Boxing Day is the ultimate celebration of leftovers! If you’re out and about for the few days after Christmas, this is also a brilliant way to trim and freeze all the leftovers for another time. It just takes 15 minutes without cooking, so you can sort out the whole fridge in a single recipe.
About 1.5 kg/3 lbs. Christmas or Thanksgiving leftovers: such as turkey or goose, ham, bacon, sausages, stuffing, sprouts, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, bread sauce or peas
WHITE WINE SAUCE
50 g/3 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon mustard powder
50 g/6 tablespoons plain flour, sifted
700 ml/scant 3 cups whole milk
150 ml/2⁄3 cup white wine
Salt and pepper, to season
TOPPING
100 g/scant 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
100 g/1 1⁄3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese or grated Cheddar cheese
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.
To make the sauce, melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat and sprinkle in the mustard powder and flour.
Add a pinch of salt and pepper and then slowly add the milk, a little at a time, mixing well with the butter and flour base.
Once all the milk is added, keep stirring continuously over the heat until the sauce begins to thicken. Once it is the consistency of double/heavy cream, add the wine and reduce to a low simmer.
Taste and add more seasoning as you like.
Then take all the leftovers and slice everything you can into strips and discs. My mother even slices the roast potatoes and sprouts, and there are always lovely big chunks of the ham shredded in there too. Any leftover sausages are sliced lengthways to make thin strips.
Layer them all in a large roasting pan, however you like. We tend to be a bit particular and have separate layers of each, but you can honestly just throw it all in. Pour the white wine sauce over the top.
Mix the breadcrumbs and Parmesan or Cheddar together in a bowl and sprinkle over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven with foil on top for 20 minutes, then remove the foil for another 20 minutes. If you want to brown the top a little more to serve, just pop it under a preheated grill/broiler for a few minutes until crispy and browned.
You can serve this with lots of ketchup on the side, but it’s also nice with leftover cranberry sauce.
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