Lists

Easter Leftovers Done Proud

by:
April 22, 2011

Here are some of our favorite ways to repurpose or, rather, reenvision your Easter dinner every night next week (and we don't mean nuked plates of lamb, wilty asparagus and mint jelly that just won't die). With minimal new cooking required, these dishes affirm the tried and true holiday reality: it's all about the leftovers. Hop to it!

The future life of your Easter eggs:

Beets Mimosa by thirschfeld

Shop the Story

Beets Mimosa

Notes: Hard-boiled eggs, passed through a fine strainer, will dress anything up like festive eggy confetti -- from spinach salads to grilled asparagus.

Or: Chop some of those eggs up and let them mingle with crumbled bacon in a brown bag-friendly sandwich.

 

Once your roasted lamb, now...

Moroccan Style Lamb by healthierkitchen

Morrocan Style Lamb

Notes: Skip the lamb cooking steps here and add your leftover lamb, which you should cube, at step 5.

Or: Lamb tacos! Just pickle some onions a la aargersi, and get some avocado, lime, and cilantro involved.

 

Half an Easter ham hanging around the fridge? Take heart.

Prosciutto and Fontina Panini with Arugula Pesto by BigGirlPhoebz

Prosciutto and Fontina Panini with Arugula Pesto

Notes: Thinly sliced baked ham substitutes beautifully for the prosciutto here.

Or: Here too, minced to bits and mixed with orecchiette, cream, mint, and fresh snap peas.

 

The way to make the best of your chocolate loot:

Ancho Chili-Cinnamon Chocolate Bark by wanderash

Ancho Chili-Cinnamon Chocolate Bark

Notes: Melting down your dark chocolate holdings is the way to go here -- or here, Sugar Mama-style.

Or: Crunch up that chocolate bunny (or what's left of him) and mix the shards into some fool-proof ice cream.

 

Now mint jelly -- well, we can't help you there. Seriously, what are you supposed to do with that stuff?

 

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • lois
    lois
  • freshparsley
    freshparsley
  • TheExperimentalGourmand
    TheExperimentalGourmand
  • Midge
    Midge
  • Panfusine
    Panfusine
Food52 (we cook 52 weeks a year, get it?) is a food and home brand, here to help you eat thoughtfully and live joyfully.

14 Comments

lois May 3, 2011
Save the mint jelly! Melt 1/4 cup (in the microwave) and mix with 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup white wine, 1 T lime juice, some lime zest, and some salt & pepper. It's a great marinade. I use it for cubed turkey tenderloin: marinate overnight and then grill, either as kebabs or just on a rack. I think it would work for all sorts of other foods.
 
freshparsley April 25, 2011
My favorite use for leftover chocolate bunnies - yes it happened one year - was to melt them down for a killer chocolate buttercream frosting for my daughter's birthday cake just a few weeks after Easter that year. She was only 10 and quite upset when I told her what the secret ingredient was. Somehow biting their heads off was more acceptable to the mass meltdown into frosting.
 
I made a wonderful shepherds pie with leftover lamb one year. Hard-cooked eggs always seemed to end up as sliced egg or egg salad sandwiches in our house. We were talking yesterday about how ham seemed to turn up as ham salad towards the tail end of the leftover cycle, much to everyone's horror.
 
Midge April 24, 2011
I've never understood mint jelly either!
 
greentulip6 April 25, 2011
I assume mint jelly morphed from mint sauce which is a UK thing and is made from finely chopped mint leaves, vinegar, and a small amount of sugar. Having been raised on the US jelly, I find the UK version not sweet enough but do like it somewhere in the UK and US versions. Pieces of fresh mint in it is a must. :)
 
Panfusine April 23, 2011
there's only one word to describe thirschfield's photograph... shockingly breathtaking...
 
Fairmount_market April 23, 2011
My favorite use for leftover ham is in pasta primavera. Amanda's book has a nice discussion of the history of this dish, which is extremely versatile can delicious with any selection of spring vegetables.
 
wssmom April 23, 2011
Leftover chocolate!!???!!!
 
Lizthechef April 23, 2011
Nice idea and sure beats my former mother-in-law's dreadful "Eggs a la Goldenrod". You don't want to know...
 
wssmom April 23, 2011
I do, I do hahaha!!!
 
boulangere April 22, 2011
I can't help myself; whenever I hear the word ham, I think of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. She was trying to learn to swear, and said, "Pass the damn ham." Clearly, I'm not a big fan of ham, but also clearly one of the book.
 
wssmom April 23, 2011
Scout is one of my all-time favorite characters ...
 
Bevi April 25, 2011
I do the same thing - I love it when someone "gets" the reference.
 
Kayb April 25, 2011
But the ham costume saved her, in the end!