Christmas leftovers

First of all I would like to say a big Happy New Year to you all and a special hello to Shauna who left me a very kind and inspiring comment (I replied under "First Blog") and my lovely long time reader and fellow blogger Modest Destiny (who previously blogged as Pastry Hall - link attached) who also left me a comment after last weeks blog.  I hope I can continue to keep you interested in coming back to visit every week or so.

Well last week I wrote about the Turducken.  This week is devoted to what to do with the leftovers.  For those of you in Australia (and in Adelaide in particular) you will know that it has been stinking hot (nearly 42 C yesterday which was the hottest New Years Day in over 100 years), so these ideas are great for lazy hot summer days when you don't want to heat the house up too much (sorry Northern Hemisphere readers you will need to wait a few months for the hot weather).

Cold Rolls:
First of all get some nice thin slices of meat about 5 cm long and place in a container with some hoisin sauce mixed with a bit of warm water so it is runny (I usually use chicken or a whole cooked prawn, but this time I am slicing the turkey and chicken meat from the Turducken).  Soak 100g rice vermicelli noodles in boiling water for about 5 minutes, then plunge into cold water and drain thoroughly.  When cool enough to handle, cut into small (about 5 cm lengths).  Chop up some mint and coriander (about 1/4 cup of each) and grate 1 carrot.  Mix with the noodles.  Slice some cucumber into thin 5cm long strips and set aside.

Soak rice paper wrappers one at a time in a bowl of hot water, then take out and kind of turn in quarter circles to get the drips of water off.  Working quickly place 1/4 cup noodle mixture and a few slices of meat and cucumber in the centre of the rice paper roll.  Fold in the ends then roll up firmly to close.  Repeat with the remaining wrappers.  Serve with extra hoisin sauce mixed with warm water and a few chopped peanuts.

Chinese duck salad:
Chop up 1 cup of the chinese cabbage (wombok) leftover from making the asian style coleslaw.  Add 1 carrot finely sliced into sticks, 1/4 cup each of chopped coriander and mint and 100 g sliced blanched green beans.  Add duck meat and then pour over dressing - made with 2 teaspoons grated ginger, 2 sliced spring onions, 2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce, 1 tablespoon peanut oil  and 1/2 cup lime juice.  Sprinkle with peanuts to serve.

Singapore Noodles
Plunge 500 g hokkien noodles into hot water and when soft drain thoroughly.  Cook 1 thinly sliced carrot in peanut oil in a wok over high heat.  Add 2 teaspoons curry powder and cook a little longer.  Add noodles, 1/4 cup chicken stock, 2 tablespoons ketjap manis and 1 tablespoon brown sugar.  Stirfry until hot, then add 2 cups finely chopped chinese cabbage and 4 thinly sliced spring onions. Add chopped chicken meat and let heat through.

I also like to make individual pies using ready rolled puff pastry and mixing chopped up meat with some leftover gravy for the filling.  Another thing I can't get enough of is a sandwich made with leftover roast meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese, mayonaisse and avacado. 

We also had a some leftover tomato and bocconcini salad so I used this for bruschetta topping.

The icecream cake was a big hit with the kids, so I used the rest of the icecream to make another one - however this time I mixed crushed jaffas instead of chopped up rocky road fudge into the chocolate layer and chopped up christmas pudding chocolates instead of crushed mars bar cookies into the vanilla layer.  I haven't been out to the shops to buy some more strawberry sorbet for the top layer (because I am a complete wimp who hates the heat) but I don't think the kids will really mind.

Enjoy your holidays.