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. 

Delicious Ways to Make Toast ~ not Waste!

Apparently, a gobsmacking, 24 million slices of bread are thrown away daily.  What is wrong with people?

The inestimable Love Food Hate Waste people have a new campaign; Make Toast Not Waste. How right they are.  

One simple suggestion they make is freezing unwanted bread which, usefully, can then be toasted from frozen.

Some while ago I wrote a post called 7 (+) Interestingly Different Ideas for Leftover Bread but making toast is a no brainer! 

Please pin for later!

Firstly, in addition to straightforward toast, here are four alternative types of toast you might like to try, they are all great ways to use leftover bread and the fourth one is surprisingly gorgeous.

1.  Cinnamon Toast & More – cinnamon toast is rightly famous but how about other flavoured toasts such as salted caramel or vanilla, for instance.  Read about cinnamon toast and more here. 

2.  Melba Toast – very crisp thin toast (don’t worry it’s easy) which is perfect with creamy things such as pate, hummus etc.  

3.  French Toast, of course. Here’s how to make French Toast, you don’t have to coat it with panko crumbs as mentioned in the post! 

4.  The Greeks have an utterly wonderful way of making grilled bread (toast) which I urge you read about and then have a go, it is called λαδοβρεχτό!

The great thing about toast is it can also be a vehicle (!) for so many things, cheese on toast is a given but there are so many delicious ways it can play a supporting role with leftovers, my favourite ingredients! ~ win/win situation. 

What leftovers can you serve on Toast?

The most famous leftover on toast dish is probably bread and dripping. You know how, if you chill the meat juices after roasting some beef, you get lovely savoury meaty jelly under a layer of beefy fat?  Well spread it on toast and sprinkle with a little crunchy sea salt; it is so much nicer that you can possibly imagine, and our forebears swore by it!

Leftover dinner on Toast!  

Depending, of course, on what you had for dinner, for instance …

~   Leftover fish and seafood, and possibly leftover veggies, are good stirred through and appropriate hot sauce (Alfredo Sauce for instance) and piled onto toast.

~  The same goes for chicken.

~  Most meats, fish and seafood are also good stirred through with mayonnaise (maybe a flavoured mayonnaise) and served on toast. 

~  Pile reheated leftover cauliflower or broccoli cheese on toast, sprinkle with freshly grated cheese and breadcrumbs and pop under a hot grill till melty, crisp and golden.

~   Spoon hot leftover mince or chilli con carne on toast – top with cheese and grill.
~   Leftover stews of all descriptions go well with toasted bread too but perhaps in this case serve the toast as a side rather than under the stew or it might get too soggy! Here’s how to make a lovely stew so that you will then have the appropriate leftovers. 

~   Beans on Toast but not as you know it, Jim.  If you have any canned beans that need using up then heat them up together with a little pasta sauce or cheese sauce or whatever you have, maybe add some shredded chorizo, pulled pork, ham, chicken etc. and pile on toast. Yet again cheese would be good on top.

Fruit on Toast

Butter the toast (leftover brioche or plain cake are good for this too), top with the fruit of your choice, sliced or diced or chopped as you wish, sprinkle with sugar and pop under a hot grill till caramelised.  Lovely breakfast! 

I’ve tried mango or peaches on toast sprinkled with soft light brown sugar, but obviously not bananas due to the old bananaphobia!   

No reason why you shouldn’t try bananas on toast though, maybe spread the toast with peanut butter before applying the banans or, alternatively, drizzle with chocolate sauce or sticky toffee sauce. 

Fudge on Toast is also good for breakfast!

Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers ~ a leftovers handbook

I love cooking with leftovers so much so that I have written a book giving every recipe, idea, handy hint, storage info, food pairing advice, cook’s treat and general stuff I can think of for 450 potential leftovers. Read more here.

Great Preview Here!

Xmas leftovers ~ too busy eating!

We’re stuffed and we haven’t managed to eat everything even though we’ve been training for weeks and gave it our best shot.  Here is a portrait of our leftovers …

I have of course written about seasonal leftovers before and with so much chocolate, brandy and other goodies to get through I’m a bit busy!

Today we went for a lovely Boxing Day Walk from Bedruthan Steps to Mawgan Porth and back, took a few pictures and discovered that my real man is a bit of a pin-head!

All the best for the rest of the festive season – I’ll get back to real blogging in the New Year.

More info on Christmas Food and Leftovers here …

Leftover Dinner on Toast!

~  Menu  ~

Leftover Dinner on Toast

White Wine Spritzer

Last piece of Christmas Cake

Coffee

Last night was yet another case of me cooking myself too much salmon so I put the leftovers, including the peas, in the fridge and today folded the flaked fish and peas into some mayonnaise with a few drips of sweet chilli sauce.  I toasted a couple of slices of sourdough, bunged the stuff on top, put it under the grill and Robert is my father’s brother!  (Not really).

So that was pleasant, as was lunch pudding – the very last piece of Christmas cake. This was not, however, the last of our Christmas leftovers.  

My real man insisted we buy pretty well the largest turkey on the planet despite the fact there are only two of us and I don’t much eat meat.  This means he still has, I think, 4 Christmas dinners left. 

No picture of those leftovers but I thought I’d just show you this rather fabulous sausage sandwich he had for lunch; made on a stottie cake, together with a useful tip.

In other news …

Speaking of Christmas leftovers I have just finished off some Salted Caramel Cream – 5 weeks out of date and just as lovely as ever (its got lots of other ingredients in it so perhaps that’s why it kept so well).

Read more here.

And from the future – my book on leftovers, originally published as The Leftovers Handbook is now in its second edition as Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers.  In it I give all the information, ideas, recipes, handy hints, cook’s treats, storage info, ideas of what goes with what that I can think of for over 450 possible leftovers. 

Just look at these bargains!

~  Menu  ~

Smoked Salmon with Copious amounts of Black Pepper

Sour Cream and Chives

Hot Freshly Baked Roll

Glass of White Wine

Coffee
68p the lot!

I had a wonderful lunch today, not particularly seasonal but totally delicious and so cheap!!!  The smoked salmon cost 30p, the sour cream abut 3p and the roll … 0.66p!!!  I love a bargain, me.

Isn’t this just amazing?  

2p for 6 part baked rolls which were perfectly utterly good and went straight in the freezer when I got home.  The same with the smoked salmon but now I have thawed it I’d better eat the other half this evening.  I didn’t freeze the sour cream and chives and it is now a day out of date but, being a bit of a rebel, I am now eating it anyway and it tastes fine, fine, fine. 

The half glass of wine cost about the same as the meal but at 68p the lot I’m not complaining.

Easiest, Deliciousest Pâté from leftover Salmon!

~  Menu  ~

Sudden Salmon Pâté

Toasted Sourdough

White Wine Spritzer

A Marvellous Chocolate Experience

Black Coffee

I always find salmon rather filling and as it is one of my favourite meals leftovers occur frequently, today I mashed up about 60g of leftover salmon with the remains of a packet of Boursin which was about  a tablespoon (isn’t Boursin yummy by the way!) and a similar sized dollop of roasted garlic mayonnaise.  It worked very well, I thought it would.

Lindor Balls!

My lunchtime pudding was rather special.  This year Santa brought me a great deal of chocolate and such like (I’d been very good) including a bag of wonderful Lindor thingies.  When I went to eat some I found that being near the fire the middles had melted.  Lush! 

They were difficult to unwrap due to being soft but well worth the patience because once in the mouth the chocolate shell broke open to release a gush of lovely liquid chocky goo.

I got the picture off the Lindt site; I hope they don’t mind but it just about sums up how lovely an experience my lunch pudding was. I turned the image upside down to more accurately portray the melted filling pouring down my throat.  I had a cup of black coffee with these for lunch and for dinner pudding ate the same thing but with a brandy.  Sadly they are all gone now.

Addenda

I love the above salmon pâté it has become one of my favourite lunches – these days I add a splash of sweet chilli sauce too.  Try it!

"The Perfect Egg" by Aldo Buzzi – an enthusiastic Review

A while ago I bought this lovely little book in a charity shop, what a wonderful find.  I keep it by me to dip into whilst waiting for something e.g. for my man to come back to the car, or the kettle to boil, that sort of thing.

This collection of 39 essays on the matter of food and food related ponderings is a joy to read, erudite, funny, thoughtful, mouth watering, the writing is sublime and, as the Mail on Sunday says (although I don’t always agree with them, I do here) …

“Scrumptious … the recipes here are almost incidental, stirred in with snatched of travelogue and languorous memoir that set each in time and place.”

There are indeed a few recipes in the book but as the Mail on Sunday put it they are “almost incidental”, they are also in some cases a little strange such as this boiled egg recipe from a fifteenth century chef …

“Put fresh eggs into cold water and allow them to boil for the duration of a  Paternoster or a little longer”!

For more information on boiling eggs, how long they take and other ways to cook eggs see here.

Aldo Buzzi seems to have been quite a guy; he was an architect, a food and travel writer and seems to have done quite a lot in the film industry from set design to screenwriting.  He lived to be 99.  

The Perfect Egg was published in Italian in 1979 and, luckily for me, was translated into English by one Guido Waldman and published in 2005.  I cannot recommend this book highly enough – get it from Amazon here. 

I shall certainly be looking out for his other writings, A Weakness for Almost Everything which was published in English in 1999 sounds particularly appealing.

Thank you Mr. Buzzi.

A Delicious Sandwich of Roasted Things!

~  Menu  ~

Toasted Duck & Butternut Squash Sandwich

Grattons 

White Wine Spritzer

We had roast duck for dinner the other night, duck is my favourite meat and I wasn’t disappointed. My real man ate both its legs and I ate one of its breasts.

The following night I made Roasted Butternut Squash and Duck Risotto which worked out well (for how to make risotto see here, and for how to roast squash see here) which is more than I can say for its photo – not shown!

Today’s lunch was obvious as soon as I opened the fridge; a toasted sandwich filled with leftover squash in roasted garlic mayonnaise and the last of the duck breast.

The biggest problem I had was I really couldn’t decide on red or white wine but was a good girl, I didn’t have both.

My real man and I also enjoyed nibbling on a few grattons – duck skin cooked in its own fat till crispy, at which stage I did wish I’d gone for the red.

My Leftovers Cookbook

As you may know I am nearing the deadline to submit my book manuscript and so was um … disappointed to discover that the word count on my computer has been ignoring all the words in text boxes which is how I have chosen to display my more major recipes. This has put me 12,000 words over the limit. On the plus side (slightly) I also find that bullet points count as a word so I can offset some of these against the other problem.

Apart from saying rude words I am dealing with this situation by editing the duck out of it. Not really, more like editing the bottargo and jackfruit out of it.

I have always fancied being a food writer – working at home, cooking and eating and sitting around writing about it. The reality is a little different; this constant typing has given me bursitis in both shoulders and a squint!

Read more here.

However …

News from the Future … my book was published in March, 2013. Originally titled The Leftovers Handbook a second edition is now available and is now called Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers.  In it I give all the information, ideas and recipes I can think of for over 450 possible leftovers. 

In Other News

I would just like to say how very, very, very (you can see why I fancy myself as fluent!) pleased I am to hear that Paul Ainsworth has received his first Michelin star. His restaurant, No. 6 in Padstow, is my favourite place to eat out of a more than our fair share of excellent restaurants. Congratulations to Paul and his staff.

Tsung yu Ping! ~ aka Chinese Pancakes

~  Menu  ~

Tsung yu Ping

A Sudden Dipping Sauce

Sparkling Water!

Although my Daddy always told me not too play with my food I often do and today I did it a lot!

I’m afraid I’m not going to tell you much about what I made as I have to save a lot of good things for my forthcoming book ~ see below. I will, however, tell you about lunch; I had a go at the old Tsung Yu Ping malarky.  

I have always fancied these but never got round to doing them so having got a bunch of spring onions free with a lettuce a week or more ago I decided now was the time. Tsung yu Ping means …

Chinese Spring Onion Pancakes – makes 8

I made the dough in my stand mixer as it is very hot and hurty to do it by hand.

200g plain flour

salt to taste

125ml boiling water.

Approx 2 teaspoons of sesame oil

1 bunch of spring onions – coarsely chopped

oil for frying

~   Stir together the flour and salt.

~   Gradually mix in the hot water and knead till you have a soft dough but one that is no longer sticky. 

~   Cover the dough with a damp cloth and leave for half an hour.

~   Divide into eight balls and roll each ball into a thin pancake, brush each with sesame oil and sprinkle with the spring onions.

~   Roll each pancake from one edge to form eight little snakes.  Coil up each snake and then re-roll into pancakes.  This creates layers as with puff pastry.

~   Heat about 10mm depth of oil in a frying pan and fry the pancakes till crisp and golden on each side. 

~   Drain on kitchen towel and eat them!

I didn’t have quite enough spring onion to give a fair dose to all the pancakes (which, incidentally, are more like flatbreads or pastries than pancakes) so used salted cashews for the last two.

The pancakes were tender and flaky with crunchy outsides. I ate three for lunch with a sudden dipping sauce made by adding soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce to the sesame oil left in the little dish.

Later the same day I ate another three for dinner stacked up with roasted salmon which I had first marinated in the leftover dipping sauce from lunch (you see how I “work”!) and salad.  

Read More Here!

I Love Leftovers!

As you can tell I am a bugger for leftovers so I wrote Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers  which is about getting the utmost pleasure out of every single scrap of food available. The waste it tackles is not that of money or of resources but of good eating opportunities. 

In Other News …

~   Here is a sample of bus stop graffiti in Padstow – eat your heart out Banksy!

Omelette – the Perfect Dish for Miscellaneous Leftovers

~  Menu  ~

Trash Omelette

Bit of Red

Sparkling Pear and Ginger Fizz

When I lived in the British Virgin Islands I sometimes used to have breakfast at De Loose Mongoose which is on the beach just a few watery yards from our boat. 

I don’t know if they still do but they used to serve a Trash Omelette, cunningly making it out of whatever they had leftover from the night before.  

Omelettes ~ a Perfect Way to Use Up Leftovers

I thought of De Loose Mongoose today when I was looked in the fridge and found …

½ red onion

4 thin slices chorizo

1½ cold cooked new potatoes

a smallish piece of red pepper

1 broccoli floret

little broken off corner of Davidstow Cheddar

… that all pretty well needed using up.  So this is what I did:

Why not Pin for Later?

~   Thinly sliced the onion and cooked it till sweet and tender. 

~   Coarsely chopped the chorizo and fried it in a little oil till crispy then set it aside.

~   Diced the cold potatoes in the chorizoey oil in the pan till crisp.  As there wasn’t enough oil I added some from my jar of recently roasted garlic.

~   I added the red pepper, coarsely chopped, and the broccoli broken into tiny florets. 

~   When the veggies were just turning tender I stirred in the cooked onion and the crisp chorizo.

~   I whisked together 2 eggs with salt and pepper and a few drips of hot sauce, poured it over the potato mix and cooked for a few minutes till almost set.

~   When almost cooked I sprinkled the top with the bit of cheese, grated, and slid the omelette under a hot grill just to melt it and set the runny bits of egg.

Halfway through this last stage I had a too late inspiration – I wish I had sprinkled a handful of panko crumbs on top for crunch, but I didn’t.  Maybe next time. 

The other day we had Pear and Ginger Crumble for pudding: I gently cooked the pears in syrup from the Stem Ginger jar which tasted good but produced Far Too Much Juice.  I kept back about 60ml and drank it today topped up with fizzy water.  I’ve done this before with juice leftover from cooking rhubarb and no doubt I will do it again – makes a pleasant change in the drinks department.