You probably don't even want to read anything about food after the Christmas blow-out, but I just wanted to alert you to one of my favourite ways of using up leftover turkey, which is the easeful making of a Turkey and Glass-Noodle Salad. There's something about that Southeast Asian tang that just makes the turkey taste so sparklingly different.
Another way of avoiding turkey fatigue is by doing the Mexican Chicken Salad using turkey in its place; and actually, any meat you may have chosen for your feast, should — when cold and shredded or chopped — taste pretty fabulous here. I have specified jicama in the recipe in question, but this not-so-easy-to-find if authentic ingredient can be replaced by a nashi pear or simply a granny smith apple or two.
Moving on towards the near year: do consider with some urgency cooking some lentils on the New Year's Eve or the day itself. In Italy, this is the tradition as the lentils (which are thought to resemble coins) are supposed to herald a year of prosperity ahead! Look, I'm not guaranteeing anything, but why not give it a go? I offer you Lentils Braised in Red Wine (great with a roast, or indeed any main course), my — and my children's — cosy favourite, Italian Sausages with Lentils or my newly added sprightly and aromatic Lentil, Tamarind and Date Dhansak which, with a plain bowl of couscous, is simplicity itself.
Hmm. I see that it is all too easy to be in the mood to think of food however much I have just eaten!
