Christmas Leftover Recipes

If you're anything like my family, you always end up buying more than you need for Christmas (mainly fuelled by a mass panic buy near Christmas Eve and then getting home and realising you already had it). And then end up spending most of the week between Christmas and New Year trying to come up with ways to polish off the leftover meats. It's actually quite nice, when it's cold and icey not to have to leave the house for provisions, and just spending quality time with your nearest and dearest.

We all like different meats, so every Christmas my Mum buys a small shoulder of pork for us (and we spend the whole day sneaking off to the kitchen to scoff another piece of delicious crackling), Turkey for everyone, and a small joint of beef for my Dad. We also usually have a small boiled ham too but we save that for boxing day to have with real home made chips and salad.

Introducing my Fakeaway Recipes

I love the idea of 'fakeaways', which is essentially a home made takeaway style meal. I've thought of a whole Chinese banquet that can be made using Christmas leftovers. LKK Europe were also looking for bloggers to create some recipes, so sent me over some of their sauces and compensated the ingredients in order to come up with some delicious recipes. I hope you enjoy my Christmas leftover recipes!

Leftover Pulled Pork and hoisin pancakes

This is so simple but SO good! It's a really good idea for using up leftover pork, and works especially well if you've slow cooked a pork shoulder (which is my favourite way of eating pork anyway).

Ingredients:

• 1 packet rice pancakes
• leftover pulled pork (approximately 1 teaspoon per pancake)
• Hoisin sauce (I used LKK which can be found in the world foods section in Tesco and Waitrose)
• 1/4 cucmber
• 1 spring onion for every 2 pancakes

Method:

• Chop the cucmber portion in half, lengthways and then finely slice
• Cut the tops and bottoms off each spring onion, then cut in half and slice
• You may want to reheat the pork a little so I placed it in the microwave for 30 seconds (only do this once)
• Steam the pancakes in a steamer over a pan of boiling water, alternatively you can easily microwave them.
• Spoon roughly 2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce into a bowl
• Present everything together so everyone can make their own pancakes
• Layer each pancake with a little spring onion, cucumber, hoisin and pork, first fold the bottom of the pancake up  over the filling (to stop it all falling out as you eat) and then roll.

Egg fried rice

This is my husbands speciality. You can vary the ingredients to use up whatever you have in the fridge, and could even throw in some leftover meat. I've kept the following recipe simple so you can use it as a side and build from there.

Ingredients (per person)

• 75g rice (dry weight)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 small onion
• 1 3 inch peice of ginger
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (I used LKK double deluxe soy sauce)
• 1 egg

Method

• Boil the rice as per packet instructions and once cooked run under cold water (be sure not to over boil)
• Finely dice the onion and ginger
• Heat the oil in a pan on a medium heat and soften the onions until they just go opaque
• Add the cold rice to the pan
• Add the ginger and crush a garlic clove into the pan
• Crack the egg over the rice and mix well whilst cooking
• Once combined leave to cook until you hear a dry crackling sound, then stir and repeat until all the egg is cooked and some of the rice has JUST started to brown (so you get nice crunchy bits)
• Season with LKK double deluxe soy sauce and serve
• If you like a little heat add 1/2 teaspoon LKK  Chiu Chow Chilli Oil - (Chiu Chow is a city in Guangdong province where the chilli oil recipe was originated)
• I like to garnish with some spring onion and sriracha

Leftover Crispy Beef and Chinese BBQ sauce

This is one of my favourite Chinese dishes! And absolutely perfect for using up leftover beef!

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• fresh ginger- 3 inch piece
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce (I used LKK double deluxe soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 4 teaspoons hoi sin (I used LKK)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons five spice
• 1 tablespoon water

Place all the ingredients together in a blender and blend until smooth, then transfer into a bowl ready for the beef.

Crispy Beef (per person):

• 2 Slices leftover beef - I used roast silverside
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 table spoon soy (I used LKK double deluxe)
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• Enough oil in a wok to just cover the strips

Method:

• Slice the beef into 1 inch thick slices, and then cut each slice into thin strips
• Set up a bowl with the beaten egg and soy in it, and a separate one with cornflour in
• In a deep pan or wok gently heat the oil, I had it around 4-5 inches deep so it would cover the strips
• Take each strip of beef and coat in the egg, then coat in the cornflour and set to one side until all are covered
• Then add the strips into the oil and cook for 5 minutes or until golden
• Remove from the oil and let them rest on some kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil.
• Drizzle the sauce over the beef before serving.
• I also like to serve this with rice and some stir fried vegetables