Abundance is the general tone at Christmas lunches and dinners. In most homes, everything seems little to us. We cook a lot so that nothing is missing, which normally translates into too much food and, as a consequence, a good amount of leftovers and unprocessed foods of all kinds that in the end we do not use, with the problem that this poses in keeping them in good condition.
According to the annual report prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in 2023 Spanish households wasted a total of 1,183.42 million kilos of food. Specifically at Christmas, household waste reaches 20% of the food prepared to celebrate with family and friends. What we waste the most are sweets, but fresh products such as seafood, fish and fruits are also thrown away. Furthermore, some of the dishes we prepare end up going to the trash because we normally cook more portions than necessary. Another Christmas classic is to arrive at the main course already satisfied after the appetizers.
The good news is that we can take advantage of leftovers and not just with a blast of microwave, but with some already planned ideas to reuse what we have not consumed.
The remains of roasted birds, whether turkey or capon, are the most useful dishes. With them we can prepare fillings for croquettes or empanadas, salads, tacos or original sandwiches. With fish we can improvise croquettes, salads or omelettes. And the same with the vegetables that we have left over, and there are even ideas for nougat or bread.
club sandwich
This is a classic. The day after the copious Christmas meal we can improvise a snack that is eaten with our fingers and that avoids throwing away the remains of the Christmas capon.
The club sandwich is as easy as making two sandwiches and then putting them together. To do this, you can also use leftover cheese and cold cuts. First you make a sandwich with ham, lacon or any other cold meat that you have left over and leftover cheese, and you put it on the grill or in the sandwich maker.
Then you make another one by spreading the bread with butter or mayonnaise and you also pass it through the sandwich maker. You join both by putting slices of tomato and lettuce with mayonnaise between them. You pierce them with a toothpick and accompany them with more salad.
Vegetable omelettes
This is a useful recipe that allows you any variation of vegetables. Peppers, onions, zucchini, mushrooms, asparagus, spinach… All you have to do is cut everything into small squares, fry it in a pan until it is to your liking; Less if you want it crunchy or more if you prefer the vegetable to be soft.
In a bowl you beat eggs with pepper and salt, add the vegetables and make an omelet. It is a wonderful and complete dish to recover from the excesses of party foods.
meat tacos
If you have leftover meat scraps, such as sirloin, whether beef or pork, or roast beef, you can take advantage of them by making some tacos.
You just have to make a sauce with onions and peppers, add spices to taste, some spiciness if you want and the leftover meat cut into strips. You heat some corn cakes and fill them with the meat with the hot sauce, you can also add a little guacamole that you can buy ready-made or make yourself by mashing some avocados, or you can add raw onion and preserved jalapenos. Easy and rich.
Prawn salad
If you’ve spent too much time buying prawns or shrimp, try this. Both shrimp and prawns are products with a very short life and it is necessary to consume them soon, but they have many outlets. One of the most popular is the Cádiz-style shrimp (or prawn) salad. You need the same amount of cooked, unpeeled shrimp as you do potatoes. You cook the potatoes with their skin and while you peel the prawns, leaving the clean tails on one side and the juice from the heads on the other.
Mix the peeled and split potatoes with the shrimp tails and then add the juice from the shrimp heads to a few tablespoons of mayonnaise. Mix everything, adjust the salt and olive oil, and you have it.
Pineapple and prawn salad
This salad sounds a little old, but it is a great way to use up the tails of the prawns and the remains of pineapple or other leftover fruit, such as mango.
You just have to put cut lettuce on a plate, top it with diced pineapple, prawn tails and a pink sauce, which you can buy or make by mixing mayonnaise with a few tablespoons of ketchup. You can add avocado or cucumber. With this you already have it.
Atascaburras with white fish
If we have leftover cooked white fish, such as hake tail or leftover cod, we can use it to make a personal version of Manchego atascaburras or brandade. Said like this it seems difficult, but it is not.
It actually consists of cooking potatoes with their skin on until they are tender. If the fish remains are already cooked, you just have to peel and mash the potatoes and add the fish. If it is raw, boil it lightly for five minutes first along with the potatoes.
Crush some garlic and add it to the potato and fish mixture, emulsify with olive oil, adjust the salt and black pepper and serve it in some casseroles with halves of boiled eggs and walnuts as they do in La Mancha.
French toast with leftover bread
If we have a lot of bread left over, whether it is a loaf, loaf or mold, we can use it to make French toast for breakfast or snack the next day.
French toast is nothing more than a simplified French toast recipe. It consists of beating eggs and milk, with a touch of cinnamon and vanilla, submerging the bread from the previous day and letting it soak well.
Then put a frying pan on the heat with some oil or butter, drain the slice and toast it in the pan on both sides. It is served with some honey on top and fruits to taste.
Caesar salad with leftover turkey
This salad is perfect for using up the leftovers of any roasted poultry. You need a mixture of lettuce on which to put the cut remains of the bird, pieces of toasted bread that will give it a crunchy touch and flakes of parmesan, you can even put some diced apples to give it a sweet and sour touch. You add salt and pepper.
After that, you tune the jar mayonnaise by mixing it with an anchovy and a good touch of lemon, and if it is too thick, you thin it with some water. Put the sauce on top and serve.
Croquettes or filling for piquillo peppers
The béchamel holds up to everything. Done well, it can be the perfect sauce to sublimate the challenges of ham, poultry, fish or shrimp and make croquettes or a filling for piquillo peppers. If you opt for croquettes, add the remains to the bechamel, let it rest and form the croquettes (you can fry them in oil or pass them through the air fryer).
And if you prefer peppers, buy a good can of piquillo, fill them one by one, for example, with leftover cod and shrimp. You make a light sauce with poached onion, a piquillo pepper and some fried tomato and puree everything. You put the peppers in a pan, cover with the sauce, cook for two minutes and ready to serve.
Fruit and nougat salad
Do you have leftover fruits and nougat? Well it’s clear: Christmas Macedonia. The fruits can be those that we have not used or are about to expire.
Reduce some water with lemon or orange juice and a tablespoon of sugar in a saucepan, and when it is cold you add it to the diced fruits. You top it with a shower of crumbled almond nougat that will give it a crunchy touch and that’s it.
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