Festive Leftovers Ideas

These recipes are inspired by making the most of the Christmas leftover glut but also by the desire for fresher, cleaner, more vibrant food to counter the wonderful indulgence of Christmas. My recipes are packed with whole grains, fresh herbs and perky spices to get you excited about your leftovers and leave you feeling spritely.

SPICED BRUNCH RICE WITH LEFTOVER ROAST VEG (above)

This is a glorious brunch – it’s a riot of spices, the deep jewel colours keep things festive and it’s a bit of a less predictable way to use up leftovers. Fresh zippy herbs, heady spices and golden poached eggs will seem a welcome change from the heaviness of Christmas. Any leftover roasted roots will work here as would greens, sprouts or peas. Other times of the year this is good enough to roast a tray of veg for.

CRUMBLE-TOPPED SWEET LEEK LEFTOVERS PIE

This is the kind of hearty dinner that befits a winter evening, but instead of a heavy butter laden pastry top I’ve opted for a savoury crumble topping. It’s much lighter and super easy to put together. This pie is hearty, creamy and tasty but won’t leave you unable to get up from the sofa as it’s veg-packed and topped with seeds and wholegrains.

You can take this pie a number of different ways depending on who you are feeding and what leftovers you have. I often make mine without the crème fraiche and cheese and add an extra 100ml of stock for a lighter diary free pie.

LEFTOVER GREENS FRITTERS WITH CRUMBLED CHEESE

These are one of my favourite quick lunches and suppers and make an appearance in my house at least once a week as they make their way from the chopping board to the table in ten minutes.

Here they are packed with Christmas leftovers. They work with pretty much any greens or cheese that’s left on your cheeseboard so feel free to have a play. I partner them with a shock of lemon zest mustardy salad leaves for lunch or dinner. If you don’t have dill other soft herbs like basil, parsley or tarragon would all work well.

These recipes first appeared in Jamie Magazine.
The food images were taken by Maya Smend.