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It’s Boxing Day and you’re faced with an excess of ham, turkey and potatoes? Never fear ...
ANNABEL LANGBEIN
NEXT-LEVEL LEFTOVERS ANNABEL SAYS: Keep a stash of puff pastry sheets on hand in the freezer for the speedy assembly of this tasty tart. Make individual tarts for a party using a quarter of a pastry sheet for each.
PHOTOS / ANNABEL LANGBEIN MEDIA
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he Herculean effort required to get through Christmas — all that presentwrapping, feast-making, relationshipwrangling, cleaning (the prep and the aftermath) — it’s little wonder we need a lie-down when it’s all over. Thank heavens for Boxing Day. This is one time of year when you won’t get in trouble for standing in front of the fridge, pulling out anything you want to eat. There’s no longer any “looking food”, now it’s all “eating food”. Everything that needed to make a stylish entrance on the dinner table has already done so, and now there are just lovely leftovers. Dinner is as simple as slicing up cold ham or turkey, throwing on a pot of potatoes to boil and tossing together a green salad. Leftover turkey makes fabulous sandwiches, diced up and mixed with enough good mayo to coat, a few toasted slivered almonds or pine nuts, some chopped basil, tarragon or parsley, salt and pepper and a little lemon juice to give it a fresh tang. The crucial element is the freshest soft-crumbed bread. If you aren’t using bread right away, put it in the freezer as soon as you get home. Whenever you make a sandwich, take out the slices you want and return the rest to the freezer. Butter the slices while still frozen (the butter stops the sandwiches from going soggy), top generously with your filling mixture and cap with another slice of buttered bread. If you want to prepare ahead of time, wet a paper towel, wring dry and place over the top and sides of your sandwich stack to stop them drying out and curling up like frisbees. Chill if not serving within an hour. My friend Lina, who hails from Rarotonga, makes a fabulous Pasifika version of these by adding a small can of well-drained crushed pineapple to the filling mixture. Coronation turkey sandwiches are another delicious tangent — simply add a good dollop of fruity chutney into your mayo turkey mixture and 1-2 tsp curry powder to taste (mix the curry powder and chutney into the mayo and get it tasting the way you like before adding the turkey and herbs, etc). If you’re taking sandwiches to a picnic, put the filling into a container and keep it chilled, ready to assemble the sandwiches when you want them. You’ll never taste fresher. Leftover slaw from Christmas day is useful for Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches. Add mint or coriander into the slaw along with some grated carrot and a squeeze of lemon or lime. Mix mayonnaise with a pinch of fivespice powder and a glug of sweet chilli sauce and toss leftover diced turkey meat through this. Layer the slaw and turkey mixture into a split baguette that has a little of the crumb pulled out so it’s not so bready. When you’re ready to turn your leftovers into something new and different, here are some simple ideas to transform them.
Quick ham tarts Ready in 40 minutes Serves 4 1 sheet flaky puff pastry 200g spreadable cream cheese 2 gherkins, finely chopped 1 Tbsp wholegrain or Dijon mustard 2 handfuls rocket leaves ½ cup (about 100g) thinly sliced ham, cut into fine strips 2 tsp capers 2-3 Tbsp soft herbs, such as parsley, rocket or chives Juice of ½ a lemon Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 200C. Place pastry on a baking tray lined with baking paper for easy clean-up. Score a line part-way through the pastry, about 2cm in from the edge all the way around. Prick the centre all over with a fork to stop the pastry rising and bake until golden and crisp (15-20 minutes). Remove from oven, flatten centre if puffed and allow to cool. Mix cream cheese with gherkins and mustard and spread over centre of cooked pastry shell. Cover with rocket and ham, scatter with capers and herbs, drizzle with lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
Match this with ... M
Elep Elephant Hill Hawke’s Bay Sea Viognier 2019 ($30) Viog Le Leftover ham is tarted up in spectacular fashion when sipped with viognier. Clean, fash focused, packed with flavour, the Elephant focu Hi Hill. It’s the kind of wine that heaves with spice and stonefruit, white peach wi and masses of spiced watermelon notes. Think about how much effort you’ve put into making this tart and appreciate that this wine will slap you on the back and top up your glass and tell you that you’re his best friend. Do you want ham with that? Oui. finewinedelivery.co.nz — Yvonne Lorkin
