How to | do Christmas leftovers better

Photography: Mowie Kay

If you’re about to embark on a week of turkey curry and risotto, stop. Hold our eggnog. We’ve got this. 

We don’t know about you, but much as we love a Christmas lunch, it’s the leftovers that get us really excited. A classic turkey and stuffing sandwich or two is a must, but there are plenty more ways to deal with The Rest of the Bird, and a hundred things to do with your other Christmas leftovers that don’t just involve bubble and squeak. Here are a few of The Simple Things staff’s favourites:

Turkey tonnato (enough for 4)

A tasty Italian lunch

Whizz 100g of mayo, a tin of tuna, the juice of half a lemon and a tbsp of capers together in a blender and set aside. It should be quite thin so it can be drizzled. You may need to loosen it with a little water. Slice enough turkey breast for 4 and lay on a plate. Drizzle over the tuna mayo sauce. Decorate the top with criss-crossed anchovies with little capers in between. Serve with rocket and crusty bread. 

Red cabbage pickle

Fancy up a cold lunch in a flash.

Toss leftover red cabbage with equal parts red wine vinegar and caster sugar. Add a good slug of salt. Cover tightly and leave in fridge for an hour. Serve on Scandi style open sandwiches with leftover smoked salmon, white meat or cheese. 

Nut roast falafel in pitta

A simple and delicious dinner for Boxing Day

Crumble leftover nut roast, then mix with a couple of tablespoons of hummus and some crumbled feta and season well. You can add chopped chill or other herbs if you wish. The amount of hummus and feta will depend on how much nut roast you have left but the mixture should be not too sticky and able to be formed into balls. Roll teaspoon sized lumps of the mix into balls. Pop on a baking tray and cook at 180 fan for approx 10 mins, until the falafels are golden. Serve with pitta, salad, tzatziki and any extras you like. 

Christmas pud truffles

Because all puddings should bring you joy at least twice

Break up and crumble  any leftover pud. Melt a few squares of dark chocolate in the microwave or on the hob. Stir into the crumbled pud and mix well. Add leftover Christmas booze if you wish. Roll the mixture into little bite-sized balls. Melt a little white chocolate and drizzle over the top to look like brandy cream. Put the truffles in the fridge to set. 

All the above recipes should be served with a glow of satisfaction at having used your leftovers well and not become thoroughly sick of the whole festive season. We were inspired to write this blog by the amazing Brussles Sprouts Christmas Tree pictured above. The recipe is from LEAF: Lettuce, Greens, Herbs, Weeds by Catherine Phipps, with photography by Mowie Kay (Quadrille) and we’ve printed the whole recipe in our December issue. One the shops are open again, pop out and buy it (or click on the link below to have it delivered to your door) you’ll find it on p94. You won’t find a better use for your leftover sprouts. 

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our December issue…

More festive fun…

Go | Lands of make believe

Festive fictional settings that have made their way onto our travel bucket list

One of the best things about Christmas is getting to revisit the familiar fictional places we associate with the season… From Charles Dickens’ London as we walk in Scrooge’s footsteps, to Nelson Mandela House as Delboy and Rodney prepare to sell their ‘telescopic Christmas trees’. From Mrs Prothero’s garden in Dylan Thomas’s ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ to Kevin McCallister’s suburban Chicago house as he is left ‘Home Alone’.

As we put together our December issue, the staff of The Simple Things wrote about the Christmassy books, films, TV shows, podcasts and more that we love to revisit every year. And we want to know what yours are too. They don’t need to be Christmassy. We’d just love to hear about the fictional place you would visit if you could, from Narnia to Neverland.

To get you in the spirit, Iona Bower, our Editor at large, waxes lyrical below about the Box of Delights and how she loves to revisit Tatchester in the run-up to Christmas each year. You can read the rest of our favourite fictional places in the December issue in our feature ‘Watch with Santa’.

Christmas for me is all about the anticipation. A big part of that is a 1984 children’s TV series. I was six when The Box of Delights (based on John Masefield’s book) first aired, beginning on 19 November and running each week until Christmas Eve. And I try to watch it on those same dates each year. Kay Harker is on his way home for Christmas when he encounters twinkly-eyed Cole Hawlings and his Box of Delights, leading to all sorts of thrilling adventures that children today would scoff at but which left me open-mouthed. All the time, snow falls and carols sing on in the background. The opening titles music is perhaps the most Christmassy thing you will ever hear. Every year when I put on a log fire and hear those strings, I’m six again. When dreams might be real and all that matters is Kay getting to Tatchester Cathedral on Christmas Eve, in time to save the whole festive season.

Do post your favourite fictional destinations, whether festive or no, in the comments below or let us know about them on Facebook or Instagram.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our December issue…

More things for lovers of make-believe …

Pedantry | Christmas carols

From misheard lyrics, to misspelled words to misplaced punctuation, here are a few carols that aren’t quite as they used to be.

Hark! The who?

Originally called ‘Hymn for Christmas Day’, the words by Charles Wesley opened with: ‘Hark how all the Welkin rings’. Wolcen is an old English word meaning ‘sky’ or ‘heavens’ so refer to the heavens ringing. But as time went on, few people knew what a Welkin was. The words we know today: ‘Hark! The herald angels sing’ came about when George Whitefield rewrote the carol in 1754.

Four which birds?

You didn’t imagine it. When you were little it was definitely ‘Four colly birds’ in ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’. A colly bird is another name for a blackbird (presumably to go with your partridge, French hens and turtle doves). The song was originally published as a rhyme, without music, in 1780. In a 1909 version by Frederic Austin, which set the rhyme to the tune we know today, the colly birds were changed to ‘calling’ birds, or songbirds. Blackbirds are known for their pretty song so it was only really the name that was changed, not the beast itself. The two versions are both still sung but as time goes on we’re hearing more calling birds than colly birds. Make a stand at your next carol concert and bring those colly birds back!

Mysterious merry gentlemen

God rest ye merry gentlemen. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Gentlemen tend to get a bit merry at Christmas. Might do them good to have a bit of a sit down and a night off the sauce?

In fact, the phrase means something more like: ‘Stay mighty, old chaps.’

The song has its roots in the Middle Ages, when ‘merry’ meant ‘mighty’ (think of Robin Hood’s merry men) and ‘rest’ meant ‘stay’. So ‘rest you merry’ means ‘stay strong’.

At some point in the carol’s history a comma also dropped off, concealing the fact that the words don’t mean ‘Stay, merry gentlemen’ but rather ‘God keep you strong, gentlemen’.

We don’t know about you, but we rather need a tipple after all that, too.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our December issue…

More on Christmas carols…

Make | molten chocolate oranges

These oozing chocolate treats can be cooked in the embers of a winter barbecue

Whether you’re having a few friends over for a Yule bonfire and some outdoor snacks, or are going ambitious and cooking your whole Christmas lunch outdoors (see our Gathering feature in the December issue) these chocolate puds will put a smile on rosy-cheeked winter faces. And a Terry’s Chocolate Orange will never be quite the same again.

Serves 6

6 oranges
120g unsalted butter
135g dark chocolate (minimum 75% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
4 tbsp Cointreau (optional)
55g plain flour, sifted
Grated chocolate, to garnish

For the vanilla cream

600ml double cream
3 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or the seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod

1 Prepare your oranges by slicing the top off each one, about ¼ of the way down – don’t discard the tops!
2 Gently remove the flesh by running a spoon down the sides and pulling the flesh away from the skin. Be careful not to pull out the ‘pith plug’ at the bottom of the orange, as this will create a hole. You can keep the discarded orange flesh in the fridge and have it for breakfast or sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and serve with ice cream.
3 Next, make the vanilla cream. Pour the double cream into a mixing bowl and add the sugar and vanilla. Using an electric whisk, whip until soft peaks form. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge until ready to serve.
4 In a bain-marie, melt the butter and chocolate together. Once melted, remove from the heat and set aside.
5 In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together until light and fluffy. Slowly pour in the chocolate mixture, whilst continuing to whisk on a low speed. Once combined, add the Cointreau (if using) and then fold through the sifted flour.
6 Divide the mixture evenly between the hollowed-out oranges, and replace the orange lids. Carefully double wrap each orange with two layers of foil, watching that the lid doesn’t slip off in the process and that the oranges remain upright at all times. Make sure the oranges are completely sealed in the foil, with no gaps or holes for the chocolate mix to escape through.
7 Place the oranges upright, directly onto hot embers for about 12 mins.
8 Remove from the heat, unwrap and remove the lids. You should have a chocolate sponge with a runny molten middle. Top with the vanilla cream and a grating of chocolate.

These puds were part of our Gathering feature in the December issue with recipes by Bex Long for an outdoor Christmas lunch, including a spectacular hang-roasted bacon-wrapped partridge. Find the rest of the menu in this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our December issue…

More chocolate to tempt you…

Bake | Cardamom cake with mulled wine jam

This proper cake is great for festive guests or as a pudding for anyone not a fan of Christmas pud. It’s just one of the festive bakes in our December issue and we liked it so much we thought we’d share it here

Serves 8

For the cake:
120ml milk
10 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
275g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
225g unsalted butter
225g caster sugar
3 eggs

For the jam:
240ml red wine
400g plums, pitted and quartered
200g black seedless grapes, plus extra to decorate
2 cinnamon sticks
1 star anise pod
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
450g granulated sugar
30ml lemon juice
Half an orange, thickly sliced

For the topping:
250g mascarpone
150g icing sugar
80ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160/Gas 4. Grease two round 20cm cake tins and line the bottoms with baking parchment.
2 To make the cake, gently heat the milk in a saucepan with the cardamom pods and vanilla paste, letting it simmer for 2 mins before removing from the heat. Cover and cool for 15 mins before straining.
3 Sift together the flour and baking powder in a large bowl and set aside.
4 Using an electric whisk, beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Mix in half the flour, then the milk and remaining flour. Divide batter evenly between the tins and bake for 35-40 mins. Let the cakes cool for around 15 mins before turning out onto a wire rack and leaving to cool completely.
5 To make the jam, add the wine, plums, grapes, cinnamon sticks, star anise and nutmeg to a large saucepan. Cook for 10-15 mins to soften the plums. Add the sugar, lemon juice and orange and boil for 12-20 mins, or until it coats the back of a spoon. Remove the cinnamon sticks, star anise and orange slices then pour into a shallow tray to cool quickly.
6 To make the topping, beat the mascarpone and icing sugar by hand until smooth. Fold in the cream and vanilla and chill in the fridge until ready to use.
7 Sandwich the cakes together with half the mascarpone and a generous spoonful or two of jam. Cover the top and sides with the remaining mascarpone mix. Use a palette knife to smooth the sides of the cake, scraping off just enough of the mascarpone to let the cake peek through. Add grapes and a few dollops of jam.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

Taken from The New Way To Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi (Page Street Publishing). Photography: Holly Wulff Petersen

More from our December issue…

More festive recipes…

Festive things | mistletoe auctions

How a small Worcestershire town became the UK’s Mistletoe capital

Are we the only ones who start each December with the promise to ourselves that we’ll give the tinsel a miss this year and just use ‘nice greenery’ instead? (And then panic buy a couple of sprigs of holly for the front door and sneak out under cover of darkness to lean over the fence to pinch some of next door’s ivy?) We thought not.

If you live near a mistletoe market, however, a house full of greenery need not be an unattainable dream.

The tradition of hanging mistletoe in the house goes back as far as the ancient druids. But for more than the last 100 years, the village of Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire has been hosting mistletoe and holly auctions in the run-up to Christmas. 

Many markets of mistletoe and holly were held in the area but Tenbury Wells is the last remaining, holding markets on the last two Tuesdays in November and the first in December, as well as a mistletoe festival, this year held on Saturday 7 December.

The mistletoe and holly auctions are exactly as they sound. Turn up, bid, buy festive greenery. You do need to buy more than a sprig to dangle over your doorway, but anyone can buy at the auctions. Large bundles are sold individually but the first to buy a bundle from any seller’s particular batch has the option to buy all or any of the rest from that seller. 

The sale begins indoors with wreaths and once they are gone moves outside, with would-be buyers following the auctioneer down the rows of huge mistletoe bunches.

We recommend you get there early to bag the best bunches. The auctioneer’s bell sounds at 10am sharp when the selling begins. But if, when your alarm wakes you to the dark of a December morning, you don’t feel very festive, fear not. It will all be worth it when you return triumphant with the back seat of your car full of mistletoe. And next door’s ivy can remain unmolested another year. 

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our December issue…

More winter wonder…

Make your own | Christmas Crackers

And help Christmas go with a homemade bang

In our December ‘Cosy’ issue, we have a lovely ‘how-to’ which takes you step by step through making your own Christmas crackers. You can find all the instructions from page 53.

What you’ll need before you start, though, is the templates for the crackers, which you can find below, ready to print out. There are also some jokes to print, cut out and pop inside each cracker, and (in case our jokes are too groansome for you) there’s also a sheet of blank slips to write your own jokes or riddles on. Or why not personalise them for each of your Christmas guests?

The printables

Crackers template

Jokes to cut out

Blank jokes to cut out

We’d love to see pictures of how your crackers turn out. Do tag us on your Facebook or Instagram posts!

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More Christmas fun…

More from our December issue…

Playlist | Christmas Number Ones

The top tunes of Christmas past to cheer up your Christmas present.

Listen to the playlist here.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

Competition | win a foodie hamper from Abel & Cole

A basketful of delicious treats, thoughtfully sourced, to cheer dark evenings

Abel & Cole have been delivering delicious organic food for 30 years now. With award-winning animal welfare credentials, top-rated treats, and plenty of plant-powered options, all the delicious goodies in Abel & Cole’s catalogue taste as good as the eco glow they’ll give you. From moreish pies, pastries and tarts to savoury charcuterie, interesting cheeses and wines and fizzes, you’ll find something to bring a little cheer to any winter evening.

Our favourite part? It’s all wrapped up in recyclable, reusable packaging and dropped to your door by their own cheery drivers. Each delivery is carefully planned to be as efficient and carbon-friendly as possible, always putting the planet first. All of which means you can feel completely happy with what you put on the table, whether you’re enjoying a cosy dinner in for two or are planning to be feeding a crowd.

WIN ONE OF THREE FOODIE HAMPERS

Abel & Cole have put together a foodie hamper to appeal to gourmands, worth £120 each, and we have three to give away. To be in with a chance of winning one just click the button below and answer the following question:

Q: For how long has Abel & Cole been delivering organic food?

Terms and conditions

Entrants must live within an Abel & Cole delivery area – please check your postcode at: abelandcole.co.uk/help/faq. Three prize winners will be picked at random from all valid entries and notified via their entry email address. The winner must claim the prize within three days of notification, after which time an alternative winner will be selected. For full terms and conditions, visit abelandcole.co.uk/terms-conditions. You’ll find Iceberg’s full terms and conditions on page 127 and online at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules Entry closes at 10pm on 27 December 2019.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More festive food to get you in the mood…

More from our December issue…

Make | homemade eco Christmas crackers

Create your own eco-friendly crackers with brown paper or recycled wrapping paper

If you liked the colourful Christmas Crackers make in our December issue, but would like something a little greener, or just a little more understated in design, you might like to make these eco-friendly versions.

You will need:

Cracker template (click to download and print out)

Brown paper

Cutting board

Craft knife

Toilet roll or cardboard tube

Cracker snaps

Double-sided tape

Ruler

String

 How to make:

1.      Cut out your template and draw around it on the card. Cut out the main cracker shape and then cut out all the triangles using your craft knife and ruler.

2.      Place your toilet roll in the middle of the brown paper between the cut out diamonds. Take your cracker snap and put it through the cracker then place in the cracker any presents or jokes you wish to fill it with.

3.      Place sticky tape along the bottom edge of the cracker, leaving a space where the triangles are, then roll and stick the cracker together. (If you don’t want to use tape you could little tabs in one side and slits in the other for them to go through to hold the paper together, although this won’t be as sturdy.)

4.      Place your string underneath the triangles, pull tight and tie into a bow.

5.      Cut off any of the cracker snap that may be showing, then personalise as you wish.

NOTE: If you prefer you don’t have to cut the diamonds out and you can just tie with string although this will not be as neat.

Get hold of your copy of this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More Christmas decoration inspiration…

More from our December issue…

Vote | for your favourite Quality Street

Do you go straight for the Strawberry Delight or are you a die-hard Toffee Penny fan? Join our very scientific research project to help us pinpoint The Simple Things’ readers’ favourite?

In our December issue' Miscellany, we’ve taken an irreverent look at our favourite Quality Street chocolate. But these things require serious consideration, too. If you thought the biggest vote of December 2019 was the general election, think again.

There were strong feelings in the office, with the Coconut Eclair being perhaps the most divisive, so we’re putting the vote to you. Tell us which your favourite Quality Street is by clicking on your favourite below.