There’s always a little leftover lamb or pickled fish after the Easter weekend (not to mention a few chocolate Easter eggs lying around). Instead of reheating them for lunch at work or after school, make the most of those delicious lamb, potato, rice, fish and chocolate dishes you spent hours making with these leftover meal ideas!
Lamb leftovers
1. Hearty lamb curry
What better way to repurpose leftover lamb than to make a delicious curry? With autumn creeping in and temperatures dipping in the evenings, cuddle up on the couch with a delicious lamb curry. Since you’ve already put in the work to spice it up, skip the marinade step and get straight into making the sauce using our hearty lamb curry recipe. Serve with rice, roti, or even some creamy samp for a quick and easy midweek meal.
2. Easy lamb flatbread lunch
If there isn’t nearly enough leftover lamb to make a curry, then consider a lunch. Easy and quick, substitute the lamb mince for whatever lamb you have leftover. Spice it up and top the homemade flatbread (or you can substitute that too with a store-bought one) for a super quick, easy, and sumptuous lunch.
3. Lamb vetkoek
Whether you love making a fresh batch of vetkoek at home or buying a few from a local supplier, spice up your leftover lamb and stuff it into a fresh and hot vetkoek. Finish with hummus for a hearty lunch or dinner.
Fish leftovers
1. Pickled fish burgers
One of the easiest lunch or dinner meals you’ll make is these tangy and salty pickled fish burgers. Since you already have a stash of leftovers in the fridge, this is easily the quickest meal to make. No spicing up, or chopping other veggies – just warming up some burger buns, lathering on sauces and finishing off with leftover pickled fish.
2. Fish cakes
An easy and tasty way to use up leftover fish is to make fish cakes. Substitute the salmon in this recipe for whatever you have leftover from Easter. Fried and golden, no one will even notice that it’s made with leftovers!
3. Fish cottage pie
A warm, bubbling cottage pie made with leftover Easter fish is the perfect midweek meal, especially with our evenings getting cooler. What makes this even better is that you can add any other leftover veg, especially if you don’t have enough leftover fish, like roasted carrots, squash, and potatoes, to bulk it up.
Leftover veg
1. Pancakes
Leftover roasted sweet potatoes, butternut and pumpkin are the perfect veggies to use to make our delicious veggie pancakes. They’re perfect for a weekend breakkie, or an after-dinner sweet treat. Serve with crispy bancon and whipped cream for a more indulgent take, or simply enjoy with cinnamon sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice.
2. Samoosas
Use up leftover Easter veg to stuff and fry samoosas. The best part is, this recipe doesn’t need a whole bunch of veggies. Perfect for a midweek lunch or snack – serve with the mint and yoghurt dipping sauce.
Mushroom, pea and potato samoosas with mint and yoghurt dipping sauce
3. Pumpkin hummus
Do you have just enough leftover butternut, sweet potato or pumpkin for a snack? Well then, instead of serving them as a reheated side, turn them into our tasty and irresistible hummus. This dip pairs well with a crisp white wine, making it the perfect appetiser for a friend’s night.
Pumpkin, lime and chilli hummus with cheesy tortilla dippers
Chocolate leftovers
1. Chocolate mousse
Use up any leftover chocolate Easter eggs to make this easy, indulgent chocolate mousse. It keeps up to 2 days in the fridge – making it great for a sneaky midweek dessert!
2. Chocolate malva pudding
A South African favourite, this malva pudding uses cocoa powder to flavour the batter. Indulge a little more and add chunks of leftover Easter chocolate into the batter for a double-chocolate chip effect, or melt it and add it to the custard instead.
3. Bread pudding
There’s always a strange combination of extra bread and chocolates leftover from Easter weekend. Why not use up both in our bread pudding recipe? Although this recipe calls for croissants, any leftover bread will do. If you have more chocolate than the recipe requires, you can always opt for a double chocolate alternative: melt and mix in the required chocolate into the custard, and then chop up the rest into chunks and spread throughout before baking to get a surprise morsel as you eat.
Chocolate croissant bread and butter pudding with rum-caramelised bananas
