Food

Three recipes to put your leftover turkey and ham to good use

Gráinne O’Keefe: The trick to using pre-cooked meats for meals is to include lots of sauce in the recipe

Ham and brie croquettes with mustard aioli, turkey and cheese burgers and turkey, ham and cheese pie. Photograph: Harry Weir Photography

Gráinne O'Keefe's face
Gráinne O'Keefe
Mon Dec 26 2022 - 05:00

This is the time of year when you may find turkey and ham in abundance in the kitchen and be wondering how to use it up. The trick to using pre-cooked meats to create new meals is to include lots of sauce in the recipe, whether it is in the form of a pie, croquettes, or the ever-popular turkey curry.

This week, my favourite recipes for using up leftover turkey and ham, and a turkey burger recipe from my childhood. The pie filling can be made with lots of other fillings (veggies, fish or alternative meats) and can be topped with pastry if preferred to mash.

The croquettes are also a very versatile recipe that can be adapted to any filling (just replace the ham with the same quantity of any other ingredient that would suit, cooked turkey for example). The aioli is a great addition to your fridge that goes with almost all meat dishes.

The turkey cheeseburgers are actually based on a childhood favourite of mine, although my sister is the only other person that I know who recalls them being something that we bought when we were younger. They were readymade, breaded and filled with oozing cheese. I have never been able to find them as an adult and we are now wondering if it is a collective made-up memory, although I remember a blue packet. My recipe is a little bit healthier, cooking the burgers in a little butter, rather than deep frying, although they will still be oozing with cheese.

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You’ll need to buy raw turkey mince to make these, so if you’ve gone for something other than turkey for your Christmas day main course, these are a great way to bring a little of the bird to your festivities.

Recipe: Turkey, ham and stuffing pie

Recipe: Ham and brie croquettes

Recipe: Turkey cheeseburgers

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