Common Sense with Leftover Food ~ apparently not a new idea!

I’ve recently started saving images of old cookbooks, as I find them, on Pinterest.

I am interested in them but not that interested! 

As with most cookbooks they tend to have the same recipes repeated over and over again (see here for more on this strange cookbook similarity) but, as you can imagine, I was intrigued to discover this.

I see that, like some cookbook writers today, the authors have cheekily added blank pages for the reader to add “My Own Receipts” thus making the book look more temptingly thick and full!

Other than that I am in complete agreement with the writers, Helen Carroll Clarke and Phoebe Deyo Rulon, from the start  …

Although I must say that, with my modern ideas, I am of the opinion that blokes may also benefit from advice on making the most of leftovers!

Some of the recipes are quite interesting;  one of the first in the book is called Fire Island Stew although it is simply a dish of macaroni and leftover roast beef in a tomato sauce.  In 1911, however, this may have been quite adventurous.

                                                                                                               

Mock Chicken Salad is strange as it’s actually a pork salad!, and this is a little odd too, whether it uses tinned baked beans or homemade …

Obviously, due to differences of time (The Cook Book of Leftovers was published in 1911) and place (this is an American book) we are dealing with different ingredients, cooking methods and food storage.

Fundamentally, however, our ideas and principles are much the same. Probably that is because using leftover food to create delicious new dishes is bleeding obvious!

There is much I agree with and I find myself nodding sagely as I read the book.  This recipe for leftover cooked sweet potatoes …

… is a little like my recipe, in Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers for leftover raw sweet potatoes.

We are also similar with regard to pastry scraps and leftover cheese …

The Cook Book of Left-Overs …

Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers …

Read more about The Cook Book of Leftovers here and read more about my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers here. 

7 Types of Leftover You Should Never Throw Away

Leftover food is often thought of as just the unwanted remains of a meal but to me there are seven specific types of leftover, all of which are very much wanted.

The Seven Types of Leftovers  …

1.   The remains of a made-up dish or the last few scraps of ingredient which are surplus to the requirements of a recipe. I think this is what most people think of as leftovers.

 

2.   By-products of cooking for instance egg yolks after making meringues, bacon fat or the rind of a Parmesan cheese.

3.   Something forgotten you find lurking in the back of the cupboard or fridge such as the tail end of a jar of mayonnaise or half a packet of peanuts.

4.   Too much of something having been over enthusiastic when picking blackberries or due to two-for-one offers, for instance.

5.   A very small amount of something you wish you had more of e.g. three squares of chocolate and four friends.

6.   Accidents– for instance what to do with the result of having sat on a packet of biscuits.

7.   Collections – it is a good idea when you have just a little of something to make a collection in your freezer of similar little bits (say a collection of fish scraps, or a bread crusts, or beef trimming) until you have enough to make something delicious. Read more about collecting leftover food here. 

Great Preview Here!

In my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers, which is an A-Z of potential leftovers with recipes and ideas for using them I address all these possibilities giving, for instance, 14 ways to use bacon fat or 18 things to do with bread crusts. Bearing in mind that I deal with 450 possible leftovers that is a lot of ideas, recipe and suggestions!

Do You Know How Easy it is to Make Burgers & Why You Should?

I’m going through all my old posts and updating the images, SEO etc. and was reading an earlier post on Michael Pollan’s excellent book Food Rules.  In it I mention how strange it is that people would rather buy a burger from MacDonalds or similar than make one.  I thought I’d extrapolate on this (Madam!).

Do you know how easy it is to make a burger? 

If not this is what you do …

~   Get some fresh but not too lean minced beef – you want your burger to be juicy.
~   Divide it into portions the size you would like your burgers but treat the meat gently as overworking it will toughen them. I have always made 225g/8oz burgers both at home for my real man and when cooking professionally. Allow me to go off on a small tangent here …

According to McDonalds themselves their cooked beef patties in a Big Mac weigh approximately 66g/2.3 ounces each so that’s a little under 4.6g/5oz. Even allowing for shrinkage you can do way better than that! Anyhoo …

~   Heat a frying pan and grease lightly.
~   Season your burgers on both sides with salt and black pepper. The salt is important because not only does make the burger tasty it helps form a good crust on the meat.
~   Cook your burger till perfect by browning over medium high heat according to the timings below on the first side without disturbing it. Flip onto the second side and finish cooking. Times may vary a little according to the thickness of the burgers.

Rare – 3 minutes per side, feels soft and juicy.

Medium – 4 minutes per side, feels springy.

Well Done –  5 minutes per side, feels firm.

~   If you top your burger with something eg. bacon, cheese etc. cover the pan briefly to heat and melt the topping or, better really if you can,  pop the topped burger into a hot oven or under a hot grill for just a minute to heat briefly.

~   Serve in a burger bun (toasted or not, to your taste) with whatever you fancy eg. mayonnaise, bbq sauce etc. plus real cheese, bacon, onions and so on.

Do you want a dimple in the bottom?

~   They do say you should make a small depression in the burger on one side which, apparently, helps the burger cook evenly and stay flat.  I have never done this and always been happy with my burgers but you could give it a try.

6 important points when making burgers …

~   DON’T crowd the pan; if cooking more than one burger there must be space between them or they will steam rather than fry.
~   DON’T press or flatten burgers during cooking because this squeezes out the juices, compresses the meats and really irritates me!

~   If the meat seems stuck to the pan when you want to turn it wait a little while; once a good crust has formed it will release itself .

~   Only flip once.

~   Don’t cut into the burger to see if it is done at this releases yummy juices.
~   As with all meat set aside to rest in a warm place for a few minutes before serving.

5 Reasons Why You Should Make your Own Burgers

Please pin this and spread the word!

~   You will save money

Big Mac (just an example – other burger suppliers are available!)

£.3.19  comprising 132g ground beef (possibly and possibly not with additives), one white bun, some lettuce, a slice of processed cheese (or cheese product to be exact i.e. not real cheese).

or …

Homemade Burger

£1.80 approx comprising 225g ground beef, 2 rashers back bacon, a generous portion of lovely mature Cornish cheddar, a spoonful of freshly fried red onions, lettuce and baby plum tomatoes, white burger bun.

~   You will save time

As I mentioned above, if you have the ingredients, making a burger at home is so much quicker it takes about 10 minutes from taking the meat out of the packet (although longer if you also do chips).  The alternative is driving to, parking outside and queuing in a take away and then driving home. Not only that, your food is fresh from the stove so in prime condition

~   You can eat “cleanly”

Even if bought in foods don’t contain any chemicals, e-numbers,  etc. they may still be high in salt, sugar and/or fat.  When you make your own you know exactly what is in your food.

~   You can Personalise your Burger

Season to taste i.e. your taste or perfect for whoever you are making it for . Make your perfect burger with whatever seasonings or additions you fancy; spices, garlic, smoked salt, bits of crunchy bacon etc.

~   Be happy – I haven’t looked into it much but have read that eating fast food can make people depressed and not just because it is not quite what they wanted!

So ~ your choice …

This is just one example of why you should cook your own food – it is real and fresh, can be made exactly as you like it and is also cheaper. Go for it!

Speaking of books …

A new edition of my leftovers cookbook, giving recipes, ideas, storage instructions, handy hints, food pairings and cook’s treats for 450 different potential leftover foods is now out – Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers, read more here.

Best Before Dates – a Rant and a Good Idea

We have just been up-country, as we say in Cornwall, visiting family, having a belated Christmas dinner together (for the first time in about 20 years!) and seeing how grown and wonderful my great niece Amelia has become.  So that’s why I haven’t written for a bit.

Whilst there I picked up a leaflet from the East of England Co-op who have had a good idea. They will now sell products past their ‘Best Before’ date in their 125 food local stores for a nominal 10p.  I don’t know if they intend rolling this out to the rest of the country, but it is surely worth investigating. 

According to the leaflet …

I have read different but equally horrific figures elsewhere but however much food waste it is it’s too much!  This is something I have ranted on about for years.  In fact, at the end of my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers I wrote …

BEST BEFORE DATES – A SHORT RANT

            I really don’t want to encourage anyone to take risks with their food but would nevertheless like to moan on a bit about ‘best before’ dates. 

         Whilst I am, of course, as delighted as the next person by a bargain I am also often irritated. Fruits and vegetables have sometimes not reached their ‘best after’ date when being offered as past their prime. I have bought out of date ‘ripen at home’ avocadoes that weren’t soft for weeks, I once lost a bargain white cabbage in the car when bringing in the shopping and it was still OK when I found it there ten days later (it was cold out) and I even snapped up a healthy growing basil plant with roots for 10p because it was ‘past its best before date’!

Cheese is another case in point. Bearing in mind that it was developed as a way to preserve milk and that many cheeses improve over time I was surprised last Christmas to see small gift cheddars, coated in wax, which were supposedly out of date by 9th January. Why? What would happen then? And don’t get me started on honey!

        ‘Are best before dates a cunning ruse to make nervous people throw food away and buy more?’ I ask myself cynically. According to Defra these dates indicate how long a food can be expected to retain its optimal condition and yet in my own experience many bargains have not even reached optimal condition by that date. May I therefore suggest that you rely on your own brain and your senses of smell and taste?

‘Use by’ dates are an entirely different matter as they concern food spoilage and safety and I don’t recommend you mess with them.

So, as I’ve said before …

Please, please, please learn to cook so you can use up all the food that you have available in utterly delicious ways. This is just one of my 7 Excellent Reasons to Learn to Cook. Go for it!!! 

Oh, and don’t forget to pop down the Co-Op if you happen to be in the East of England!

In Other News …

A new edition of my book is to be released on 1^st March.  It is now titled Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers and can be ordered here. 

I look forward to meeting it myself!

Be a Reducetarian ~ a Great Idea If You Are Not Quite Ready to Give Up Meat!

Turns out I may or may not be a Reducetarian!

I came upon this word quite recently in The Guardian; it is the name fairly recently given to people who reduce the amount of meat they eat in the interests of their health and also that of our wonderful planet. Did you guess?

I think this is a great idea … not extreme, something that can be achieved over time and good for everyone (except those in the meat industry, I suppose!) and, as meat is one of our pricier foods, it even saves money!

For myself (as opposed to when working as a chef or when cooking for my real man) I have never thought that meat or fish must be the central ingredient of a meal but rather as something that that may, or may not, be in a dish. This being the case, whilst I do eat meat and fish, many of my meals contain only a little or are completely vegetarian.

I even wrote a post some time ago; How to Eat Less Meat – and Enjoy It! suggesting ways to incorporate a little meat into a variety of meals.

According to the Reducetarin Movement they are …

“composed of individuals who are committed to eating less meat – red meat, poultry, and seafood – as well as less dairy and fewer eggs, regardless of the degree or motivation. This concept is appealing because not everyone is willing to follow an “all-or-nothing” diet.” 

Read more and join the Reducetarians here.

One thing occurs to me, however …

One cannot be a Reducetarian for ever!

Surely you can only keep reducing your meat and animal product intake for a limited time; eventually you will have to stop as there is nothing else to give up in that department!  One will, of course, then become a vegetarian or even a vegan.  

This is why I am not sure of my status reducetarian-wise; I am not reducing my intake of fish and animals, I did that years ago! I am eating a small amount, as I have for most of my life and with which I am happy.  

Is there a special name for people who, like me, just eat a little meat?  I wondered about “omnivore” but as I can’t abide bananas that’s not quite right either.  I know – flexitarian, that feels about right. What do you think?

A Genius Idea for Food Scraps

~ Food Collections ~

I have written before of the sheer handiness of having collections of this and that but it is worth repeating and going into more detail.  

Collecting your scraps saves money, avoids food waste, allows for spontaneity and can make you happy with the delicious food you make! 

The idea is simple – group together similar scraps and leftovers in the fridge or freezer, as appropriate, and add to them till you have enough to make something delicious.  For instance …

Bread Scraps

I always keep bits of unwanted bread in the freezer, they can be used in so many ways. Here are some of them …

~  bread pudding
~  French toast pancakes,
~  stuffing,
~  breadcrumbs
~  croutons
~  bread sauce, and
~  7 interestingly different ideas for leftover bread

Cheese Scraps

I keep this collection in a box at the back of the fridge. Wrap the cheeses loosely in parchment or greaseproof paper and then store in plastic bags in the box. A scrap of cheese can be good added to egg dishes, mashed potatoes, pasta sauces and so on. Here are 64 ideas for leftover cheese I wrote about earlier! 

Pastry Scraps

Every time I make my real man a pie (just about weekly) I add the pastry trimmings to my collection so that I can make these delicious pastry recipes.

Raw Meat Trimmings

Steak in particular – when cooking professionally and cutting up a whole tenderloin or sirloin etc. any good quality trimmings and undersized pieces I used to make Peppered Steak Salad. 

Other meats – when there are enough scrappy bits I make stock.   Better quality trimmings, both raw and cooked can be added to soups, stir fries, risotto, pasta dishes etc.  Sometimes if the meat is all good quality but a little fatty I make burgers, they are very easy. Not necessarily beef burgers, however, here is a great recipe using pork trimmings …

BBQ Pork Burgers

2 rashers bacon – I like smoked
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dark brown sugar
½ tsp salt
500g good quality pork scraps – minced or fairly finely chopped
1 tbsp oil
BBQ sauce

~   Coarsely chop the bacon and cook, preferably in its own fat, till crisp.  Drain on kitchen roll.

~   Mix together the next 3 ingredients.

~   Form the chopped meat into two or three burgers.  People sometime ask me what I add to burgers to keep them together e.g. egg or breadcrumbs but the answer is Nothing. Just munge it lovingly together and all should be well.

~   Rub the burgers with the sugar mix.

~   Brush with a little oil and grill or pan fry till crisp and golden and cooked through – it can be a bit risky under cooking pork.

~   Brush with BBQ sauce and pop back on the grill for a minute or two.

~   Serve on buns drizzled with more BBQ sauce and a great addition is a spoonful of coleslaw on each burger.

Seafood Scraps

Freeze in two separate collections – raw and cooked.

A gorgeous use of varied fish scraps, both raw and cooked, is my Seafood Chowder but there are lots of other good ways to use them; fish cakes, salads, risotto, pasta dishes, fish pâté and more – over 30 ideas in my Creative Ways to Use up Leftovers.

Leftover Nuts

This last one is not quite a collection! I use nuts in all sorts of dishes so buy bags of mixed roasted salted nuts and pick out specific nuts as needed. I have almonds and hazelnuts with yogurt and muesli for breakfast, add cashews to curries and salads and to this excellent popcorn recipe. Brazils I give to my real man as I don’t like them and pecans tend to accumulate as I have no specific plans for them.

When I have enough set aside I make something lovely such as the biscotti in my last post.

Several of these ideas are included in Creative Ways to Use up Leftovers together with loads and loads of other ideas for over 450 possible leftovers.

Great Preview Here

What to do with the Most Wasted Foods in the UK

I have just read another article in the Huffington Post about food waste in the UK.

According to point 8 in the article the most-wasted foods and drinks are bread, potato, milk, fizzy drinks, fruit juice and smoothies, poultry, pork, ham and bacon, cakes and pastries. Well, let me tell you something …

… actually several somethings.

Bread Scraps

See here for 7 Interestingly Different Ideas for Leftover Bread, for instance this Melted Onion Panade.

Leftover Potatoes

See 8 ideas for leftover baked potatoes here  and how to make wonderfully named and delicious Krumplinudli from mashed potato is here.

Surplus Milk

Interestingly milk seems to last way, way longer than its Use By date to no detriment whatsoever.  See here for details and you might think again before throwing the stuff away!

~   Leftover milk can be frozen – it is not great for drinking once thawed but is fine in recipes which is easier if you freeze in ice cubes.
~   Make milkshakes – especially useful if you also have “leftover” ice cream!
~   Add to mashed potatoes
~   Make rice pudding
~   Poach some fish in it.
~   Turn leftover milk into buttermilk for baking by stirring 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into 240ml milk.

If your milk has separated, lucky you – it is surprisingly easy to make lovely cheese.

Leftover Fizzy Drinks

~   Freeze leftovers in ice cube trays and use them to cool down further fizzy drinks without diluting them!
~   Make Sorbet – partially freeze the fizzy beverage then either break up the crystals with a fork or similar or run through the food processor. Add a little suitable alcohol (it must be a spirit and use 50ml per 250ml of fizz) such as rum with coke or Cointreau with fizzy orange and re-freeze.
~   Rumour has it that using soda drinks in baking works but I haven’t tried it. If you have let me know how it went!

Leftover Fruit Juice

~ Freeze, as above, as ice cubes for the same reason.
~ Mix in a little icing sugar and use to glaze cakes.
~ Toss summer fruit in a few spoonsful of orange or other suitable juice 30 minutes before serving.
~ Cocktails – many cocktails include fruit juice, see this article on BuzzFeed and have fun!
~ Make a delicious sauce for your dinner! See point 8 here on how to deglaze a pan and use whatever juice goes well with your meat or fish e.g. apple juice with pork, cranberry with turkey, lemon with fish etc. 

Tomato juice is a rather special case, I suggest you either add it to soups and stews or make a …

Bloody Mary

Per person

90ml tomato juice

45ml Vodka

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Worcestershire sauce

Tabasco

black pepper

a stick of celery with leaves

~ Fill a tall glass with ice.

~ Mix together the tomato juice, vodka and lemon juice and season to taste (as us food writers say) with the Worcester sauce, Tabasco and black pepper.
~ Pour over the ice and bung in the celery!

Leftover Smoothies

I’m afraid I am flummoxed with this one, other than freeze it, and don’t think I am alone. Here are someone else’s smoothie ideas but they are somewhat tongue in cheek!

Leftover Poultry, Pork and Ham

Throwing away leftover meats of any kind is absurd, there’s so many ways to use them; sandwiches, stir fries, soups, salad, risotto, pasta, pizza and so on. Why anyone would chuck it is beyond me –

As a taster, so to speak, here is a lovely way to use up ham – Haluski. 

Leftover Bacon – a rather special meat!

See here for an utterly wonderful use for leftover bacon – Bacon Salt which is great for making all sorts of dishes bacony! I am absolutely delighted with this.

Too Much Cake – ridiculous, who throws away cake?

Good ideas are – add crumbled cake to ice cream, trifle, make cake pops, cake truffles (details in Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers) or make cake croutons (dice the cake, toss in melted butter and then bake in a medium oven till crisp and golden) to serve with desserts.

Leftover Pastries

Now this is a tricky one, especially without knowing what sort of pastries, but if I had such a thing leftover I would probably freeze it and have a think. Or maybe eat it and have a coffee.

Do croissants qualify as pastries? They make lovely French Toast (much better than made with bread), good in bread pudding of the custardy sort, as are Danish pastries, and they also make great croutons.

Now then, don’t you wonder what ideas I have for the other 450 potential leftovers in my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers?

Great Preview Here

Do Yourself a Favour ~ Learn to Cook!

I’ve been eating very well recently or, more accurately, I’ve been eating very well for years and years and years and it’s all thanks to my Mummy!

When I was little I had no interest in food or cooking so never bothered to learn anything from her. Then I got engaged and had real asleep-at-night nightmares of my new husband starving to death as I couldn’t feed him. Mummy bought me an “Supercook ~ an Encyclopedia of World Cooking” which was published in 112 parts. I read it on the way to work and very rapidly became hooked. 

Once married Ray (that’s his name – we’re divorced but I’m still glad I didn’t starve him to death!) and I made a rule that once a week we had a meal entirely made of things or dishes we had never tried before. This was in the 70s and all sorts of interesting ingredients were being “discovered”– aubergines, avocados, chilli peppers and so on – and I loved experimenting. This quickly led to us selling our house and buying a rundown hotel in Cornwall in partnership with my sister.  We opened a restaurant, and then another one and that’s how my cooking career started. Well done Mummy!

So I can cook and it has not only given me a wonderful career all over the world, because it is something you can do anywhere, but it also means that I can cook whatever I fancy, often at the drop of a proverbial hat, out of leftovers.

As an example here are details of my last few meals. I’m not showing off, the point I am trying to make (probably not to readers of this blog though!) is that cooking is easy and can really make life better!

Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Soup

Serves 1

I had an ulterior motive for making this; I have just finished writing the third book in my “Genius Recipes” series, which is Soup: (almost) the Only Recipe You’ll Ever Need and it needed a final photo before uploading it to kindle. 

1 small onion – thinly sliced
½ tbsp olive oil

1 medium floury potato – peeled and thinly sliced
about 250ml chicken or vegetable stock

2 – 3 cloves of roasted garlic
1 tbsp grated Parmesan + a bit for garnishing
30ml double cream

~   Heat the oil, stir in the onions, cover directly with a piece of foil or greaseproof or a butter paper, put the lid on the pan, turn the heat right down and cook gently till utterly tender.
~   Add the potato and just cover with stock, put on the lid and simmer till very tender.
~   Squeeze the soft roasted garlic from its skins into the soup and purée until smooth.
~   Return to the heat and stir in the cream and Parmesan.
~   Bring to a simmer, taste and adjust seasoning again.
~   Serve hot with croutons and more Parmesan.

Peppered Steak Salad

We often buy a fillet steak off-cut or two from the bargain bit of Tesco. The piece I used for this and the stir fry below (I divided it in two) cost £2.21 so not very extravagant.  This salad has been a menu favourite of mine for many years and was one of those dishes that, once tasted, regulars would order again even it wasn’t on the menu that day! For Peppered Steak Salad recipe see here. 

Beef & Cashew Stir Fry

I marinated the second half of the steak in a mixture of Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce (a store cupboard staple) and Soy Sauce (another one!) and stir fried it together with vegies and cashews.

Mushrooms in Black Garlic Alfredo

Such a gorgeous mix of flavours. I’ve written about this before, see here.

This time I used 1½ mushrooms (as I only had 3 and this way I can eat this again!) and a splash of Whipped Cream which cost 16p for 300ml because it was at the end of its tether! It is now 6 days out of date and perfectly fine. I suppose this whole meal together with the toasted ciabatta can’t have cost me more than 50p.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I do like to keep either a sweet potato or a butternut squash around the place; they are delicious, versatile and keep very well.  Salmon for dinner last night so I decided to have the leftovers for lunch today and to try, for the first time making sweet potato fries in the oven. Easy peasy as it turns out – also quite fast so I recommend this.

~   Heat the oven to 425ºF/220ºC/200ºC fan/gas 7.

~   Put a baking tray in the oven.
~   Peel a sweet potato per person and cut into chips.
~   Toss them with a drizzle of olive oil and some seasoning; salt and pepper plus cayenne if you fancy it.

~   When the oven is hot spread the sweet potato chips on the hot tray with space around each chip. If you need more space heat another tray.
~   Bake for about 20-25 minutes depending on how thick they are. They are ready when golden and crisp and tender.

I wish people would realise that it’s not difficult to eat food you love every day of your life without spending much time or money. What a boon!  

I have cooked professionally for so long and really wish I could pass on what I know which is why the I blog and write cookbooks.  

Incidentally I do feed my real man too but his eating requirements are somewhat different to mine, he eats like this …

… but I can do that too.

Please Tweet links below and encourage people to cook!

~   Make yourself happy ~ learn to cook!
~   Learn to cook and eat EXACTLY what you want every day!
~   Key recipes ~ the idea is that you will go on to start creating you own dishes
~   Want to eat healthy, cheap, delicious food?  Learn to cook!

Great Idea for Leftover Pancakes

Today is …

  

“  …the pinnacle for carrot lovers all around the world. It is the day when the carrot is celebrated through carrot parties and other carrot related festivities.”

carrotday.com

Yes, today’s the day; International Carrot Day 2014 so I thought I’d write all sorts of interesting things about carrots, only … well I think I’ve already written almost everything I can think of! 

In my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers I give nine ideas for spare carrots including this piece of advice.

I have also blogged about delicious roasted carrots herewhere I give five more ideas including Carrot Vinaigrette with which I am particularly pleased.  

So despite today being such a biggie I’ve decided to tell you about what I did with a couple of leftover pancakes, the crèpe type.

You may remember that on Pancake Day (the UK one!) I recreated a wonderful meal I had eaten in France involving buckwheat galettes..  Well yesterday I had exactly the same meal again, Galettes de Sarrasin with a creamy scallop and leek filling. As my real man doesn’t go for this sort of fancy cooking I had several pancakes left over.

Leftover Pancakes

I reheated a couple in a dry frying pan and had them with maple syrup, of course, for breakfast.

I then tried to recreate something else I ate in France – Oreillettes which I thought meant small ears but apparently means headset, ear flap, ear phone!  Not so whimsical and poetic and also a strange name for a traditional dish, but c’est la vie. This is what they looked like in France …

… and I took them to be deep fried pancakes which they are not. Mine are though!

Here’s the recipe for real Oreillettes, which are an orange flower and citrus scented dough rolled thin and fried. I’ll give the real things a go soon.

My fried pancakes, however, worked out really well eaten whilst hot and crisp and sprinkled with sugar.  I still had a few scraps left so fried those as well and here they are on top of some Coffee Sorbet I had left in the freezer after writing my recent little ebook “Sorbets & Granitas” 

 A nice idea, I thought. It makes me wish I was still cheffing so I could surprise the punters!

In Other News

We Hate to Waste, a website in America dedicated to the no waste lifestyle with loads of interesting ideas and info (and I really am not just saying that) have done me the honour of featuring my book and my humble self on their blog . Have a look, even if you don’t read the bit about me I think you’ll enjoy browsing the site.

Airline Food Suggestions to Avoid Food Waste (and make customers happier!)

Heard on a recent flight …

Stewardess …

“Chicken or Pasta?” (oddly enough not chicken or beef this time!) 

Passenger … 

“Which is nicest?”

Stewardess …

“I like them both, well … not really, of course, its airline food”!

We are home from Tortola (and I am missing my friends already – yes you lot!) and I apologise for having posted nothing at all for five weeks, which is mostly due to having very limited internet and partly due to being out enjoying myself all the time! Sorry!

It was a long trip home; up at 7 am Tuesday, car, 2 hours in airport (of course), flight to St. Maarten, flight to St. Kitts, flight to Antigua (island hopping is nowhere near as romantic as it sounds, believe me), 5 hours in Antigua airport, 8 hours or so across Atlantic, train to Reading, hour wait, train to Tiverton, bus to Plymouth, hour and a half wait in unheated waiting room, train to St. Austell, car home (thanks to good neighbour Bill) at about 7 pm Wednesday. Allowing for time difference this is about 32 hours. We went to bed as soon as we got in the door and slept till almost noon, nearly 16 hours.

That’s enough of “poor me” – I had a wonderful, wonderful time and have put lots of pics on my Pinterest board, “My bit” of the Caribbean.
  

Ideas to Improve Airline Food

In my experience, always travelling economy, food on planes has never been good but it seems to be getting worse!  Watching fellow travelers at mealtimes they all look disappointed to say the least and few people eat much.  As a result there is a lot of food wasted.

“Dinner”was a choice of a small amount (luckily!) of very overcooked pasta with bits of tomato sauce clinging to it, a spoonful of lettuce, ¼ of a large tomato and a very cold bread roll with just about enough butter for half of it. 

I realise that catering for hundreds of people in the confines of an airplane is not easy and I think, especially considering the amount of this food that is thrown away, that a whole new approach is needed.

The problems, as I see it are …

~   On long haul flights meals have to be heated from scratch in surely less than ideal conditions. I have frequently served meals for 200+ people and even with plenty of working space and no turbulence it’s quite a job!

~   A tight food budget, which seems to be getting tighter.  I don’t know the figures but it has been suggested that the budget is $5 per person!

~   A wide range of diners with all sorts of preferences and needs such as vegetarians, vegans, Muslim, Jewish, Rastafarian and other dietary requirements, people with allergies, gluten or lactose intolerant chaps, super tasters (like my real man) who can’t abide strong flavours, people on various diets such as Atkins (is that still popular?) 5:2, Dukan, Paleo etc. and, of course, Fussy Buggers.

~   Travelers who are already a bit grumpy, maybe feeling unwell and with suppressed or changed taste buds which is apparently one of the side effects of reduced air pressure and humidity.

Sometimes an airline will say that they are taking advice from one famous chef or another to improve their meals but it doesn’t seem to work, at least not in economy. 

I am not famous (*** yet but maybe getting there – see below!) but if I was in charge I don’t think I would try to emulate a proper meal be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. Instead I would offer a selection of easy to serve choices which, if it would make life easier, could be selected at the time of booking. My suggestions include …

Breakfast – just whole fruits and/or yogurt, these are both best served cold and come in their own containers, in the case of fruit its own natural wrapper. How about a sachet of granola which can be sprinkled on or stirred into the yogurt? Perhaps add a portion of honey or maple syrup. But if none of this works just a granola bar would be good.

  

Lunch/Dinner – bearing in mind that airline food has always been a huge compromise why not admit this and just go for a sarnie? I know some people complain that they will go soggy but Marks and Spencer seem to have got over this problem, maybe consult them! I also wonder if a pork pie would be out of the question! Crisps or similar are an ideal and easily served accompaniment and a salad is also possible as this is also best served cold. Desserts can be fruit again or biscuits, chocolate bars etc. None of which need any preparation or any serving dishes.

Afternoon Tea – it may be because I live in Cornwall but a cream tea seems a good idea here. Two scones, a container of jam (which you spread onto the scone first), a container of clotted cream (dollop this on top of the jam) et voila as we say in the Duchy. Other ideas include any number of simple cakes (nothing too fancy – the carrot cake dessert following the aforementioned pasta was served upside down so that the thin smear of frosting on it was stuck to the plastic container); fruit loaf for instance with a butter pat or two or maybe something along the lines of a Viennese whirl, Eccles cake, chocky brownie, muffin or even a French Fancy!!!

As I say these are compromises and in no way replace a full meal but then nor does the food airlines serve now and at least my suggestions might be enjoyable.  Perhaps unopened packs of crisps, biscuits etc. could be served again but, if for some Health and Safety reason, this is not allowed the staff could eat them thus avoiding unnecessary food waste!

Until these superb suggestions are adopted by the airlines it might be an idea to either bring your own food or at least to carry a little seasoning in your hand luggage. Salt and pepper, or course, plus maybe sauces or dressings of your choice, see here for a few salad dressing suggestions. IMPORTANT – Of course these accoutrements must all be in containers of less than 100ml all of which must be in a single, transparent, resealable plastic bag, which holds no more than a litre and measures approximately 20cm x 20cm. They must all fit comfortably inside the bag so it can be sealed and the bag must not be knotted or tied at the top. You are limited to 1 plastic bag per person and you must show the bag at the airport security point. All well worth it for a good dinner!

*** In Other News

I have been mentioned in today’s copy of The Independent in an article entitled … 

“This one’s for me; Chefs and food bloggers reveal their favourite solo suppers”

To read the rest of the feature (which includes Claudia Roden so you can see the sort of company I keep!) – read it online.