Christmas leftover recipes from London’s top chefs

Nicholas Balfe’s turkey ramen

• Bones and trimmings from your turkey (or goose/duck and so on)
• A ham bone or pork knuckle or ham hock would also be great for flavour, but it’s optional
• 1 large onion or couple of shallots
• 1 leek
• A few sticks of celery
• 1 large carrot
• A thumb sized piece of ginger
• A few star anise
• A head of garlic, split in half cross ways
• 1 red chilli
• Coriander stem

• A few dashes of Soy sauce
• Rice wine vinegar and mirin (optional)
• Leftover turkey meat, shredded (around 200 - 400g, depending on how much you have)
• Some of the meat from the ham hock, if using
• Cooked rice noodles
• Some leftover greens — brussels sprouts, cavolo nero, kale, broccoli, cabbage
• A couple of spring onions, sliced thinly
• A red chilli, de-seeded and chopped or chilli flakes or some chilli sauce
• Something pickled if you have it — ginger would be great, mushrooms would be ideal, a pickled onion would also be fine. All are optional
• Toasted sesame seeds and sesame oil (again optional, but a nice touch!)

1. First make the broth. Slice the onions, leek and celery, and saute with a tiny bit of oil. Soften them but don’t colour them at all.
2. Add the ginger, peeled and slice, garlic, star anise, and red chilli, pricked with the point of a knife.
3. Cover with water (approx 1.5 litres), and simmer very gently for at least an hour, if not four or more.
4. Strain off the liquid and set aside (you can do this advance and keep it for a couple of days in the fridge if you like).
5. When you’re ready to prepare the meal, gently warm up the broth, and season with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and mirin until it has a deep, savoury flavour, with a bit of a tang to it too.
6. Add the meat and allow it to warm through in the broth. Separately cook up the greens, however you normally prefer to cook them.
7. Cook the noodles in boiling water for a couple of minutes and divide between four bowls.
8. Add the greens, then the meat, then the broth.
9. Top with the spring onions, chillies (in whatever form and quantity takes your fancy), pickles and sesame (if you’re using these). And then serve and enjoy.

Mallika Basu’s leftover roast jalfrezi

• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 medium onions, thickly sliced
• 1 inch ginger, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 1-2 green chillies, chopped
• 2 green peppers, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• Half tsp chilli powder
• 4 large handfuls shredded roast turkey (chicken, lamb or beef will work too)
• Half tsp garam masala
• Salt and black pepper
• Few sprigs of coriander leaves

Method

1. Bring a wok to high heat with the oil. When it’s hot, drop in the onions, ginger and garlic and sauté for 10 minutes until golden. Then add the green chilli, turmeric and chilli powder and sauté for another five minutes. If the spices start getting stuck to the bottom of the pan, add a dash of hot water and loosen.
2. Next, thinly slice the green peppers and stir into the wok along with the tomato puree. Cook this for five minutes until the peppers soften and the moisture evaporates. Then stir in the leftover turkey and fry for five minutes until hot and mixed well.
3. Add salt to your taste and a sprinkle of black pepper, and garnish with coriander leaves to serve.

Bala Baya Christmas Pitta

• 2 Pitta
• Roughly chopped leftover turkey, about 200g
• Roast potatoes, smashed, about 100g
• 50g any cheese (cubed) you have lying around. We use Taleggio but Brie or cheddar are good alternatives
• Mustard to taste
• 1 large tomato, cut into wedges
• Fresh oregano
• Mixed pickles

1. Turn the oven on max heat (normally 240°C).
2. Mix cheese and smashed potatoes together before putting on an oven tray, and season with salt and pepper.
3. Put this under the grill to get it nice and crispy.
4. Place two frying pans on the hob on high heat until smoking hot. Put a good knob of butter on both pans, immediately put the turkey in one, shake for a bit and leave for one minute. Pour it all onto a plate with the burnt butter.
5. Do the same with the tomatoes in the other pan for two to three minutes
6. Roughly chop mixed pickles and oregano.
7. To plate, you can choose to put the filling inside the pitta or on top. Layer the pitta with potato, turkey, tomato, pickles and oregano, at least twice, and take the biggest bite you can.