Easy holiday leftover makeovers

Binge-eating during Christmas and New Year’s. More fun in the Philippines. Yes, ‘tis the season to be chubby. And perhaps, too, the season most dreaded by pigs and chickens all over the country.

 

It’s that time of the year when we throw all caution to the wind and eat lechon (or lechon manok, if cash-strapped) like there’s no tomorrow. The perfect time or excuse to gorge on all the good things that make a Filipino feast: menudo, spaghetti, lumpia, barbecue, embotido, fruit salad, and so much more.

 

But when the last table has been cleared and the smoke in the kitchen has settled comes the most dreaded task of all: dealing with leftover food, stark reminders of the excesses that marked our holidays. 

 

There’s that half-eaten leg of jamon or the carcass of the pig or chicken brought in to be the stars of our Noche Buena feast. Yes, they will come back to haunt you. That is, if you don’t make them useful again somehow. And no matter how fervently you wish it, that queso de bola you’re sticking in the darkest and farthest corner of your fridge won’t go away by itself. 

 

If you gave your holiday cooking some thought before rushing to cook in a mad frenzy, with the unstoppable mission to feed the entire barangay and then some, by now you realize you should have prepared a menu that allowed you to be creative with food that would be left in the aftermath of an eating rampage. 

 

Still, the holidays are over and there’s proof of all that wanton feasting in the ref. So what does one do with leftovers? How do you make them stars once again, gracing another meal with their presence without looking like has-beens? 

 

You must come face to face with what you have lurking in your fridge the day after. And if you find any of these in your ref, here’s how to give them a new lease on life:

Lechon

Obviously the first thing that comes to mind is to turn lechon chunks and bits into paksiw by boiling the bones and meat in vinegar, soy sauce, some sugar, smashed peppercorns, sliced onions and lots of crushed garlic with the liver sauce that came with the lechon. Leave it to simmer for just 10 minutes or so and then serve hot with steamed rice.

 

Any more leftover lechon can also be resurrected as sinigang na lechon, a “specialty” in some Filipino restaurants. Just follow a regular sinigang recipe and substitute the lechon chunks for the meat. The bits of pork cheeks and meat from the lechon head can be chopped and added to sautéed onions, garlic and siling labuyo. Put in some calamansi juice and soy sauce, plus a dash of ground black pepper and voila, you have lechon sisig. Serve it on a hot plate and top with green onions. 

 

Roast chicken (lechon manok or any variation of a roast chicken)

 

Strips of roast chicken can be sautéed in some onions and mixed with mayonnaise, sprinkled with a dash of Italian seasoning and pepper, for a scrumptious chicken sandwich. Or it can go into your salad greens along with cubed cucumbers and mangoes, and toasted slivered almonds. Drizzle some mango vinaigrette or sesame seed dressing and you’re on your way to a healthy start for the new year. 

 

I would also reserve some chicken strips for some hot sotanghon noodle soup or lomi, for those cold January nights. 

 

A great way to give chicken meat a new spin is to turn it into chicken and pasta casserole also known as tetrazzini. Just sauté some sliced mushrooms in melted butter and set aside. In another saucepan, melt butter and add flour. Stir well till smooth then pour in enough chicken broth and cream. Let boil and stir till thickened. To this you add the diced cooked chicken and the sautéed mushrooms. Heat the sauce through then pour over cooked spaghetti noodles in a baking dish. Top with Parmesan cheese and bake in a preheated 425 degree Fahrenheit oven for 15 minutes.

 

Hamon 

 

If you have a whole leg of hamon in the ref, save it to flavor your soups of beef nilaga or chicken pochero. It will give your broths a richer, sweeter taste. If you had a boneless ham and you only have slices of them left, dice these and sauté into ground beef for a richer spaghetti sauce or lasagna meat filling. 

 

Otherwise, that hamon would do well to elevate your next morning’s fried rice for breakfast if sautéed into some minced garlic and onions and mixed with slivers of scrambled eggs and green peas.  

 

Bread 

 

Leftover pan de sal or pan amerikano (loaf bread) can always become a glorious bread pudding. Simply tear day-old bread and soak in milk and eggs then bake bain marie style. It will be good to devour by itself and even better with a spoonful of warm vanilla sauce on it. 

 

If you’re not into puddings or desserts, cube any leftover white loaf bread and turn them into croutons by simply melting some butter and putting in a dash of garlic powder and salt. Toss the bread cubes into this and spread on a baking sheet. Bake for around 15-20 minutes in the oven and let cool. Keep in a tight container till you need some croutons for soups and salads.

Queso de bola

 

Yes, you can banish that tough ball of cheese from your ref forever. If you’re not a baker who could use grated cheese for ensaimada or fancy queso de bola crisps, slice the cheese into chunks that you can run through a grater. Blend with softened butter in a food processor. Add sugar and then milk to smoothen the mixture. Then simply fold in bits of sweet pimiento. And there, you have a jar of queso de bola spread for delectable grilled cheese sandwiches. 

 

Now if you’re stuck with vatfuls of menudo, spaghetti, and other dishes that are heavily sauced and can no longer be turned into anything else, then think no more and share them with your friends and neighbors. Just make sure that the food isn’t spoiled and give them away if you can’t finish them yourself. It’s a lot better than seeing these leftovers morph into something that can walk out of your fridge. 

 

There are countless makeovers you can do to your leftovers. All it takes is a little imagination and creativity. —KG, GMA News