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Holiday celebrations are all about bringing loved ones together, with happy collective enthusiasm in the air (especially this year, after challenging times for gatherings) — and lots of food on the table, of course.
But entering wholeheartedly into the spirit of the season, more than manifesting a mood of positivity, may also mean plenty of leftovers filling the fridge the next day.
In times of high food prices, and when one-third of the planet lacks regular access to food, using left-over food is almost a civic duty. Poultry and all the trimmings, fruits and nuts, rice and any other remaining ingredients can all find new ways to return to the table transformed — and still delicious.
Photo credit: iStock
Since it's not always easy to come up with ideas of what to do with so many leftovers, Fine Dining Lovers talked to some renowned chefs from different parts of the world (and with different cultural backgrounds) to suggest good ways to find new uses with what is left from dinner the night before.
From soup and risotto, to a recovery ‘devil curry’ and a sweet and luscious bread turned into gold slices, we propose a sustainable chef feast, giving leftovers a makeover for your holiday season.
In many countries and cultures, big birds represent an ideal dish for a Christmas feast. From chicken to turkey, they are usually fresh, affordable, and big enough to feed a crowd, which justifies their popularity at the table when Christmas approaches.
A powerful Peruvian soup
In Peru, turkey is almost ubiquitous during the holiday season, according to chef Pía León, of Lima’s Central and Kjolle restaurants. On the day after Christmas, for example, it is common to make sandwiches with slices from roasted meat. "The recipe varies from each family, but generally, you can include mayonnaise, onion, chilli and the juice from the meat when cooking,” she explains.
But there is another recipe that became even more popular after the holidays: aguadito. It is a Peruvian soup made by cooking the turkey carcass and trimmings and adding potatoes, corn, carrots, and cilantro seeds, among other ingredients.
"It's a very wholesome soup, which is typical in every house in Peru, something very traditional," she explains. Pia says there is a joke in her country about the fact that Peruvians "eat turkey for almost a whole month after Christmas," in allusion to the reuse of meat. "It's a joke, of course, but it shows this culture of always using all leftovers," she adds.
Golden tacos
Chef Santiago Lastra, from the award-winning restaurant KOL, in London, recalls the big traditional turkey that was always part of Christmas dinners at his family home in Mexico. "It is always served with many side dishes like mole and romeritos [a traditional Christmas recipe with the same name as the wild rosemary-like plant]", he says.
"But the day after, at my home, it was always about improvisation. In Mexico, we add some spices and other ingredients to change the flavours of the leftovers, so we feel we are eating something new,” Lastra explains. One of the recipes for this is ‘taco dorado’ (golden taco), a recipe that pairs tortillas that haven't been eaten the night before with the leftover turkey meat.
It's a kind of Mexican flautas (flutes), but deep-fried, allowing a crispy layer on the outside with moist meat in the filling. Taco dorado is a traditional Mexican taco made of corn tortillas, usually filled with potatoes, chicken and chorizo, then deep-fried until nicely golden. Lastra used only turkey meat for his version and created a rich and flavourful salsa using turkey stock, cranberry sauce, and chillies to spice the dish up. "I think the combination of the turkey with the tortilla creates a delicious flavour in this recipe.”
A ‘day after’ recovery risotto
During his childhood in Argentina, chef Mauro Colagreco, from three-Michelin starred Mirazur, in Menton, France, recalls his mother's Russian salad being a classic at family parties. Her goal was to use leftovers from roast chicken to make a fresh recipe for hot days, since Christmas in the southern hemisphere is celebrated during summer. "Since I live in Europe today, Christmas is usually cold, so I thought of a way of adapting the recipe as a risotto,” he says.
Colagreco's version also uses chicken trimmings, but incorporates them into a warm, comforting, and, above all, easy dish. "The day after Christmas, we're all with a hangover from too much eating and drinking, and spending time in the kitchen is the last thing one wants," he adds. His ‘day-after risotto’, as he calls it, uses the carcass for the broth but also a shallot and Parmesan cheese to give it extra flavours. "It's the reinterpretation of any mom's dish.”
A 'crossroads' curry
Chef and culinary researcher Ivan Brehm, of one-Michelin-starred Nouri, in Singapore, has always been interested in the ways different cultures cross at the table — he coined the term ‘crossroads cuisine’ for the menus he serves at his restaurant.
His leftover Christmas dish couldn’t be different: curry debal (devil curry, in English) is a Kristang dish (with Malaccan-Portuguese origin) often served one or two days after Christmas, using as many leftovers as possible (in original Kristang, ‘debal’ means ‘leftover’).
"It is incredibly spicy, super tart — think vindaloo on steroids,” he explains. The Eurasian dish combines eastern and western flavours (chicken, potatoes, white vinegar, mustard seeds, etc), bringing Portugal and Malaysia together in a delicious curry. The chicken is added to the pot, and it's coated with the spice paste. Then the potatoes, sugar and salt are added to the pot and the stew is covered with water and white vinegar.
"The use of vinegar instead of lime or tamarind is a Portuguese loan, making a dish that packs a punch and awakens the spirit,” he says — a good option for a post-Christmas hangover.
Brehm warns this is an adaptation of a classic and includes a few unorthodox ingredients. "Because you will be dealing with leftover meats, a fair bit of intuition is necessary to obtain enough gravy and good consistency. Different meats will result in different textured curries", he adds. Brehm also recommends: serve it with steamed white rice.
Bread is gold
More than a recipe, rabanada (the Portuguese answer to French toast) is a tradition established for decades from north to south. More common at Christmas, as a dessert for the night feast that brings together families and friends, it has slowly taken over menus
So much so, four years ago, chef Vasco Coelho Santos decided to include a rabanada at his Michelin-starred Euskalduna Studio menu in Porto. The dish has turned into an instant hit, proving the appeal of the slice of bread (usually stale) bathed in eggs and milk, then sat in a pan until beautifully golden outside.
The Portuguese version also takes a dose of Port wine, which makes it unique and different from others. Some add cinnamon sticks or lemon peel to give it more flavour; others include honey. Historically, rabanada was born from an effort to preserve and use all the leftover bread. And it has many meanings for Christmas, a date that celebrates Jesus, who used bread to represent generosity and communion.
Coelho Santos' take on the traditional dish made it tender on the inside, crispy and golden on the outside. "I use a technique of freezing the french toast before frying, which leaves the bread crumb with an almost cream-like texture," he explains. "It's our most modern version, but one that pays homage to a classic of Portuguese cuisine that, more and more, is consumed all year round.”
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