Hello hello! When there is Christmas feasting, there are also leftovers! We've finally finished all the leftovers, and I think we're all a bit sick of turkey and ham around here! Having watched endless episodes of Nigella, Jamie and Gordon's Christmas programs over the break, I was tempted to try my hand at all sorts of big fancy pies to use up the leftover meat, but I thought that would defeat the purpose by creating even more leftovers. (And don't forget you can't reheat leftover food more than once).
Whilst I did make one batch of pasties, and one sandwich, this year I found that the best way to use up the leftover ham and turkey was to serve it in thin slices to add protein and bulk to a fresh, healthy salad. Much more suitable for our warm weather, don't you think?
Ham & Leek Welsh Pasties
I made Nigella's ham and leek Welsh pasties again (Kitchen), to use up leftover ham and petits pois. These have ham, leeks and white sauce on the inside and are encased in a shortcrust pastry. Lovely with a nice cold cider as an accompaniment.
Turkey and Ham Sandwich
This monster of a sandwich consisted of thick slices of white bread, lettuce, tomatoes, ham, turkey, and a thick smear of crème fraîche mixed with chives. The crème fraîche mixture, apart from providing a tasty chive flavour, prevents the sandwich from getting dry (especially as turkey can dry out in the fridge).
Fried Ham and Eggs; Broad Bean and Radish Salad with Green Tahini
This lunch was inspired by a recipe from Jamie's Family Christmas. Did anyone else watch it over Christmas? (It's actually from 2009, but I hadn't seen it until this year). I absolutely loved the program, especially the segment where he made fried gammon with his nan - she was so cute! In the original recipe he uses raw slices of ham (i.e. gammon, which needs to be cooked before eating) but I made a quick version with leftover slices of smoked ham. All you need to do is dredge slices of ham in mustard powder, and fry them in a pan. The mustard powder lightly caramelizes on the ham and is just so fabulous!
Even though we can't get gammon here in Australia, the idea of the mustard-powder coating would work well with ham steaks (it sounds so 70's and I don't care who knows it) or Kassler, especially as an indulgent weekend breakfast. I had it with a poached egg and the incredibly delicious broad bean and radish salad from the Ottolenghi cookbook, and it was a great light lunch, after all the heavy, carb-based meals of the preceding few days!
Marinated Mushrooms with Walnut and Tahini Yogurt
I received a copy of Yotam Ottolenghi's book Plenty for Christmas, and these marinated mushrooms were the first recipe I made. I found some cheap shimeji mushrooms at an Asian grocer on Victoria street, and off I went! You marinate the shimeji mushrooms with sliced chestnut mushrooms (I used "baby bella" brown-capped mushrooms from my local supermarket) in lemon juice and olive oil, and toss them with broad beans and toasted walnuts. It's served with a punchy garlic/yoghurt/tahini sauce, and I served it with thin slices of turkey and ham. The full recipe is here, in Yotam's column in The Guardian. Enjoy!
Mini Christmas Puddini Bonbons
I love these intensely flavoured little truffles! I also got holly-shaped sprinkles this year, so I didn't need to bother chopping up gummi bears like I did last year. I served them as a little sweatmeet with coffee to finish a post-Christmas dinner party. They turned out very soft this year, so I'm keeping them in the freezer. Theoretically, this means I won't be tempted to eat them all at once - hah!
THE SWANSON
I couldn't help it. In the fridge we had a turkey leg, and we had slices of bacon. How could I not make one? In honour of my favourite TV character, Ron Swanson from the hiii-larious Parks and Recreation, I made "The Swanson" - quite simply, a turkey leg wrapped in bacon.
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| "The Swanson" |
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| Ron Swanson - what a legend. Photo source: Eater.com |
And on that note I conclude my Christmas posts for the year! Hope you all have enjoyed the festive season as much as I did this year!
3 comments:
Those pasties look good!
Way to use up some leftovers! :) Nigella's ham and leek pasties look amazing. On one of the Jamie Oliver Christmas specials he made a turkey and leek pie with leftovers. Your pastie reminded me of this...and now I have pie/pastie cravings...lol!
Lisa - Thanks!
Georgia - Thanks! I saw that program too, the pie looked so yum! I might try making it from scratch sometime this year, once I've recovered from all the Christmas eating! :)
xox Sarah
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