Roti Upma aka Fried Bread Curry - don't worry, it's really good!

I have just eaten A Very Interesting Thing which was also quick, cheap and used leftovers but I doubt very much that it was healthy. - fried bread curry!

Upma is a actually a South Indian porridgy dish usually made with semolina but also with lots of other things that will mush down such as rice or bread.  I don't like porridgy things so have never tried it and so didn't feel I could rightfully include the bread version in my bread section of Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers (see below ***). 

Recently however I have noticed a few Upma recipes using dried or fried bread which retains quite a bit of crispness so decided to give it a go. 

Roti Upma 

A somewhat inauthentic recipe because I didn't have all the right ingredients! ~ serves 1

   

2 separate ½ tbsp vegetable oil or ghee
1-2 slices bread - stale is good - diced or torn into pieces

(for me a small slice of sourdough and ½ an old roll I found in the freezer!)

¼ tsp mustard seeds

1 hot red chilli chopped

(I keep a bag in the freezer, they are easily chopped from frozen)

½ onion finely chopped

¼ inch ginger finely chopped

1 pinch turmeric

(I am ashamed to say I had no fresh ginger or turmeric so replaced these with a ¼ tsp curry paste which worked very well)

5 or so cherry tomatoes, quartered

a handful of cashew nuts

fresh coriander, chopped plus a sprig or two to garnish

~   Heat ½ tbsp oil in a frying pan then fry the bread in it till turning crisp and golden. Set aside.

~   Add the second ½ tbsp oil to the pan and then the mustard seeds and wait till they start popping.

~   Stir in the onion (and the ginger if you've got some) and cook till starting to go translucent then add the chilli and the tomatoes.

~   When the tomatoes start to mush down stir in the turmeric and/or curry paste and cook together a minute or so.

~   Taste and season then stir in the bread, cashews and chopped coriander. 

I stopped at this point because I don't like pappy meals but you could cook the mixture down a bit and maybe add a little hot water to achieve a more porridge-like consistency.  As I say, it was great and next time I feel I have been eating too healthily I intend to balance things up by making it again! 

***  In this book 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 including at least 16 ways to use up leftover bread.

Read more 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!

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

Quick Cheap Easy Way to Improve Almost Any Meal ~ Pangrattato!

Pangrattato (plural Pangrattati) 

Italian ~ breadcrumb

I had lunch at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen at Watergate Bay the other day (with a long time no see good friend which was great) where, on reading the menu, I realised that I’ve been at the pangrattato for many, many years without knowing it! Although pangrattato seems be the normal term on menus I think if I was still cheffing I might say pangrattati as just one sounds a bit meagre!

Good idea! Pin this
for handy reference.

Pangrattato/ti (from grated bread) is/are crispy flavoured breadcrumbs which are a fabulous way of adding deliciousness and texture to all sorts of meals; I find you can’t go wrong with a crunchy sprinkle! It’s also Very Cheap as you can use stale bread and the additions are a great way of using up other leftover bits and pieces.

This simple garnish (to say the least) can be varied in ways too numerous to mention but I’m going to have a go. I think this is another one of those genius recipes that once you know the basics you can go on to make any number of wonderful things.

Different breads can, of course, be used and all sorts of things such as nuts, seeds, herbs, spices etc. can be added to create the perfect pangrattato for your chosen dish. Make the breadcrumbs by grating the bread, chopping it finely or coarsely, or it running through the food processor. The advantage of this last method is you can add other additions such as nuts or herbs to the crumbs and chop them in at the same time. The disadvantage is the faff of setting it up and the subsequent washing up.

Olive oil is the most commonly used oil in pangrattato, flavoured oils are good, nut oils make a nice change and butter works too, especially for sweet pangrattato.

The breadcrumbs should be crisp which can be achieved by either baking or frying them. Either way you need about 2 tablespoons of oil or butter per 100g of crumbs and if you are adding garlic or herbs or spices it is a good idea to gently warm them in the oil over low heat before tossing with the crumbs, thus infusing the oil and making everything even tastier.

Baked Pangrattato

Moisten the crumbs with the oil, flavoured or otherwise and toss with other additions, spread on a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 180ºC/350°F/160ºC fan/gas 4 for about 5 minutes. If you are cooking something else a slightly higher or lower temperature is fine, just keep an eye on the crumbs.

Fried Pangrattato

It is far better, in my opinion, to moisten the crumbs with your chosen oil and then fry them in a dry pan rather than heating the oil in the pan and then adding the crumbs.  My way means that the crumbs have time to absorb the oil and so become uniformly crisp rather than the first bit to hit the pan frying hard and the rest having to catch up!

Don’t forget to taste and season your pangrattato before serving.

 Some Ideas for Pangrattato...

~   Just salt and pepper can be good – warm the oil with some coarsely ground black pepper, cook the crumbs then stir in a little crunchy sea salt.

~   Warm chilli flakes in a similar manner, perhaps with a little orange zest too.

~   3 Garlic Suggestions for Pangrattato ...

     1.  Warm finely chopped garlic in the oil or butter before tossing with the crumbs.

     2.  Use the oil from roasted garlic instead of plain oil or butter.
     3.  Black Garlic Pangrattati, (were you expecting this?) stir a little finely chopped black garlic or a teaspoon of black garlic paste into the oil, good dose of black pepper would be good in this.

~   One or two coarsely chopped anchovies and a little garlic – this is an interesting alternative to croutons in Caesar Salad.

~   Bacon or ham or chorizo etc. – coarsely chop and toss with the crumbs in the hot oil, particularly good sprinkled over macaroni cheese type dishes.

~   Pesto Pangrattato – warm a little finely chopped garlic and some coarsely chopped basil in the oil. Add some coarsely chopped pinenuts to the crumbs and as soon as you have cooked them and they are hot and crisp stir in some grated Parmesan.

~   Nutty Pangrattato – actually my first ever Sudden Lunch! post concerned cobnut pangrattato (although I didn’t realise it at the time!) and it was so delicious I remember it to this day. Might make it again in a minute, I’ve got some cobnuts.  

~   Lemon and Parsley – great for fish dishes, warm finely grated lemon zest and some coarsely ground black pepper in the oil and stir in chopped parsley once cooked. Maybe add a few chopped capers and sprinkle over smoked salmon with sour cream!

Sweet Pangrattati

Best to use butter for these and stir in a little sugar too.

~   Hot Cross Bun Crumbs! When making my Hot Cross Bun Ice Cream (our new favourite!) I like it if I have a few cooked crumbs left over; they are great sprinkled on fruit dishes or other ice creams.

~   Stollen Pangrattato, maybe add some crumbled marzipan and/or some chopped almonds – good over peaches, for instance.

~   Brioche Pangrattato – butter, sugar, perhaps some cinnamon or a little vanilla paste.

~   Etc.

As I often say with these genius recipes – “Your turn”!

What to do with your Pangrattato

You can of course sprinkle it willy nilly as the mood takes you but here are a few suggestions ...

~   Add crunch to perfectly cooked fresh veggies eg. asparagus or broccoli or green beans. Anchovy pangrattato is excellent with cauliflower.

~   Egg dishes as in my Toast on Eggs recipe here.
~   Toss with gnocchi – in my opinion gnocchi need all the help they can get!

~   Top risotto.
~   Sprinkle a little on cheese (maybe let it cool a little first if using on a cheeseboard), walnut pangrattato would be good on blue cheese, for instance, or pesto pangrattato with goat cheese.

~   Use instead of more traditional croutons on thick creamy soups.

~   Makes an almost instant gratin topping!

~   Sprinkle on salads.

~   Pangrattato is a perfect addition to creamy dishes such as pasta in an Alfredo Sauce.

Pasta con Pangrattato

This is a great emergency meal if you haven’t got much in!

 

~   Whilst cooking your pasta (any pasta will work) make a pangrattato with whatever you fancy but being a little generous with the oil or butter. It is best for this dish to cook the crumbs in a pan on top of the stove.
~   When the pangrattato is crisp and golden stir in some grated Parmesan (or blue cheese or mature cheddar or nothing) and any other additions you fancy.
~   Set a few of the crumbs aside to garnish.
~   Drain the pasta then toss with the pangrattato in the pan.
~   Sprinkle with the reserved crumbs and serve immediately whilst still crisp.

An alternative to breadcrumbs is tiny weeny croutons (lots more info on Croutonology here).

Sweet Pangrattato Ideas ...

~    Sprinkle over ice cream or top a sundae.

~    Porridge!

~  A quick crunchy topping for cooked fruits.

Jamie Oliver's Fifteeen 

Lunch at Fifteen was good and the dessert, a sort of white chocolate and strawberry cheesecake in a jar, was both large and gorgeous which is one of my favourite combinations!