Hello everybody! Back to work today, sigh. The days after Christmas were a blur of sleep-ins, Boston Legal marathons and leftovers! Even though we only got a 3kg turkey (most friends I know were doing 5-8kg birds!!), we still had heaps of meat leftover, as well as other bits and pieces. Here is what I did with them...
The Ultimate Sandwich
The picture above is of what I think of as The Ultimate sandwich. Thickly sliced white bread, chilli jam, turkey, crisply fried bacon, crumbled Stilton, and cos lettuce.
Stilton Rarebit with Cos Lettuce and Walnut Salad
Ok, so this one's not quite leftovers, because I bought the Stilton specifically to make it. And I ate it whilst I was preparing our Christmas Eve meal. The recipe comes from Nigella's Feast, and is kinda like toast topped with a cheesy sauce, served with a salad made of little gem lettuce, walnuts, walnut oil and lemon juice.
The cheese in question was a gorgeously sharp Colston Bassett Stilton that I got from Leo's in Kew. Check out all the pretty blue lines!
Lentil and Chestnut Soup
As I mentioned, I only made a half-quantity of chestnut stuffing, leaving me with half a tin of chestnut puree and half a tin of chestnuts. They got turned into a velvety lentil and chestnut soup from Nigella's How to Eat (previously made here), which I served with leftover cream and some chives. The recipe actually made quite a bit of soup, so I've frozen some for future work lunches.
Turkey and Gravy Pasta
Inspired by How to Eat's pasta with butter and stock-cube juices, I cooked some spaghetti, and added some jellified turkey gravy and turkey meat.
Roast Potatoes and Gravy
And now we get to the things that are less like recipes and more like "ooh, look what I found in the fridge!". This was leftover roast potatoes, sliced and heated through in a pan, (i.e. fried!), eaten with leftover gravy. You know it makes sense.
Fried Dumplings with Scrambled Eggs
A good way to use up leftover dumplings (i.e. German doughy dumplings), is to slice them and fry them. I actually think I like them better this way! These were with scrambled eggs, although if I were making this for myself, I'd probably just eat the dumplings with gravy, haha.
Stilton Platter
Ok, so definitely not leftovers, but a post-Christmas treat for my brother and I (the only blue-cheese eaters in my house!) I had gone back to Leo's on the morning of Christmas Eve to get last minute supplies, and decided that I needed more Stilton. Unfortunately, they'd run out of Colston Bassett, so I got a good wedge of Quenby Hall, which I discovered is a bit creamier and milder than the Colston Bassett. We ate them with walnuts, muscatels, and these delicious English Bath Ovals (which are specially made to match the Quenby Hall Stilton!) And a glass of port. What a wonderful Christmas treat!
I am so keen to do what this enterprising blogger did, and soak a whole head of Stilton in port, but the smallest ones you can buy are 2 KILOS, which is too much cheese, even for me. (And at approx $75/kg, it's way too extravagant). Maybe one day.