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1:00 AM 21st December 2024
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A Creative Way To Use Up Leftover Turkey This Christmas

Research suggests that there are around 270,000 tons of Christmas food waste each year, as two million turkeys and five million mince pies are thrown away.

When cooking for a large group, or on multiple occasions it can be difficult to know exactly how much festive food to buy to avoid waste. However, if you find yourself with too much leftover turkey and other festive foods this Christmas, online butchers, Campbells Meat have shared a delicious and creative recipe to get the most out of your Christmas meat.

Christmas Leftovers Cobbler Recipe

Use your leftovers to create a delicious and warming Christmas cobbler dish. This recipe from Campbells Meat promises to use up all your leftovers and give a new unique flavour to the ingredients.

For this recipe, you will need:
500g mixture of leftover cooked turkey, stuffing, sausages and bacon
300g of leftover cooked veg, including potatoes and sprouts
Sunflower oil
2 large onions
2-3 tablespoons of plain flour or leftover bread sauce
Cranberry sauce
Approximately 50ml of turkey or chicken stock or gravy
4 tablespoons of milk

For the cobbler:
75g of butter
350g self-raising flour
Chopped herbs including thyme, sage and parsley
225ml of milk
Salt and pepper

Method:

Start by preheating the oven to 220°C and chop all the leftover meat, stuffing and veg into chunks.

Next, heat a medium saucepan and add the sunflower oil before adding the diced onions and cooking until softened. Stir in the flour or bread sauce and whisk in the stock or gravy and with four tablespoons of milk.

Bring to the boil then simmer over a medium heat for about five minutes until the mixture has thickened. Season well with salt and pepper before stirring in a teaspoon or two of cranberry sauce. After this, remove from the heat and set aside.

Carefully mix the chopped meat and veggies into the sauce then tip the whole lot into a large pie dish that will take the filling almost to the top.

For the cobbler dough, rub together the butter and self-raising flour until it looks like rough breadcrumbs and add a pinch of salt. Stir in the herbs and pour in the rest of the milk until it forms a sticky lump. Tip it out onto a floured surface and knead very lightly until the dough is smooth.

Roll out on the floured surface to about 1.5cm thick and using a biscuit or scone cutter, stamp out circles before arranging them around the outer edge of the dish, half on the edge and half on the filling, overlapping slightly as you work your way around.

Brush the dough with milk and bake for 30-35 minutes until the cobblers are risen and golden brown. Allow to cool for ten minutes and serve with additional veg of your choice.

For more festive cooking inspiration, including a handy Christmas dinner timing chart, visit the Campbells Meat website.