Great ideas for party leftovers
Vanessa Frida | The New Paper ( Singapore ) | Wed Jan 4 2012
Singapore, January 4, 2012
No worries if you don't know what to do with that half-eaten turkey or roast chicken, mashed potatoes and other sides.
Here are some creative ways of spicing up your Christmas and New Year dinner leftovers.
Leftover turkey or roast chicken Turkey/chicken soup with vegetables and macaroni
Use the turkey or chicken bones to make a delicious stock. Add canned chopped tomatoes, corn kernels, carrots and mushrooms for flavour and texture.
Throw in some macaroni when the soup's ready, and there you have it - a perfect light dinner for a rainy evening.
Turkey/chicken croquettes with cranberry sauce
This is the perfect way to re-use your turkey/roast chicken, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.
Combine two cups of turkey or chicken with four cups of mashed potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you have grated parmesan lying around, add that.
Add chopped fresh flat leaf parsley and a well-beaten egg into the mixture, then make patties.
Dip the patties in a beaten egg mixture and toss in some bread crumbs. Shallow fry till they're golden brown.
Serve with cranberry sauce. If you're out of cranberry dressing, a side of sour cream works well, too.
Leftover honey-baked ham
Baked pasta with ham
This is my favourite leftover dish for honey-baked ham.
Chop the ham up into rough chunks. You want about 4 cups of that and 4 cups of cooked spiral pasta.
Toss the pasta with some cheese when it's still hot with the ham. If you don't have any cheeses, just toss the pasta and ham with about 2 cups of freshly grated cheddar and canned pineapple cubes.
Place it all into a roasting tray and top with mozzarella and parmesan. Bake till the top is golden brown.
Ham pot pie
Cook about 3 cups of diced ham with tomatoes, chicken stock, chopped carrots and peas till everything is soft and nicely mixed.
Add about 1/2 cup of cream to make it rich. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place into a baking dish and put store-bought puff pastry (rolled out to about 0.5cm thick) on top.
Brush with an egg wash and bake till the puff pastry is golden brown.
Serve with a salad.
Piggie 'shepherd's pie'
Shepherd's pie is traditionally made with minced lamb, but hey, what's stopping you from substituting the lamb with ham?
Dice the ham into small cubes and add them in after sauteing some onions and garlic. Add two tablespoons of tomato paste, 1 cup of frozen vegetables and 1 cup of chicken/beef stock till the liquid is reduced by half.
Top it with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with parmesan. Bake till the cheese has melted and is golden brown.
Leftover roast beef
Roast beef stew
Cut up the glorious leftovers into decent chunks, add chicken/beef stock, toss in some garlic, onions, chopped carrots, celery, potatoes, and allow all that to simmer for about 3 hours.
You will have a flavourful stew you can enjoy with rice.
If you have roasted vegetables left over, you can add that into the stew too. If you also have some leftover beer, you can replace half of the stock with a dark beer for added flavour.
Beef and vegetables stir-fry
Slice up the roast beef into thin strips and stir fry it with your favourite vegetables. A quick, easy and healthy meal in one!
Leftover vegetables
Fry up some chopped bacon and toss the leftover vegetables with the bacon to add flavour.
Then toss the mixture with your favourite dressing for a classy salad. You can toss in some leftover meat you have lying around too.
Leftover cake
If you have sponge cakes lying around the house from your parties, why not make yourself an English trifle?
Slice up the cake and layer it with custard and jelly.
This works great with leftover Christmas pudding too. It'll give your trifle an added punch!