Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for roast dinner leftovers (2024)

There’s only one thing better than a roast chicken lunch, and that’s what you can make with the leftovers. The pressure is off, the flavours often improve with time and whatever you create feels like alchemy, having made something out of what could well have been nothing. It’s not just the leftover meat and veg, either: there is also the cheese rind you don’t throw away, that bunch of tired-looking herbs and the spices that need using up …

Kreplach dumplings in mum’s chicken soup

Kreplach is the Yiddish word for dumpling, and they’re often stuffed with meat or cheese; sometimes, as here, they’re served in chicken broth. Everyone has their own favourite chicken soup, and this one is inspired by Roma Felstein, my colleague Jake’s mother. It’s soup for the soul.

Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr 35 min
Serves 4 as a main

For the broth
500g cooked chicken carcass (ie, from a medium-large bird)
1 leek (200g), trimmed and roughly chopped
2 celery sticks (180g), trimmed and roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
¼ tsp peppercorns
¼ tsp whole allspice
3 carrots (260g), trimmed and roughly chopped
25g piece parmesan rind
1 garlic bulb, cut in half horizontally
Fine sea salt and black pepper
1 tbsp picked dill leaves, to finish

For the kreplach
1 onion (180g), peeled and thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
200g cooked chicken meat, finely shredded
25g parmesan, finely grated
1 tsp white-wine vinegar
1 tbsp dill, roughly chopped
200g kimchi, excess liquid squeezed out and discarded, then shredded (120g)
1 egg, beaten
30 8½cm x 8½cm fresh wonton pastry sheets

Put all the ingredients for the broth except the seasoning and dill into a large pot, cover with 1.8 litres of cold water, then bring up to a simmer on a medium-high heat. Turn down the heat to low and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for an hour and a half; don’t let the broth boil or it may turn cloudy. Take off the heat, rest for 10 minutes, then pass through a sieve into a medium saucepan (you should have about a litre of broth) and stir in a quarter-teaspoon of salt.

Meanwhile, start on the kreplach stuffing. Put the onion in a small saucepan with the oil and a quarter-teaspoon of salt, set it over a medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes, until brown and jammy. Take off the heat and tip into a large bowl with the chicken, parmesan, vinegar, dill, kimchi, egg, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper, then mix well to combine.

Now for the kreplach. Take one wonton wrapper and put a teaspoon and a half of the stuffing mix in the centre. Wipe around the edges of the pastry with water, then fold the wrapper in half to make a triangle. Pinch all around the edges, to seal. With the longest side of the pastry triangle facing you, brush the left and right-hand corners with water, then bring them together to meet in the middle, pinching to seal – you should be left with something that resembles a tortellini. Repeat with the remaining wonton wrappers and stuffing.

Put the broth pot on a medium heat and bring back to steaming. At the same time, bring a large pan of lightly salted water to a boil. In two batches, blanch the kreplach in the water for three minutes, drain them well, then divide between four large bowls. Pour the hot broth over the top, sprinkle over the dill and serve.

Roast vegetable and egg bake with paprika sausages

What’s better than roast dinner for (a late!) breakfast? Depends on the hangover, I suppose, though this bubble and squeak-inspired dish will definitely hit the spot. I’ve included instructions on making mashed potato, but if you have some in your leftovers, use that instead.

Prep 20 min
Cook 1 hr
Serves 4

500g maris piper potatoes
Fine sea salt
50ml double cream
75g unsalted butter
500g leftover roast vegetables – I used potatoes, carrots, parsnips and cabbage
210g pork sausages (ie, about 3), casings removed
½ tsp sweet smoked paprika
8 small-medium eggs (large eggs will be too big and make the dish spill over)
20g coriander leaves and stalks, finely chopped
1-2 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped (25g)
1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 lemon – zest finely grated, to get 1 tsp, then juiced, to get 2 tsp
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted, then coarsely crushed in a mortar
10g parmesan, finely grated, to finish

First, make the mash (if you’re using leftovers, you’ll need about 500g ). Put the potatoes in a small saucepan, add enough water to cover them by about 3cm, then season with two teaspoons of salt. Gently bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes, until cooked through.

Drain the potatoes into a colander, put the pan back on the heat and add the double cream and 40g butter. Pass the potatoes through a potato ricer directly into the pan, and use a spatula to mix in the butter and cream, making sure not to overwork the mash. Take off the heat and set aside. Once the mash has cooled a little, chop all the leftover roast vegetables into roughly 5cm pieces, then stir these into the mashed potato pan.

Put the sausagemeat and smoked paprika into a 26cm, shallow, cast-iron saucepan for which you have a lid, then cook on a medium heat, stirring to break up the meat, until it’s browned all over. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

Wipe clean the sausage pan, put it on a high heat, add 25g butter and, when that’s melted, spoon in the mash and roast vegetable mixture and spread it evenly over the base of the pan. Leave to cook for five minutes, until the edges are starting to turn golden brown.

Put a plate that is larger in diameter than the pan upside down on top and, with a heatproof cloth in each hand, put one hand under the pan and the other on the bottom of the plate. In one swift movement, turn the pan upside down to invert the potato mixture on to the plate. Carefully slide the potato mixture browned side up back into the pan and return it to a medium heat.

Make eight large wells in the potato mixture. Divide the remaining 10g butter between the eight wells and, once it’s melted and bubbling, crack an egg into each and leave to cook for five minutes. Cover the pan and cook for another six minutes, by which point the eggs should be cooked. Take off the heat and leave to cool slightly. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the coriander, spring onion, garlic, lemon juice and zest, cumin and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt.

Spoon the coriander dressing and the sausagemeat mixture over the egg and potato combo, scatter over the finely grated parmesan and serve straight from the pan.

Vegetable fritters with tamarind yoghurt

These fritters are very versatile, so add any cooked vegetables and herbs that you have to hand to the batter base.

Prep 20 min
Cook 35 min
Makes 10

For the batter
120g plain flour
4 eggs
Flaked sea salt and black pepper
300g leftover roast vegetables, roughly chopped
4 spring onions (80g), trimmed and cut into fine rounds
30g coriander, finely chopped, plus 1 tbsp leaves extra, to serve
6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
30g piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly grated
2 red chillies (20g), finely chopped (remove and discard the pith and seeds if you like less heat)
2 tsp caraway seeds, toasted and roughly crushed in a mortar
2½ tsp coriander seeds, toasted and roughly crushed in a mortar
150ml sunflower oil, for frying

First, make the batter. Put the flour and eggs in a large bowl with a teaspoon and a half of flaked salt and a good grind of pepper, then mix to a smooth batter. Stir in all the remaining batter ingredients bar the oil, until they’re all completely covered in sticky batter.

Pour the oil into a medium frying pan on a medium heat and, once it’s hot, drop in 70g spoonfuls of the batter mix and cook in batches for three or four minutes on each side, until golden all over; use a spatula to flatten the fritter a little when you turn it over. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper and keep warm while you repeat until all the batter has been used up.

Meanwhile, mix the yoghurt in a small bowl with a quarter-teaspoon of salt. In a second small bowl, mix the tamarind paste and maple syrup, then swirl this into the yoghurt.

Arrange the fritters on a platter, scatter the coriander leaves and a quarter-teaspoon of salt on top and serve warm with the yoghurt for dipping alongside.