussels sprouts and cooked ham. 

Using a tub of cheese sauce makes this a real convenience.  You could make it as a side dish to a roast dinner too - a sort of cauliflower cheese meets sprouts and bacon!  If you can find the purple sprouts as well as the green, this would make a real showstopper.

You could make the cheese sauce from scratch, or open a tub of supermarket cheese sauce - the Tesco Finest cheese sauce gets top marks from me.

Then simply slice the sprouts, chop the bacon or ham and combine with the cheese sauce, season to taste and fork in some crumbed Stilton before turning into a baking dish. Pop in a hot oven and cook until, bubbling.

Golden Turkey and Country Vegetable Soup

The beauty of cooking a giant turkey for Christmas is all the lovely leftovers you can look forward to in the weeks ahead!

We’re enjoying a lovely cold wintery spell here at the moment, we even had a brief fall of snow this morning ...... blink-and-you-missed-it brief, but snow nonetheless!  Perfect conditions for a spot of kitchen pottering and soup making.

This is one of those quick to cook soups, not a long slow cooking stew, gratification comes quickly!

For three serves I used :

1 small leek

2 small potatoes

2 baby turnips

1 large carrot

2 corn cobs

Appx 1 cup leftover cooked turkey (or chicken)

1  pint of chicken stock

1sachet of Philadelphia creamy peppercorn cooking sauce

Peel and dice the vegetables and sweat gently with a big knob of butter for 10 minutes or so.

Favourite cheats!

Add the chicken stock, the chunks of turkey/chicken and season with salt and pepper – go easy on the pepper because there’s pepper in the Philly sauce.

Simmer gently for 20 minutes and then add the Philly cooking sauce.  Bring back to a simmer and cook for a further 5 minutes for thereabouts.

Best served with good crusty bread on the side, on a bitterly cold day!

Cranberry and Orange Meringue Pie

I said I was cranberry obsessed didn’t I!!  This is another in my repertoire of cranberry and orange dishes and uses the same base as my compote and, indeed, my cranberry sauce! 

I just made a small one, as it is for two of us and we really are trying to keep the calories down in the run up to Christmas.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For two of us, in a 7" diameter quiche dish I used :

300g (10 to 12oz) of fresh cranberries

Juice and zest of a large orange

½ tsp of caster sugar (or more, to taste)

 

2 egg whites

2tb caster sugar

 

½ pack of shortcrust pastry

 

 

Firstly, pop a 300g (10/12oz) bag of cranberries into a saucepan with the zest and juice of an orange and ½ tsp of sugar (or more if you don’t like things as tart as I do!) and leave to simmer quietly until the cranberries pop and cook down. 

Line your dish with shortcrust pastry and bake blind for 25/30 minutes, until the pastry is cooked. * 

As soon as the pastry is cooked, add the cranberry compote to the dish. 

Beat two egg whites until they are stiff, add  2tb of caster sugar, 1tb at a time, until the egg whites are stiff and glossy.  Spoon onto the compote. 

Bake at 200^oC (400^oF / gas mark 6) for approximately 10 minutes, until the meringue is nicely browned.

 

 

 

I cant recommend ceramic baking beans enough here!  Over the years I have had many baking blind failures thanks to advice such as “use out of date dried beans, or rice”, so they are a sound investment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cranberry and Orange Compote

I had the inspiration for this from one of the lovely recipes I made over and over last summer, Summer Fruit Compote from Delia’s Summer Collection.  In truth, I owe my whole love affair with the cranberry to Delia!  The Winter Collection, published back in 1995 introduced me to the delights of Cranberry and Orange, and I haven’t looked back.  At the time, Delia was crowned the Cranberry Queen, but I think I could safely challenge her!  From the time the red berries appear in the supermarket, towards the end of November, until they disappear, around the end of December, I am obsessed!  My favourite way with them is simply to puree them in the blender with orange juice and enjoy them as a drink!  I think this is possibly an even better way of using them! 

In all honesty, this recipe is my cranberry sauce recipe, I simply added a dollop of cream and served it as a sweet course!  As simple as it is, I felt I had to share it with you all!  As always, you can increase the quantities to your needs and tastes.  I haven’t got much of a sweet tooth, and really enjoy the crisp tartness of cranberries so I have been very meagre with the sugar, do increase this if you don’t want to wince as you eat! 

For two people I used : 

10 to 12oz of fresh cranberries

Juice and zest of a large orange

½ tsp of caster sugar (or more, to taste)

Simply add all the ingredients to a small pan and cook over a low heat for a few minutes, until the cranberries pop and cook down. 

Leave to cool for 10 minutes or so, and then serve with either a dollop of cream, or thick Greek yoghurt.  

I found a lovely Mandarin and Valencia Orange extra thick cream with Grand Marnier at Sainsbury’s and this was perfect with the compote!

 

 

 

 

The Christmas Leftovers

You often hear the same old complaint after Christmas lunch – “all those hours shopping, preparation and cooking and it’s over in an hour”.  In my house, nothing could be further from the truth! 

Our lunch this year consisted of a stuffed and rolled turkey breast, which I’d roasted covered in bacon alongside a ham.  I also cooked a mountain of roasted veggies (carrot, parsnip, swede and potatoes) and a big pan of Brussels sprouts.   

Once our lunch was over we had a lovely pile of leftovers to see us through the next few days.  The leftover cooked veg were divided into two bowls – one of potatoes and one of veg to be used over two days.  

·         Day one saw sautéed leftover potatoes, served with cold turkey and ham.

·         Day two was my own favourite, the leftover veg turned into bubble and squeak, again served with cold turkey and ham. 

·         Day three saw the last of the turkey and most of the ham turned into a turkey, ham and leek pie.  The basic recipe for that is here on the blog, as it’s Christmas I added a generous dash of double cream to the sauce and gave it a rosti leek topping for a change.

·         Day four and the last of the ham was used up to make spaghetti carbonara – a 10 minute meal of minimum preparation but oh so satisfying!

·         The turkey and ham also stuffed more than a few sandwiches and buns!

 Over in an hour ...... not in my house!

 Tomorrow I will have to return to the kitchen and make something from scratch!!

Steamed sponge pudding : with cranberries and orange

A true winter favourite!   The work of seconds to prepare, yet always gives the impression of having been a labour of love. 

A really adaptable little dish, you can add whatever you like to provide the sauce.  My personal favourite is golden syrup, hubby’s is raspberry jam.  In honesty though you could use any jam you like; cherry is very nice.  I’ve made it with lemon and orange curd too.

The size of the pudding you make can be quite simply adjusted if you think in terms of a sponge cake.  For two of us I simply make up a one egg sponge mix (2oz each of butter, sugar and flour). 

This particular little beauty is a cranberry and orange sponge pudding and I did as follows : 

Very generously grease a small pudding basin, this one is a pint and a half capacity.

Add about 150g of cranberries to a pan with 1tb of sugar, the grated zest and juice of a small orange and simmer quietly until the berries begin to pop.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy and then add the egg, then the flour.

Add the berries to the buttered dish and then the sponge mixture, levelling across the dish to cover the berries.

Cover the dish with a sheet of pleated greaseproof paper and then a sheet of pleated tin foil.  Then tie the cover to the basin securely with string, looping it around the top to make a handle.  This is much easier to accomplish if you place the basin on a wet dish-cloth to stop it slipping and sliding!

Place the dish in the steamer, cover and steam for an hour.  If you are making a bigger sponge mixture, then it will need longer steaming.

When the pudding has had its steaming carefully remove the string and the foil, protecting your hands with a cloth.  Test it with a skewer to ensure that it is cooked through.

Run a knife around the inside of the bowl and then place a plate over.  Carefully invert the dish on the plate and give it a shake to release the sponge.

What you should have, depending on the filling you are using, is a cooked sponge with a lake of sauce pouring down it.

As this was berries rather than jam, there wasn’t so much of a lake!   

Delicious served with custard, pouring cream or ice cream.

Cranberry and Orange Upside Down Cake

I love cranberries, I love them crisp and sharp and this time of year, as they are such a seasonal fruit, I stock up with as many as I can justifiably lay my hands on (!) and use them up in anything and everything.  Actually, my favourite is to blend them with some orange juice for a curiously frothy, but very tasty drink.

This recipe came about when I was toying with making a steamed sponge pudding, I recently tried the Nigella version of this but I found the butter with the cranberries far to cloying and greasy.  I much prefer the crisp tart flavour of cranberries without masking them.  I always use cranberries with orange, as I think they go so well together.

Anyhow, enough waffle!  Here’s what I used :

Appx 100 to 150 grammes of cranberries (depends on the size of your dish)

Zest and juice of half an orange

1tb caster sugar 

4oz butter or margarine

4oz caster sugar

4oz self raising flour

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract 

Butter a small quiche or pie dish (the one I used was 7” diameter) 

Add the cranberries, the grated zest of half an orange, the juice of half an orange and a tablespoon of caster sugar and put to one side. 

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and then gradually add the beaten eggs and the vanilla extract.  Stir in the flour until all combined and fluffy. 

Add spoonfuls of the sponge mixture to the dish of cranberries and carefully spread out with the back of a spoon. 

Cook in a low oven until the sponge is cooked.  I cooked mine at 150^oC for 50 minutes. 

Delicious with custard, or you could use cream or even ice cream.

Sausage and bacon stuffing roll

This recipe was a new one that had its first Christmas outing last year.  My friend Julia gave me the idea for it, and I twiddled the recipe to our particular tastes.

It couldn’t be simpler to make or assemble!!

The recipe I used is as follows:

½ loaf of bread

1 medium onion

1 medium bunch of fresh sage

6 sausages, skinned

Salt and pepper

10 rashers of bacon

Firstly, cut the bread into chunks and place in the bowl of a food processor.

Peel and cut the onion into large chunks and add to the bread in the food processor

Wash and add the sage to the onion and breadcrumbs and process until everything is chopped fairly finely.

Turn into a mixing bowl and skin and add the sausages to the bowl.  Mix together with your hands until everything is combined.

Lay a sheet of foil on your worktop and layer the bacon across it.  I used back bacon as I don’t like fatty bacon, but you could use streaky if you wish.  I layered it thick/thin alternating.

Add spoonfuls of the sausagemeat mixture to the bacon and spread out with your fingertips fairly evenly.

Begin rolling up from one end as you would a swiss roll.

Pop into a greased baking tray (it will need to be deep as the sausage and bacon will let off some fat) and bake for around 45 minutes in a medium oven.

This is such a simple and convenient accompaniment to the Christmas meat, it can be sliced onto the plate and in the days following Christmas either sliced to go into rolls with some leftover turkey, or on its own.  It’s also delicious cut into thick slices with bubble and squeak!