Leftover Christmas Dinner Gravy

By the twenty seventh the fridge is full of small containers nobody wants to open. Most of them will make a very good gravy. This is more a method than a fixed recipe, but the framework holds: fat, aromatics, flour, something sharp, stock, and then whatever is left over stirred in and blitzed. It never tastes the same twice and it is usually better than it deserves to be.

Ingredients

Makes about 700ml, enough for six plates of leftovers

• 2 tbsp set turkey or goose fat lifted off the leftover gravy
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 tbsp (30g) plain flour
• 100ml (3 1/2fl oz) leftover red or white wine whatever is open
• 700ml (1 1/4 pints) hot turkey or chicken stock
• 2 tbsp leftover stuffing crumbled
• 1 tbsp leftover bread sauce optional
• 1 tbsp leftover cranberry sauce
• 4 cold roast parsnips or carrots chopped
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• sea salt and black pepper

Kit

• Wide saucepan
• Stick blender
• Fine sieve

Method

1. Have a proper look in the fridge first and be honest about what is still good. Anything cooked that has been chilled since the twenty fifth and smells fine will be fine. Anything that has sat out on the side under a tea towel for two days goes in the bin, no matter how good it looks.

2. Melt the set fat in a wide pan and fry the onion for six minutes until soft and golden. If you have leftover bacon or a couple of orphaned pigs in blankets, chop them and fry them here too.

3. Stir in the flour and cook for two minutes until it smells toasted. Add the crumbled stuffing and the chopped roast parsnips and stir them around for a minute so they warm through and start to break up.

4. Pour in the wine and stir hard while it bubbles down for two minutes. Old opened wine is fine for this, even wine that has gone slightly flat, though wine that has actually turned to vinegar is not.

5. Add the hot stock in two goes, whisking, and bring to a simmer. Cook for twelve minutes, mashing the parsnips and stuffing against the side of the pan with a spoon so they dissolve into the liquid and thicken it.

6. Blitz briefly with a stick blender, ten seconds is enough, then push it through a sieve if you want it smooth. Stir in the bread sauce and cranberry sauce and let them melt in. Bread sauce will thicken it noticeably, so keep some stock to hand.

7. Bring it to a full rolling boil for at least two minutes, since everything going into it has been cooked, chilled and is now being reheated, and it all needs to be piping hot right through. Sharpen with the vinegar, taste and season.

Tips worth knowing

• The set fat on top of yesterday's leftover gravy is the best fat in the fridge. Lift the disc off, use two tablespoons here and keep the rest for roast potatoes.
• Reheat leftovers once and once only. Take out what you need for this gravy and leave the rest of each container alone rather than warming everything and putting it back.
• Cold roast potatoes will not work here, they turn the gravy gluey. Parsnips, carrots and swede all dissolve nicely and add sweetness.
• If the sum of the parts tastes muddy, a teaspoon of Marmite and an extra splash of vinegar will pull it back into focus.

Keeping and reheating

Eat it the day you make it. Everything in it has already been cooked and cooled once, so this gravy should not be chilled and reheated again. If you have made too much, that is a portion for lunch the same day rather than something to keep.

Questions people ask