The Asian Oven: Post Christmas Casserole

It was the day after.

And a time of reckoning - what could be done about the Christmas leftovers?

There were sufficient leftover roast chickens, mushroom stuffing and flavourful roast meat juices for a casserole. The other ingredients - dried pasta, milk and cheese are ubiquitous items in most kitchens. It might not be a bad idea to toss in some cubed ham, even the remnant salad vegetables like lettuce (remove any oxidized parts first), tomatoes and cucumbers. Since I hadn't any salad remaining, I threw in a head of broccoli, cut into half-floret pieces first.

I will not dictate specific amounts of ingredients for this casserole as different parties would surely yield differing amounts of leftover ingredients. Like cooking fried rice, just go with the feel. A rough guide would be an equal amount of dried pasta to leftovers to sauce - that is, 1 cup dried pasta to 1 cup leftover ingredients (packed) to 1 cup sauce. To estimate more accurately, cut up the ingredients first into cubes, slices ... whatever you fancy.

Cook the pasta in salted water first, but only up to about 70-80% done as the pasta will continue to absorb liquid as it bakes in the oven. Drain and tip into a large casserole/baking dish.

Make a simple cheese sauce following these ratios: 1 tablespoon butter (15 g) to 1 tablespoon flour to 1 cup milk to 2 slices cheese (I use the convenient package kind for sandwiches). Work out the total amount of sauce you'll need first, then go from there.

Melt the butter in a pot over a small flame. Add the flour and stir with a whisk till incorporated. Let the mixture cook for about half a minute then add the milk, whisking continously to break up any lumps of flour. Bring the sauce to a boil, stirring frequently. Once it boils, turn off the flame. You have just made a white sauce.

To turn this into a cheese sauce, simple include cheese. Okay, now add the slices of cheese to the sauce and allow the cheese to melt before stirring to obtain a smooth sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Stir the leftover ingredients into the sauce. Now pour everything into the pasta in the casserole dish. Mix them together. I think you should err on the side of more sauce here. Remember the pasta will absorb some of the sauce as it bakes. Just stir in more milk as you deem necessary and then taste - that means eat a small spoonful of the pasta together with the sauce. This affords a more precise assessment of the taste. Then add more salt and pepper as needed.