Christmas leftover salad
It’s not often you hear the words ‘Christmas’ and ‘salad’ in the same sentence but here we are. My Christmas leftover salad is not the wilted disappointment you’d expect if you found yourself on the naughty list. Oh no, it’s a deliciously festive and warming salad reserved for all those who have been particularly nice this year.
I created this recipe to ensure you use up all those lovely leftovers but with the addition of some extra greenery. Mainly to combat the 18 packs of biscuits, full cheesecake, bottle of sherry and 27 mince pies you’ve had in the span of 3 days. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but your gut may need a little extra fibre and a break tbh. Look at me thinking I’m the epitome of health when we all know I’ve eaten my weight in spuds over the festive period.
For another slightly salad based recipe, give my Christmas potato salad a go.
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 bag of crispy salad
- A handful of sprouts, halved
- 1 leek, cut into 1cm thick rounds
- A small handful of pre-cooked chestnuts, halved
- A few sage leaves
- Any leftover Turkey meat, chopped into bite sized pieces
- Any leftover stuffing mix, chopped into bite sized pieces
- And anything else you want to use up!
- 50g butter
- Oil for frying
- Seasoning
For the dressing
- 1 tbsp smooth cranberry sauce, plus some extra for drizzling
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar
- 50-100ml vegetable oil
- Seasoning
Method
- In a pan on a medium heat add a splash of oil and 1/4 of your butter. When the butter is foaming, add the chestnuts and cook until golden. Just before removing them from the pan add the sage leaves until crispy and then transfer on to a plate and leave until later.
- In that same pan add more oil if needed then add the sprouts, cut side down and season.
- After a couple of mins, add leeks into the pan on the flat side.
- Add remaining butter and leave everything to brown nicely. Season well.
- Flip over your greens and cook on the other side.
- Once golden leave them in the pan but turn off the heat.
- In a food processor or using a hand blender add the cranberry sauce and water and blitz together.
- Then blitz in the vinegar and slowly start to pour in the oil until the texture is velvety, season to taste.
- In a mixing bowl add the crispy salad leaves, your leftover Turkey, stuffing, 3/4’s of the chestnuts and 3/4’s of your sprouts and leeks.
- Season & drizzle over some of you dressing, make sure to toss the salad well.
- Serve in salad bowls and sprinkle over the remaining chestnuts, leeks, sprouts and sage leaves. Then drizzle on some more cranberry sauce for good measure.