I do believe that leftovers are very often better than the original dish, and it applies in particular to a roast. The best example is Christmas turkey of course, which nobody appreciates until Boxing Day, in a sandwich, with stuffing and mayo.
Roast chicken is everyone’s favourite roast but I always look forward to picking the carcass clean, especially drumsticks that nobody in my home touches, and using the meat in dishes that will be, let’s be honest, more interesting than the roast.
Obviously, you can also buy a rotisserie chicken, pick the meat and use it in one of the following recipes. Some have chicken pieces cooked from scratch, in which case just cut to the chase.
Number one: chicken Caesar, and the key is to bring the chicken meat to room temperature before assembling the salad. With crispy lettuce, proper anchovy-flavoured dressing and some crispy bacon (just to be sociable), it wins in my books over the original roast, hands down.
As good as Caesar, couscous salad is quick and delicious. With raisins and almond flakes it has a Middle Eastern vibe, and the nutritious value is boosted by adding fresh peppers and shredded lettuce.
Couscous salad with chicken
RECIPE
With leftover roast chicken, skip to point 3. To cut corners further, use shop bought, good quality salsa. And then all it takes is to wrap tortillas around the chicken and cheese filling, add more cheese and the salsa on and bake.
Another shortcut to a recipe with leftover chicken meat, which will save you cooking chicken. Simply chop it into chunks and add to the rest of the filling ingredients. I’ll always recommend making the pastry from scratch though.
Chicken and mushroom pie
RECIPE
Another vibrant salad: chicken and melon with feta and avocado. Roasted sliced chicken meat is lovely paired with fresh melon, salty feta, filo crumbs and a few seeds.
Chicken, feta and melon
RECIPE
Fresh sweetcorn is needed here so chalk up this recipe for when it arrives, so it can be slicked in butter and charred with a touch of spice. With shredded roast chicken meat and herbed and crispy feta crumbs sprinkled over the dish, it’s the perfect trio.
Chicken, sweetcorn and crispy feta
RECIPE
With leftover chicken, half the job is done so you can focus on making the peach salsa which is absolutely divine. Then sear the halloumi cheese in the pan and build the salad on individual plates.
Chicken and halloumi with peach salsa
RECIPE
Shredded cooked chicken plus leftover cooked rice, that’s twice the waste eliminated. And the dish is so good it’s worth buying a roast chicken and cooking some rice specially for the purpose.
Rice and chicken stuffed peppers
RECIPE
Bang bang chicken is traditionally poached but there’s absolutely no reason you couldn’t use roast meat. It’s the fresh salad base and the delicious peanut sauce that make the dish.
Pastilla is a Moroccan pie made with filo pastry layers encasing leftover roast meat mixture filling, with onions and peppers. My recipe is for duck meat but it’s a straight swap – in fact chicken tends to be more commonly used in making pastillas.
Duck (or chicken) pastilla
RECIPE