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How to use up leftover Christmas meats

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:52:57 +0000

Often in the days following Christmas, there is a cry from the kitchen – “Whatever can I do with all this ham?”, or turkey or whatever meat was left over from the Christmas Day celebrations.

Of course you can always freeze it and bring it out at another time. But having bought it all at this time, you may prefer to use it now.

So here are some ideas for using up the leftover Christmas meats – some for hot days, some that will work for cooler days.

Leftover beef, lamb or pork can be turned into a cottage pie.

For leftover ham, make it into a pasta dish. Chop the ham into 1-2 cm cubes, cook your choice of pasta according to the instructions of the packet, make a cheese sauce and mix all together. Serve with a green salad and fresh crusty bread.

Cold turkey or chicken can get the same treatment as ham.

A cold platter of meats and salad greens can be made to look most attractive if you add other bits and pieces from your fridge. Sliced tomatoes and cucumber are an obvious choice.

Olives, gherkins, sundried tomatoes, sprigs of basil cubes of fetta or camembert cheese can be scattered over the top of the platter to give it a festive air and your family or friends won’t even know they are eating ‘leftovers.’

The cold platter can be served as a light meal with bread rolls or crusty European bread or as a main meal with a bowl of hot cooked potatoes, such as baked rosemary potatoes, potato salad, served hot or cold,or simply boil a panful of small new potatoes in their skins and serve.

http://www.askmumnow.com/in-the-kitchen/recipes/dinner/cold-meat-platter

http://www.askmumnow.com/in-the-kitchen/recipes/extras/mayonnaise/

How to make soft breadcrumbs

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:29:19 +0000

Soft breadcrumbs are useful to use up stale bread and can be frozen and used later. you can use them for stuffing for poultry and for bread and butter pudding

You will need some stale bread and a hand grater or a food liquidiser
To use a grater, simply rub the bread over the coarse part of the grater until the bread is broken into crumbs.
To use the liquidizer, cut the stale bread into 5-7 cm squares and use the pulse button so the bread doesn’t get clogged in the blade.
You can freeze soft breadcrumbs and use as you need them.

Cottage pie

admin — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:49:07 +0000

A large joint of roast meat can last 2-3 meals depending on how many people you are cooking for. Here is a recipe that uses up the last of the roast meat in a very tasty way.

Ingredients

400 gms (or 2 cups) left over roast meat cut into 1cm cubes
1 onion
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 cup leftover gravy (or gravy and water and a beef stock cube)
2-3 potatoes
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
½ cup breadcrumbs

Method

Heat the oven to 180°C
Peel and cut the potatoes in to evenly sized pieces.
Put into a saucepan with 1 cup water and a pinch of salt.
Bring to the boil and cook until soft (around 15 -20 minutes; test with a small pointed knife)
While the potatoes are cooking, chop the onion into pieces and cook in the oil in a saucepan, stirring so they don’t burn
When the onion pieces are translucent, add the cubed cooked meat and gravy
Stir till well mixed
Put the meat mixture into an ovenware dish and put aside
When the potatoes are cooked, pour off the excess water , add the milk and mash the potatoes until smooth
Spread the mashed potato over the meat mixture, sprinkle with grated cheese and breadcrumbs
Put the dish into the oven and heat until the cheese is melted and the breadcrumbs are lightly browned.
Serve immediately with a green salad or steamed broccoli and carrots

Serves 4