It’s Christmas Day and the family has just finished up with the Christmas dinner — but there’s plenty of leftovers.
Some households may be scratching their head and wondering: ‘What leftovers?’ but others may have went just a little OTT and it looks like you’ll be eating Turkey and ham into the new year.
While that isn’t the worst thing in the world, there are plenty of ways in which you can use up the meats and sides from the Christmas roast and rustle up a new dish with little to no effort.
Christmas Sambo
The Holy Grail for Christmas leftovers is undoubtedly the Christmas Sambo — and bonus points if it’s toasted! It’s exactly what it says on the tin — nice thick slices of turkey and ham, a generous layer of cranberry sauce, and a good helping of stuffing in between two fresh slices of bread.
While some might go for the spud in between the bread as well, we’d recommend throwing them into the Air Fryer and crispening them up for a lovely little side.
Don’t forget a bowl of gravy to dip your sambo into! Perfect on Christmas night when you’ve just about recovered from the dinner.
Christmas Pie
You can’t beat a pie during the winter and this Christmas pie will be the perfect way to use up all — literally all — of the leftovers and create another dinner for the family that isn’t the same again.
Minimal effort for the cook as well so perfect for St. Stephen’s Day when you can’t really be bothered but still want a decent plate of grub.
Chop up all your ingredients — we’re using everything from meats to potatoes and veg — and add into a baking dish. Maybe you’re running low on the cranberry sauce and/or stuffing? Still throw them in spreading them into sections of the pie.
Add any leftover gravy and, if needs be, some extra stock, and add your puff pastry. Shop bought is perfect — follow the cooking instructions on the pack.
Christmas Fries
This one seems to be a newer dish doing the rounds on TikTok this year, but it looks amazing and is definitely on our meal plan over the Christmas period.
The dish is essentially a festive twist on loaded fries — add turkey, ham, stuffing, pigs-in-blankets all on top of your fries and cover with either cranberry sauce or gravy — or both!
Christmas Pizza
Perhaps the family fancy a make-your-own pizza night. Pizza bases can be easily purchased in all supermarkets and will be a great way to utilise the last of the leftovers.
We ourselves would probably keep it simple with the turkey and ham but each to their own — go wild, add some veg if you desire!
Rocky Road
Right, all the Christmas dinner leftovers have been gobbled up, but there’s still ten boxes of sweets floating around the house and I want to start the new year sweet free.
Rocky Road is a great way to use up any sweets you still have around your home and the dessert is quite easy to make as well.
You might need to pick up a few share bars of chocolate but all you have to do for rocky road is melt those large bars down and add in any sweets you want to add into the sweet treat.
Combine the mixture and spread onto a baking tray or dish of some sort. Simply refrigerate and your dessert will be ready within three or four hours.
*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.