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The problem with most seasonal sandwiches is that they are designed to taste like full Christmas dinners. High street chains are knocking out endless variations on turkey x stuffing x cranberry sauce. But a true Christmas sandwich comes after the actual dinner has taken place. As friend of Serious Sandwiches Rosie McKean (Pasta Queen) says in her contribution to tomorrow’s newsletter, it’s crucial that the sandwich maker has adopted ‘the leftovers mindset’.
Here is a recipe for a great leftovers sandwich, along with some ideas for things to cook that will make great leftovers the next day. What you absolutely must not do with a leftovers sandwich is feel shackled in any way. This is *your* sandwich, festive friends! GO WILD LIKE RUDOLPH!
Literally whatever you have in the house - now is not the time to go out and the shop is probably shut anyway. Why should you move further than 1 room from the sofa in any direction?
As previously noted, this depends on what you have left over but great additions generally include pork items for meat eaters e.g. stuffing, pigs in blankets, ham, plus potatoes, cheese, pickles and CRISPS. If you’re doing turkey then you’ll need to be VERY generous with the mayonnaise, which is why Coronation turkey gets wheeled out so frequently at this time of year. We also favour some kind of fresh, crunchy veg in the form of a coleslaw or even just a few crisp lettuce leaves. Give them a cold water bath to refresh them if they’re wilting because you’ve been ignoring salad in favour of cheese - your sandwich will be all the better for it.
A great leftovers sandwich
with cheese-skirted roasties
Serves 1 What we’ve done here is basically reheat roast potatoes in a frying pan with lots of cheese underneath, so that they develop ‘skirts’ like the melted cheese on a toasted sandwich. They really add great richness and texture to the sandwich.
Focaccia or whatever bread you have to hand (probably not focaccia, let’s face it)
Leftover roast potatoes
Grated leftover cheese
Leftover stuffing balls (veggie or not)
Brussels sprout slaw
150g trimmed, shredded (raw) sprouts
¼ red onion, very finely sliced          Â
1 small bunch chives, finely chopped (optional, no worries if you don’t have them)
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
Small squeeze lemon juice
Hot sauce-honey dressing
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon light olive oil
Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the grated cheese. Once melted, add the roasties and smoosh them down a bit, to get hot, cheese-crusted potatoes.Â
Blanch the shredded sprouts in boiling water for 1 minute, then drain and refresh under cold water until completely cool. Do not skip this step because it will be like chewing, well, raw sprouts. They’ll still be crunchy once blanched but their rawness will be gone.
Combine the cooled sprouts with all the other ingredients for the sprout coleslaw and season well.
Combine all the ingredients for the dressing, whisking together or shaking in a jar.
Bonus recipe
Apricot and chestnut stuffing
Makes 6-8 balls
175g sausagemeat
½ onion, finely chopped
15g butter
25g chestnuts, roughly chopped
75g dried apricots, chopped
40g breadcrumbs
Sprig rosemary, leaves chopped
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1 egg, beaten
Heat a frying pan over medium-low heat and fry the onion in the butter. Transfer to a plate (spread it out) to cool down quickly.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Get all the other ingredients ready in a bowl, the mix in the onion and some salt and pepper.
Heat the frying pan once more and fry off a teaspoon or so of the mixture, to check the seasoning. Adjust as necessary.
Shape into balls, place on a baking tray and cook for 30 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
An absolutely obscene croque monsieur with bread sauce bechamel and sprouts (recipe included in caption).
This Brussels sprout kimchi continues to operate as an elite seasonal banger and is dreamy for toasties that use up leftover cheeses.
Consider doing a French dip situation with any leftover gravy - far more satisfying and warming than mixing it into mayonnaise.