Christmas dinner is done for another year, and even if it feels like you’ve just spent 24 hours stuffing yourself silly, chances are your fridge is crammed full of leftovers.
Research has shown that Christmas is a time when we waste over 270,000 tonnes of food, which includes the equivalent of two millions turkeys or 74,000,000 mince pies.
So as part of The Mail on Sunday’s War On Food Waste campaign, we asked six of Britain’s top chefs for creative ways to turn everything from cold roasties to those untouched Brussels sprouts into delicious Boxing Day dishes.
And if it all seems too much effort after yesterday’s exertions, don’t fret – leftover turkey can be stored in the fridge for up to two days, and if you haven’t used it all by then, just freeze the rest.
Your freezer can be your friend in fighting food waste. It acts like a pause button – food won’t deteriorate and most bacteria can’t grow in it.
You should label and date your food before you store it.
You can either defrost the food in the refrigerator or heat it up in the microwave. But remember: Only heat the item once.
Turkey special fried rice
Don’t make that Thanksgiving turkey curry again. Peter Lloyd, chef patron for the award-winning Sticky Mango restaurant with Asian influences in London recommends that you try his turkey special fried Rice instead.
Don’t make the same turkey curry every year. This turkey special rice recipe is the best way to use up any meat leftovers
‘You can substitute the turkey for goose, duck, chicken, beef – any meat, really, so it’s a very versatile dish for Boxing Day,’ he says.
You’ll need
● 200g cooked and dried jasmine rice
● 100g shredded meat
● 50g chopped bok choy
● 25g carrot julienne
● 15g sambal oelek chilli paste
● 25g XO sauce
● 1 duck egg
● 3 garlic flowers
● 10g ginger and garlic crumbs
● 30ml veg oil/ duck fat/goose fat
Servings for Two
Warm oil and fat in a saucepan until it is very hot.
Fry for one minute, adding meat, carrot, and bok Choy.
For 10 seconds add XO sauce, sambal and jasmine rice.
When the mixture is hot, transfer it to a bowl and shape.
Take a bite of the plate.
Fryer the egg of duck.
Once the eggwhite is done, only sprinkle the garlic and ginger powder over it. Finally, arrange the fried eggs on top.
Tom Kerridge’s Potato and Veget Hash with Fried Egg
Celebrity chef Tom Kerridge, above, has teamed up with footballer Marcus Rashford to serve up Christmas leftover recipes that cost less than £10. Here’s his twist on the classic bubble and squeak.
Celebrity chef Tom Kerridge, above, has teamed up with footballer Marcus Rashford to serve up Christmas leftover recipes that cost less than £10
You’ll need
● 1kg potatoes
● 4 carrots
● Half a packet of sage and onion stuffing
● 5 tbsp vegetable oil
● 6 eggs
● Seasoning
Servings 6
Use a towel to place the potato and carrots on top of a baking pan.
Add salt to the vegetable and gently massage it. Let sit for five minutes.
To make a bag, fold the towels in half.
To drain the liquid, place the towel over the sink.
Mix the stuffing mixture with the vegetable pieces and place them on the baking sheet.
Heat oven to 200C/gasmark 5.
Make sure to press the mixture into the pan.
For about 10 minutes, fry the hash slowly to form a crust.
Place the pan into the oven for about an hour or so.
When the hash is done, place it on a plate. Cover with foil for warmth.
Put the rest of the oil in a pan. Crack the eggs into it and cook slowly for about 4 to 5 mins.
Once the hash is ready to be cut into large wedges, and then serve with the fried eggs.
With any turkey leftovers, a drizzle of brown sauce or ketchup.
Mince pie Ice Cream with Cranberry Drizzle
Italian chef Antonio Sanzone has the perfect solution if you’ve overdone it on the mince pies: make ice cream with them.
He says: ‘This recipe is also great with leftover panettone, bread-and-butter pudding or any sweet dessert.’
For those who have leftover bread-and butter pudding and panettone, mince pie gelato works well
You’ll need
You can also get ice cream here
● 180g whole milk
● 150g double cream
● 40g caster sugar
● 3 egg yolks
● 8 mince pies
Cranberry drizzle
● 200g cranberry sauce
● 100g sparkling water
Servings 6
Blend the mince pies to a coarse crumble and sauté in a pan until the filling starts to caramelise.
Mix the remaining ingredients into a saucepan. Heat until you have a creamy consistency.
Once the oven is cool, remove the pan from heat.
Mix every 15 minutes, until the container is frozen.
Combine the ingredients to make the Cranberry Drizzle. Bring to boil for five to ten minutes.
After passing through the sieve, cool down to room temperature and then drizzle over the ice cream.
With fruit or nut topping, chocolate pantry bites
Chef Bettina Campolucci Bordi, a plant-based specialist who is big on waste-free cooking, says: ‘For surplus chocolate and nuts, I recommend chocolate pantry bites. Perfect for gifting – or keeping in the fridge.’
You can gift the chocolate pantry bites to loved ones, or keep them in your fridge.
You’ll need
● 50g mixed nuts and dried fruits, roughly chopped
● 170g leftover chocolate
Servings 6
Use greaseproof baking papers to line your baking tray.
To melt the chocolate, heat it in a microwave for 70 percent power for 1 minute.
Drop tablespoons of melted chocolate in various places across the baking tray and flatten them slightly, leaving enough space between each one so that they don’t merge into each other.
Add half a teaspoon of nuts or fruit mixture to each round of chocolate. Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least one night.
Ps… tree needles can spruce up salmon
The needles of your Christmas tree can be used to flavor salmon fillets, and it’s amazing!
Chef Paul Wedgwood, who runs a restaurant on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, says he first used pine needles when he was a boy with the Scouts to make tea.
You’ll need
● 250g washed fir needles
● 50g caster sugar
● 10g pink peppercorns
● 30g dried kelp
● Salmon fillets
Serves eight
Use a mortar & pestle to grind the peppercorns.
Take out the dried needles of fir.
Combine the two in a bowl. Add some salt, sugar, and kelp.
Place half the mixture onto a tray and lay the salmon skin-side up on it.
The remaining mixture should be evenly spread on the fish. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let it rest in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
Once you have removed the salmon, run some water to rinse and then dry it with paper towels.
Bake the cured salmon, wrapped in aluminum foil, at 180C/gas Mark 4, for approximately 7-10 minutes. Or however long you like.