At Christmas time, when so much focus is put on the big day, it can be hard to get away from food that isn’t some combination of leftovers in the days that follow. Cold meat and stuffing is a novelty for the first couple of platefuls but it quickly loses its appeal. So we asked the experts for their favourites: from simple recipes that you can cook with the kids, and dishes that make use of what you have in the fridge, to a low-stress dinner that would work if you have people visiting — with no turkey meat in sight.
Conor Bereen
Co-owner of Charlotte Quay and Coppinger Row
“I’ve been self-delegated to do the cooking on Christmas Day,” says Conor Bereen who, with his brother Marc, owns the Dublin restaurants Charlotte Quay and Coppinger Row.
Bereen spends Christmas at his mother’s house in Co Down. “I prep a lot of the food before I go up,” he says. “I’d often make shakshuka [see Cliodhna Prendergast’s recipe on page 10] for St Stephen’s Day morning. But I’d blanch off the onion and the peppers in advance so it’s easy to build the dish. Brioche french toast is another brunch favourite and it can easily be adapted to use up leftover panettone and berries.”
Brioche french toast with lemon curd, mascarpone and maple syrup
Serves 8
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What you will need
6 large free-range eggs
335ml/12 fl oz full-fat milk or single cream
1 tsp grated lemon zest
½ tsp vanilla seed paste or pure vanilla essence
1 tbsp maple syrup
½ tsp salt
1 large loaf brioche bread (ideally a day old)
16 tbsp lemon curd
100g/3½oz unsalted butter
100ml/3½ fl oz vegetable oil
8 tbsp maple syrup
250g/9oz mascarpone cheese
400g/14oz fresh berries
Sifted icing sugar, for dusting
How to prepare
Preheat the oven to 140C/gas mark 1. In a large shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk or cream, lemon zest, vanilla, maple syrup and salt. Slice the brioche loaf into eight 2cm-thick slices. Cut a deep slit down the centre of each slice to form a pocket and fill with two tablespoons of lemon curd, then press closed.
Soak as many slices of brioche as possible in the egg mixture for five minutes, turning once.
Heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan over a medium-heat. Add the soaked brioche and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Place the cooked french toast on a lined baking tray and keep it warm in the oven.
Place serving plates in the oven to warm. Fry the remaining brioche slices, adding butter and oil as needed, until it is all cooked. Serve hot, drizzled with maple syrup, a dollop of mascarpone, a scattering of berries and a dusting of icing sugar.
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Maeve Walsh
Chef de partie at Restaurant Forty One
Cooking a roast dinner after you have been through the purgatory of making the Christmas feast may sound counter-intuitive, but it can be an easy one to pull together if you opt to do it with salads.
Maeve Walsh, a chef at Restaurant Forty One on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin and the current Euro-toques Young Chef of the Year, has some tips for choosing the ideal joint. “Kerry Hill lamb is in season, and this is perfect for a relaxed dinner on New Year’s Eve,” she says.
“It’s an easy dish. Once you have a nice piece of lamb it speaks for itself.”
Roast leg of lamb with salads
Serves 8
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What you will need
1 leg of lamb, on the bone (about 2kg/4lb 7oz)
For the bulgur wheat salad
1 white onion, peeled and diced
20ml/¾ fl oz olive oil
200g/7oz bulgur wheat
275ml/10 fl oz chicken stock
Salt and black pepper
1 large handful fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 large handful fresh coriander leaves, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
For the cucumber salad
1 cucumber
Maldon sea salt
1 small bunch fresh mint
250g/9oz greek yoghurt
For the dressing
100g/3½oz each of fresh thyme, marjoram and rosemary, leaves only
2 tbsp olive oil
4 white onions, peeled and chopped
Zest of 4 lemons
How to prepare
Remove the lamb from the fridge an hour in advance. Preheat a roasting tray in the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Season the lamb with salt and black pepper, rub over some olive oil and place in the hot, oiled roasting tin. Cook the lamb for 1¼ hours if you want it pink, or until you get a reading of 64C on a meat thermometer. If you prefer it more done, cook for 1½ hours. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
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While the lamb is cooking you can prepare the dressing and salads. For the bulgur wheat salad, sauté the onions in olive oil until starting to soften. In a separate pot, cook the bulgur wheat in the stock for about six minutes, season and add the sautéed onions. Finish with the herbs and lemon juice.
To make the cucumber salad, slice the cucumber thinly, sprinkle over the salt and leave for 20 minutes. Rinse off the salt and pat dry with kitchen paper. Remove the mint leaves from the stem and shred finely with a knife. Spoon the yoghurt over the cucumber, add the mint, mix and set aside. For the dressing, chop all the herbs and combine. Heat half the oil and gently sauté the onions until nearly translucent. Then add the herbs and lemon zest, and finish with the remaining oil. To serve, cut the lamb into thin slices, place on a large plate, drizzle over the dressing and serve with the salads.
Richard Gleeson, Chef-patron of Dooks Fine Foods
“St Stephen’s Day is usually very relaxed and we might have something as simple as a really hearty soup or an interesting salad, probably made from Christmas dinner leftovers,” says Richard Gleeson, of Dooks Fine Foods in Fethard, Co Tipperary.
Gleeson trained with Yotam Ottolenghi in London and opened a new delicatessen in his hometown of Fethard three weeks ago. “This recipe is a recent addition to the menu at Dooks Fine Foods. We serve our salads at room temperature, but it would be great warm too. It is a smashing way of using up leftover roast vegetables from Christmas Day. The recipe is for celeriac and parsnip but any root vegetable would be delicious.”
Winter vegetable salad with mustard dressing and Parmesan crumb
Serves 6
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What you will need
20ml/¾ fl oz olive oil
1 celeriac, peeled and cut into chunks
3 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper
2 red onions, peeled and cut into wedges
20ml/¾ fl oz balsamic vinegar
25g/1oz sugar
For the parmesan dressing
70ml/2½ fl oz cream
50g/2oz parmesan, finely grated
25g/1oz mustard
2 garlic, crushed
For the parmesan crumb
125g/4½oz cold butter
125g/4½oz flour
30g/1oz parmesan
How to prepare
First, make the parmesan crumb. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Dice the cold butter and blend with the flour in a food processor as if making pastry. Then add the parmesan and form it into a dough by kneading with your hands. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1cm and bake on a tray in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden-brown. Remove from the oven and break up into large crumbs on the tray. This can be prepared in advance and frozen if you want to make your life easier.
For the roasted vegetables, preheat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7. In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, celeriac, parsnips, garlic, salt and pepper. Place the vegetables on a large roasting tray in the oven until they are softened and gaining colour (for about 25 minutes). On a separate roasting tray, mix the red onions, balsamic vinegar and sugar with some salt and pepper, and roast until softened.
To make the dressing, bring the cream to a simmer on a low heat, adding the grated parmesan, mustard and crushed garlic. Reduce by half to concentrate the flavours.
To assemble the salad, coat the roasted parsnips and celeriac gently in the cream-and-parmesan dressing, and arrange on a large platter. Evenly distribute the red onions on top and, to finish, sprinkle on the parmesan crumb. For extra colour you could always add finely sliced brussels sprouts or savoy cabbage.
Danni Barry, Head chef at Eipic
“I find that you’re over meat after Christmas Day so afterwards it’s nice to have something more relaxed,” says Danni Barry, head chef at Eipic in Belfast.
“You maybe eat at different times of the day than you normally would — you could be coming home from a walk — and it’s nice to have a tart and salads. There will always be cheese left over so this makes a perfect late lunch.”
If you can’t find Young Buck cheese you can use any hard blue cheese you have left over from Christmas Day.
Young Buck cheese and onion tart
Serves 6-8
What you will need for the pastry
200g/7oz flour
100g/3½oz cold butter, diced into cubes
20g/¾oz walnuts
1 egg
30ml/1 fl oz milk
For the filling
50g/2oz butter
4 medium-sized onions, finely sliced
3 eggs
100ml/3½ fl oz milk
80g/3oz crème fraîche
60g/2oz Young Buck cheese, grated
Some nutmeg
How to prepare
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Using a food processor, blend the flour, butter and walnuts until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg and finally the milk, until it becomes a dough. Roll into a sausage shape. Wrap in paper or clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
After it has rested, roll out the dough and gently ease it into a 20cm tart tin. Line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans or dried pulses to “blind bake” the case for 15 minutes. Take from the oven and remove the greaseproof paper and baking beans.
While the pastry case is baking, melt the butter in a saucepan and cook the onions gently on a low heat for 10-15 minutes until they are soft and caramelised. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk and crème fraîche, and add the Young Buck cheese. Add the cooked onions and grate a little nutmeg over them, then add a pinch of salt.
Fill the baked tart case with the cheese and onion mix, and bake in the oven at 160C/gas mark 3 for 20-25 minutes. If you wish, you can top with more of the blue cheese after it comes out from the oven.
Gareth Mullins
Executive chef at the Marker hotel
“It should only take you about 20 minutes to get these ready and another 20 minutes in the oven,” says Gareth Mullins, executive chef at the Marker hotel in Dublin, who likes to cook these blueberry and banana muffins with his children.
“The best thing about this recipe is that it’s very versatile. If you don’t want to use blueberries, you can use white chocolate and cranberries — whatever your kids like. It’s the banana that actually gives the muffins structure.”
Blueberry and banana muffins
Makes 12
What you will need
510g/1lb 2oz plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
340g/12oz caster sugar
2 eggs
170ml/6 fl oz sour cream
170ml/6 fl oz melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed
2 punnets of blueberries (about 200g/7oz)
How to prepare
Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Sieve the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl, add the sugar and set aside. In another bowl, beat the eggs until pale and add the sour cream, melted butter and vanilla extract, then whisk together. Add the mashed banana and whisk to combine. Line a muffin tray with muffin cases. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, folding with a plastic spatula and making sure not to overwork the mixture. Gently fold in 150g/5½oz of the blueberries. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases, filling each case almost to the top. Top each muffin with one of the remaining blueberries. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Try to keep the door closed as this will help the muffins to rise. When the 20 minutes is up, use a small, clean knife to check if the muffin is cooked. Place the knife into the centre of one of the muffins. If it comes out clean, the muffin is cooked. If the knife has some of the raw mix, put the muffins back into the oven, lower the temperature to 150C/gas mark 2 and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack before eating.
Rhubarb lemonade
What you will need
1½ litres/1¾ pints water
300g/10½oz sugar
1 bunch rhubarb, chopped
5 lemons, halved and juiced
2 star anise
1 vanilla pod, halved and deseeded
How to prepare
Place all the ingredients into a large pot and bring to the boil, skimming off any bubbles that float to the top. Allow to cool and place in the fridge to infuse. The next day, pass through a sieve and serve on some ice.