The crumbs of Christmas are the most delicious of the year. The bits of roast goose and turkey to simmer into soup; the leftover nut roast to stuff into field mushrooms, and those morsels of ham that make bubble and squeak or potato hash worth eating. Even leftover pigs in blankets (an unlikely event, I admit) could always be included in a post-Christmas version of toad in the hole.
The meatiest of Christmas gifts, the remains of the goose, turkey or ham, make a deeply flavoured backdrop to some of the best soups of the year. I boil up the bones, bits and bobs with onions, carrots, celery and bay leaves, then leave them to simmer at a laidback blip-blop for an hour or so. The smell is homely and heartwarming, the frugality deeply pleasing, and the result is a bowl of glowing, aromatic liquor which will be the heart and soul of every soup, stew and risotto I make until the new year.
It has become something of a tradition in this kitchen to see in the New Year with a soup of lentils or beans, and a firm jellied stock is a good starting point. I make a chicken version with the meat from roast wings or thighs, then upgrade the broth into a main course with cannellini or butter beans. Any bits of golden jelly you find under the bird are worth adding, too. The very essence of the season in concentrated form.
Soup-stew made, we can then stir in whatever takes our fancy. A few teaspoons of gochujang, a spoonful of Marmite, a hefty blob of dark miso paste, Worcestershire sauce or perhaps a shot of harissa paste. (I used Fat Macy’s harissa paste this year and was very happy with the results.) You can also tuck a couple of pieces of parmesan rind into the simmering soup; it will impart umami notes right through the broth.
Then there are the bits of pudding and cake that somehow seem even more of a treat now the panic of Christmas is over. Lumps of plum pudding can be crumbled into a hot pan, treated to a splash of brandy, then spooned over vanilla ice-cream or sponge cake. Golf ball-sized pieces of Christmas cake can be dipped into dark chocolate and left to set, to be eaten like chocolate truffles, while the remains of a Boxing Day trifle make a wonderfully louche alternative to muesli for breakfast. At least, they do in my house.
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Any cranberries make a ravishing, lipstick-red sauce for rice pudding. Partner them with toasted almonds and you have a version of the delightful Danish risalamande. Go a step further and do as the Danes sometimes do, and hide a whole almond in the middle, the finder of which will win a prize. A good way to redistribute an unwanted gift or two.
Chicken, butter bean and rainbow chard soup
Serves 6. Ready in 2 hours.
You’ll need a bunch of plump chicken wings for this, preferably with their tips left on, and every scrap of left-over roast turkey meat or ham. If you can’t get chicken wings, use thighs. If you are adding extra seasonings, such as harissa paste or gochujang, do so once you have deglazed the roasting tin. As the soup simmers, be prepared to top it up with a drop more stock should it need it.
chicken wings 800g
goose fat (or olive oil) 4 tbsp
onions 3, medium
pancetta 200g, in one piece
celery 2 stalks
thyme leaves 2 tsp
chicken or turkey stock 1 litre
bay leaves 3
left-over meat from the roast (turkey, goose, pork, ham)
butter beans 1 x 750g jar or 2 x 400g tins
chard 1 bunch (250g)
parsley leaves a generous handful
Heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Put the chicken wings into a roasting tin with 3 tbsp of the goose fat or olive oil. Peel and roughly chop the onions, then put half of this into the tin with the wings and roast for about 45 minutes until golden.
Cut the pancetta into 2cm-thick pieces, then add to a large, deep saucepan with the remaining goose fat or oil and warm over a low to moderate heat until the fat turns pale gold, about 7-10 minutes.
Cut the celery into small dice and add it, together with the remaining onions and the thyme. Leave to cook, with the occasional stir, for 15-20 minutes, until the onions are soft and pale gold.
Pour in the stock, then add the bay leaves and any bits of roast turkey, goose or chicken you may have around. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 40 minutes.
When the roasting chicken wings are golden brown, remove them from the tin and pull the meat from the bones. (I use rubber gloves for this, but you could also wait for them to cool a little.) Put the meat and its accompanying onions into the soup.
Pour a ladle of the soup into the empty roasting tin, stir until the crusty, tasty bits from the tin have dissolved into the liquid, then return to the soup pan and continue simmering for 15 minutes.
Drain the butter beans and add them to the soup. Wash the chard and chop the stems into small pieces. Chop the leaves and finely chop the parsley. Stir beans and chard stems into the soup, then remove the bay leaves. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the chard leaves and parsley, simmer for a further 5 minutes, check the seasoning and serve in deep bowls.