As well as running the kitchen at Rosaire Court where he dishes up tasty meals for the residents, he also runs his own catering firm, Cooked. With that in mind, we asked him what he would do with the leftovers from Christmas Day, and he gave us these simple recipes:

Turkey bon bons

You can use your cranberry sauce up, your chestnuts, any turkey meat with this perfect canapés for your next party.

First blend up your turkey meat with the cranberry sauce and chestnuts and anything else you might want to put in, then roll it into balls and put them in the freezer for a while.

Roll your turkey balls in some flour, egg and breadcrumbs, like you would use for making chicken goujons or deep friend mushrooms. Fry. 

Serve with redcurrant jelly to taste.

Ham hock terrine

Any left over ham can be flaked, and mixed with diced carrots or any other left over vegetables, along with some melted butter to bind it all together.

Roll it in clingfilm so it forms a long sausage shape which can then be sliced.

Serve on a crouton, a pastry basket or a small shortbread.

Flavour with parsley or gherkins to taste

Croquettes

Any leftovers can be made into croquettes, such as turkey and cranberry or ham and parsley.

Mix your preferred meat with mashed potato to bind it together, pipe into sausages or cut it into croquette sizes and roll in a flour, egg and breadcrumb mix. Cook in the oven until golden. 

Can be served with a sauce to reflect the meat used.

Look online! 

James said as well as his simple recipes, there are loads to find online. He quickly found a ham and turkey pie which can be made using leftover meat and vegetables which can be made with a ready to roll pastry to save time if preferred. 

Pictured: James Ferguson. 

James’ top tips:

Don’t buy more ingredients if you can help it – just use what you have leftover. If you don’t have one ingredient, see what you can substitute it with from your Christmas leftovers.

Freeze what you can (including the turkey bon bons and croquettes above, before cooking them). 

Use leftover vegetables in a soup, with stock cubes from the cupboard. 

Pictured top: Don’t throw away your leftovers without thinking of simple ways to use it up said James Ferguson.