Transform your Christmas dinner leftovers into delicious modern dishes to excite even the most jaded palate.
Turkey Fattee. Photograph: Kate Whitaker for Observer Food Monthly
Turkey fatteeFattee is a Lebanese dish of layered crisp pitta bread, rice, chilli sauce, garlic, yoghurt, herbs... need I go on?
Serves 6
For the chilli sauce
unsalted butter 2 tbsp
ground coriander 1 tsp
ground cumin 1 tsp
ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp
sweet smoked paprika 1/2 tsp
chilli flakes 1 tsp
passata 500ml
red wine vinegar 2 tbsp
sugar 1 tsp
salt and pepper
For the garlic yoghurt
garlic clove 1, crushed to a paste
thick plain yoghurt 300g
salt a good pinch
olive oil
For the pitta crisps
butter 50g
pitta breads 3
cooked turkey 300-500g, shredded
olive oil
salt and pepper
For the rice
basmati rice 250g
olive oil 2 tbsp
tinned chickpeas 400g, drained
cinnamon stick 1
star anise 3
chicken stock 500ml
To finish
fresh mint, coriander and parsley a big handful
Up to 3 days ahead (minimum 1 hour): To make the chilli sauce, melt the butter over a medium heat and add the spices and chilli flakes. Stir for a minute, then add the passata, vinegar and sugar. Season and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Set aside. Beat the crushed garlic into the yoghurt with a good pinch of salt and a slug of olive oil. Store in the fridge.
Up to 1 day ahead: For the pitta crisps, preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Melt the butter. Lightly toast the pittas in a toaster, then halve them through the middle so you have six thin pieces. Brush with butter and bake in the oven for 8 minutes, until golden. Sprinkle with sea salt then store somewhere handy.
1 hour ahead: Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Toss the turkey with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put in a baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for 20 minutes until hot. Keep warm.
30 minutes ahead: Gently reheat the chilli sauce. Rinse the rice under running water for a few minutes, then shake dry, or dry-ish. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the rice. Stir for a couple of minutes over a good heat until lightly toasted, then add the chickpeas, spices and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer very gently for 12 minutes without removing the lid. Take off the heat and leave for another 5 minutes, still covered. Now uncover and leave for a couple of minutes before fluffing up with a fork.
To serve: Layer up, starting with a pitta crisp, then the rice, then the turkey, followed by chilli sauce and garlic yoghurt. Garnish with a big handful of fresh herbs and serve.
David Williams's wine match for the fattee
Taste the Difference 12 Year Old Oloroso Sherry, Jerez, Spain
Well, there has to be sherry somewhere at Christmas, but there's more to this match than using up the bottle you've got in for great-aunt Mavis. There's a dried orange tang, a touch of clove and other sweet spice, and plenty of acidity that works so well with all the garlic and spice.
Salad of goose or duck with orange and watercress
The simplest of salads, but a rather luxurious one nonetheless.
Serves 6-8 as a starter or 4 as a light main
For the dressing
Dijon mustard 2 tsp
garlic a tiny clove, crushed to a paste
thyme a sprig
red wine vinegar 2 tbsp
olive oil 6 tbsp
salt and pepper
For the salad
orange 1
watercress 100g
parsley leaves about 20g
leftover roast goose or duck shredded or sliced
hazelnuts a few, chopped and toasted
pomegranate seeds a handful
Up to 1 day ahead: Make the dressing by shaking all the ingredients together in a jar; set aside.
Up to 6 hours ahead: Using a small, sharp knife, slice off the orange peel, taking off all the white pith but taking care not to whip off too much flesh. Slice the orange into thin rounds, then tear into small pieces. Cover and chill.
To serve: Toss the watercress and parsley leaves with the dressing. Garnish with the duck or goose, orange, hazelnuts and pomegranate seeds, and serve.
Turkey pho
Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup, thus making it pretty much the perfect tonic to jaded, hungover Christmas palates. It's fresh, lively and deeply nourishing.
Serves 6
For the broth
2 onions halved and peeled
fresh ginger a few fat slices
star anise 5
cinnamon sticks 2
fennel seeds 1 tsp
garlic 2 cloves
1 Thai chilli chopped
turkey or chicken bones, or a chicken stock cube
fish sauce 3 tbsp
caster (superfine) or palm sugar 1 tbsp
For the soup
vermicelli rice noodles 300g
leftover turkey 300g, shredded
coriander leaves a big handful
Thai basil or mint leaves a big handful
beansprouts 50g
lime wedges 6
Thai chillies 4, chopped
Sriracha hot sauce (optional)
Up to 3 days ahead (minimum of 3 hours): To make the broth, put a large, heavy-bottomed pan over the highest possible heat. Add the onion and the ginger. Burn them. Really burn them. Add the star anise, cinnamon, fennel seeds, cloves, chilli, turkey bones, fish sauce and sugar. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2-3 hours, until reduced by half. Strain and leave to cool, then chill, or continue to the next step. Cook the noodles according to packet instructions, then cool in a bowl of iced water before draining.
30 minutes ahead: Put the broth over a medium heat. When hot, add the turkey to warm through. Taste the broth and add salt if necessary. Warm some large bowls.
To serve: Divide the noodles between the bowls. Spoon over the broth. Garnish with the herbs, beansprouts, lime and chillies, and serve.
Scaling up: Thai chillies are punchy, so go easy with them. For more broth just add extra water, a stock cube and a little more fish sauce to taste.
Panettone bread and butter pudding
Serves 6-8
butter a little, softened, for greasing
double cream 400ml
whole milk 400ml
vanilla pod 1, split down the middle
egg yolks 4
caster sugar 150g
panettone 600g, fatly sliced and buttered
demerara sugar 1 heaped tbsp
This recipe is entirely adaptable, in that you can really use any old bread for it, but panettone should add a nip of luxury, as well as plenty of flavour. Where with a classic bread and butter pudding you tend to add orange zest and currants and the like, with a panettone they're already incorporated into the bread.
Adapt quantities to fit the amount of panettone you have (one vanilla pod will be ample, mind), though honestly you don't need to be too precise here.
Up to 3 days ahead (minimum 1 hour): Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3. Lightly grease a large baking dish and sit it in a large roasting pan.
Put the cream, milk and vanilla in a pan and bring to a boil over a medium heat. Meanwhile, in a large, heavy bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. When the cream and milk are just below a boil, add them to the egg yolks, whisking all the time. Remove the vanilla.
Put a layer of buttered panettone in the baking dish, then pour over some of the custard. Continue until you've used it all up, then sprinkle the sugar over the top.
Pour boiling water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the side of the baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes, until a crust has formed but the centre still has a little wobble. Serve, or leave to cool, cover and chill.
To reheat (if necessary): Reheat at 180C/gas mark 4 for 20 minutes.
From Do-ahead Christmas by James Ramsden (Pavilion, £16.99). To buy a copy for £13.59 from the Guardian Bookshop, click here.
This article was originally published on The Guardian