Whenever I make a roast dinner, I save any leftovers in the fridge or freezer, because they’re a brilliant way to get ahead for another meal. Today’s one-pot dish turns those leftovers, plus a few simple additions, into an impressive-looking centrepiece.
Leftover roast meat tahchin
This has become one of my go-to dinner party dishes. I like to keep such meals simple, so I can enjoy time with my guests, and by cooking extra meat and vegetables earlier in the week, this apparently elaborate dish becomes very easy indeed to make.
Tahchin is a magnificent, Persian-style baked rice dish, and I’ve deliberately kept this version very simple. Cooked rice is mixed with egg, yoghurt and turmeric, then layered with leftover shredded roast meat and leftover cooked vegetables. It’s cooked slowly on the hob or baked until the rice develops a glorious, golden crust. Once the cooking time is up, you should be able to see the crust around the edge – if you can’t just take off the lid and cook for 10 minutes more.
Serves 4-6 with sides
400g basmati rice, white or brown
1 large egg, beaten
250g natural yoghurt
1 tsp ground turmeric
Sea salt and black pepper
80g unsalted butter
2 red onions, peeled and sliced
2 tsp cumin seeds
4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
250-300g leftover roast lamb (or chicken, turkey, pork or beef)
250-300g leftover cooked vegetables (eg, carrots, parsnips, onions)
To serve
1 handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped from stem to leaf
4 tbsp sultanas, or dried cranberries
3 tbsp shelled pistachios, or almonds, chopped
Yoghurt
Lemon wedges
Leafy salad
Cook the rice in salted boiling water for eight to 12 minutes, until just cooked but still firm, then drain and leave to cool.
Mix the egg, yoghurt, turmeric and sea salt in a bowl, then stir this through the cooled rice.
Melt half the butter in a frying pan on a medium heat, add the sliced red onions and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes, until soft and slightly caramelised. Add the cumin seeds and chopped garlic, saute for two minutes, then stir in the shredded roast meat and roast or boiled vegetables, season to taste, then take off the heat.
Melt the remaining 40g butter, and use some to grease a medium casserole. Line the pot with baking paper and brush that with the remaining butter. Spread half the rice mixture in an even layer at the bottom of the pot, and top that with a layer of half the meat and vegetable mix. Toss the remaining rice and meat together, and layer on top.
Put the casserole on a high heat and, once the pan is hot and the butter starts to bubble up the sides of the paper, cover with a lid and cook either on a very low heat or in a 190C (170C)/375F/gas 5 oven for 45 minutes.
Once a golden crust has formed around the edge of the tahchin, flip it out on to a platter and decorate with the parsley, sultanas and pistachios, and serve with yoghurt, lemon wedges and perhaps a salad.
