Leftovers are my Favourite Ingredient!

I've had a humdinger of a day, so far, with the old leftovers – I’m getting quite good at this, at least I think so!

A couple of days ago I was a bit over-enthusiastic in the dumplings department when making my darling’s traditional weekly Mince & Dumplings.  He could only manage 10 (what a wimp) which left 4.  

He was therefore served them this morning for breakfast; cut in half and fried with bacon and an egg.  He liked it, I knew he would.

Yesterday the very same darling had roast pork with all the trimmings (which for him includes Yorkshire Pudding and Sloppy, aka Mushy, Peas).  The smallest amount of Yorkshire batter I can reasonably make, using 1 egg and a tablespoon of flour, makes 6 puds so I had 3 for breakfast with butter and maple syrup.  I liked that but only because it was delicious, but I wasn't surprised - Yorkshire pudding batter is the same as crèpe batter so it was bound to taste good.

Nice pinnable image, don't you think?

If you are feeling a bit on the poor side I heartily recommend making Yorkshire Puddings – they are quick and easy, delicious, versatile and make loads for so very little money – see here for how to make the best (and cheapest) Yorkshire Puddings ever!

Last night I couldn’t eat all my salmon so finished it at lunch in a salad. 

For my about me and my leftovers see (and follow!) my Pinterest board ...

Leftover Food ~ Delicious Ideas 

Life is NOT too short to stuff a mushroom!

~  Menu  ~

1½ Stuffed Mushrooms – details below

Balsamic Glaze & Nubbly Bread

Small glass Secret Red

Yesterday’s lunch was about as sudden as it gets – even after I’d started making it I wasn’t sure what it was!  

Getting peckish and with nothing planned I perused the surprisingly empty fridge (probably because I cleared it out the other day) and the only things I could find that really needed using up were 1½ chestnut mushrooms,  a small dish containing a tiny amount of leftover bread sauce (recipe for luxurious twist on bread sauce here) and a bit (little bit) of stuffing.  

I wondered about mushrooms on toast with a creamy sauce.  Not enough mushrooms to go on toast. 

I stirred the sauce and stuffing together in a thoughtful way.  I took a picture ...

Nice Pinterest friendly image - hint, hint!

The mushrooms and I looked at each other and then, inspired, I stuffed ’em! I bunged the bread sauce mixture into the mushrooms, scattered with panko crumbs, drizzled with olive oil and cooked in a hot oven till crispy and golden.  

I only had a few small salad leaves and half an onion to garnish but the balsamic glaze not only looked good but tasted great.  Phew – close one but I got away with it, again.

Today’s lunch was sudden too – last night I had tomato soup with cheese straws made from pastry scraps and today I had leftover cheese straws with a dipping sauce, so to speak, make by mixing roasted garlic mayonnaise into 2 tbsp leftover soup. 

See here for more ways to enjoy leftover soup including quite an unusual idea!

and

See here for lots of ideas for pastry scraps.

  

Happy Pancake Day!

~  Menu  ~

Butternut & Chilli Hash with a Poached Egg

Very small glass of red

Leftover Pancake Batter

Coffee

Last night I cooked a full on roast chicken dinner for the menfolk.  I often do that because a) they like it, b) it’s cheap (£5 for a 2kg chicken), and c) there are loads of leftovers.  

They have all the traditional stuff but for me, I always cook roasted butternut squash with red onions and chilli flakes to which, last night, I added a couple of parsnips.  Delish, but not so delish I could eat it all!

And so for lunch today I tipped the remains of my roasted veg into a hot pan, lightly mashed and pressed it into a cake-ish form and fried it till hot and golden.  I then ate it topped with a poached new laid egg (see here for info on poaching eggs) and finished with a few leftover croutons crumbled over it to provide some crunch.

Pancake Day today, of course, which to me means the yummy delicate crèpe type pancakes my Mummy used to serve with lemon and sugar.  However my real man begged to differ and also needed breakfast before going to work so I made equally viable thick American style pancakes with bacon and maple syrup.  This too is yummy.

My Standard Pancakes Recipe

This makes about five 3" pancakes …

120g plain flour

pinch salt

1 tbsp sugar

rounded teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

100ml milk

a little vegetable oil

~   Stir together the first 4 ingredients.

~   Male a well in the middle of the flour mixture.

~   Break the egg into the well.

~   Gently whisk the egg into the flour and, as it thickens, gradually add the milk, still whisking, till you have a thick but pourable batter.  This may or may not take all the milk, or might even need a tad more, depending on the make and age of the flour.

~   Heat a non stick frying pan and carefully, using a piece of paper towel, smear the surface with a little cooking oil.

~   When the pan is hot and greasy pour a 3" circle of batter in the pan and cook till the surface is pitted with burst bubble holes.

~   Using a spatula or a deft flip of the wrist turn the pancake and cook till the other side is golden.

Serve immediately or keep in a warm oven till all are done so everyone can eat together.

My man ate 4 with 2 thick slices of bacon and I had 2 with 0 slices of bacon.  There was a little batter left in the bowl so I decided to finish it off in an artistic (for me) sort of way. for lunch pudding; I tried to a spiral of batter in the pan and added a few chopped walnuts!

I then made An Arrangement on a plate and drizzled with the maple syrup.  Tasted much the same as breakfast but looked better!

Nice palindromic date today, by the way – 2102 2012!

Lots more Pancake Recipes Here
and
Pancake Toppings and Additions Here

 

Inspired by Clearing Out the Fridge!

~  Menu  ~

Honeyed Stilton on Toast

Glass of Dessert Wine

(can’t remember exactly what!)

Strawberry Flan & Clotted Cream

A funny thing happened to me this morning.  I got up as usual and was just drinking my coffee when all of a sudden I was struck by an unfamiliar sensation - I felt like doing housework!  

So I cleaned out the fridge and below is a list of what I found and what I did or am going to do with it.

~   ½ a cucumber – I'll pickle it and then it will last for ages and be delicious in salads, see my Pickled Cucumber recipe here (incidentally this is  one of my most popular posts because of the Rumpot recipe therein)

~   2 packs cheap strawberries so I made a flan (English flan, not American where “flan”, indefinite article, means a sort of egg custard) with a sponge base I had laying around in the freezer.   My real man is chuffed!

~   a small bowl of cooked rice

~   a few salmon trimmings

~   a Peas and Edamame Salad from Tesco – I shall stir fry this with the above rice, the above salmon and a spoonful of lovely spicy but sadly secret sauce that my friend Deb gave me.

~   pastry scraps – I always have these – probably cheese straws because I love ‘em, but see here for lots of idea for leftover pastry

~   a few tablespoons of cooked mince – left over from Real Man’s Mince & Dumplings  – make myself a chilli as in Chilli con a bit of Carne here.

~   a little bit of juice from cooking plums – refreshing drink with sparkling water or maybe stir into yogurt for breakfast tomorrow.

~   about an ounce of cooked ham and 1 rasher bacon – these will go into tomorrows roast chicken stuffing - homemade stuffing recipe here, you'll have to scroll down somewhat!

~   a small piece of Stilton – with this I made ...

Honeyed Stilton on Toast

This is just gorgeous; the sweet caramelised honey is a perfect foil for the sharp, salty taste of blue cheese.  Crumble Stilton, or a similar blue cheese, over toast and drizzle each slice with a teaspoon or two of runny honey.  Bake in a hot oven for about 5 minutes till the cheese is melted and the honey is bubbly and golden. (See here for lots more cheese on toast ideas.)

~   a glass or so of dessert wine – I drank it.  What would you do?  After lunch I completely lost the urge to do housework!

Cheers!

Famous One Ingredient Banana Ice Cream

We were “lucky” enough to buy 10 bananas for 57p the other day.   I say “lucky” like that because, as I have mentioned before, I am bananaphobic.  The only good thing about bananas is how excellent they look when growing.

In my quest, however, to tackle every possible leftover situation I thought I’d experiment with freezing the buggers.  This was mainly because I have seen a lot on the internet about One Ingredient Ice Cream so I made this …

It is so simple!

All I did was peel and slice a banana (not too thick – about 6mm) and freeze it.  I then ran it through the processor and it went sort of broken up and granular and then smooth and creamy although, sadly, still tasted like bananas!  I believe, however, that this can be disguised to a certain extent by adding other flavourings – e.g. how about a bit of instant coffee and/or some rum, or chocolate sauce or crispy bacon (yes, bacon), or vanilla extract, or whatever you fancy.

Slices of frozen banana can also be snacked on straight out of the freezer, perhaps dunked in melted chocolate as you eat them, or used in smoothies or larger pieces can be coated in chocolate once frozen to make banana choc ices. 

Or just mash bananas and freeze for later use in banana bread, cakes, muffins, pancakes etc.  Add a little lemon juice so stop discolouration and store in smallish amounts rather than one bloody great lump.

So my real man has had a bit of a banana fest today (as he had to be my main tester) but not to be outdone I did a small apple experiment too.   

I had a spoonful of cooked Bramley apples and some pastry scraps so cheered myself up with a fried apple turnover I been meaning to attempt for some while.

Just fold the pastry around the apple, seal and fry in a mixture of butter and oil.  I am Very Pleased with this; instant and cheap gratification.  Instead of pre-heating the oven and baking for 30 minutes or so I had delicious apple pie within minutes and the pastry was lovely fried instead of baked. 

See here for 10 interesting ways to use pastry scraps, plus a boring one!

Talking of being pleased and completely off subject I just wanted to share something that makes me grin every time I see it; the cover of a bargain diary I have recently bought.

Save the Children Lunch at St. Petroc's Bistro

~  Menu ~

“Pizza Bianca” with Mushrooms & Black Garlic

Secret Red

In the fridge today was a small dish of leftover Alfredo Sauce, 2 mushrooms and half a pizza base.  Lunch was immediately obvious ...

See here for Alfredo Sauce recipe (used in a similar way!) – I just spread the cold sauce on the base and topped with the mushrooms, coarsely chopped black garlic, grated Gran Padano and coarsely ground black pepper.  Talk about Lunch!

Speaking of which yesterday my friend Carol and I partook of lunch at St. Petroc’s Bistro – one of Rick Stein’s many eateries in Padstow.  It was a special menu to raise money for Save the Children.  

 I had …

Seafood Soup

Baked Cod with Garlic

Orange Tart with Crème Fraîche

Carol had …

Smoked Trout with Horseradish Cream

Seafood Thermidore

Panna Cotta with Poached Rhubarb and a (perfect) Shortbread

It was both good value and delicious with excellent friendly service but I do have a small demur - it was a very, very, very, very garlicky meal.  Not only was the cod topped with whole garlic cloves but the dish of perfectly cooked cabbage served with the meal was at least 25% al dente slices of garlic.  Now I don’t mind a bit of garlic, me, but my real man was appalled when he got home and had to feed me humbugs throughout the evening to try and clear the air!

Periodic Tables – oddly enough!

I have seen a few unusual periodic tables on the net recently; 

• The Periodic Table of Desserts – “A Scientific and Rigorous approach to patisserie”!,
• The Table of Condiments that Periodically Go Bad 
• The useful Periodic Table of Produce – showing storage info 
• ... and lots here 

But the very best one I have seen is this  …

... simple yet effective.

"The Oxford Companion to Food" by Alan Davidson

~  Menu  ~

Cauliflower & Cornish Crackler Fritters

Spicy Tomato Sauce

Glass of Secret Red

Last night I cooked too much cauliflower and was going to sneak it into tonight’s veggies to go with my Real Man’s Mince & Dumplings but I had a better idea.

Cauliflower & Cheddar Fritters 

I made this up as I went along but had the presence of mind to notice what I was doing for once!

2 tbsp self raising flour

30g grated Cheddar – I used lovely Cornish Crackler

salt and pepper to taste

1 egg

a little milk

100g cooked cauliflower – in small pieces

~   Mix together the flour, cheese and seasonings.

~   Stir in the egg and then add enough milk to make a very soft dough (or, possibly, a very thick batter).

~   Stir in the cauliflower.

~   Drop tablespoonfully into a little hot olive oil and fry till crisp and golden on both sides.

I topped these with a big spoonful of spicy tomato pasta sauce which I always keep in my store cupboard.  It occurs to me that these fritters would work, with flavour adjustments, for 100g of all sorts of leftovers!

I have just been to the library and collected The Oxford Companion to Food – luckily I had my real man with because it is HUGE!  

I cannot conceive of the mind of Mr. Alan Davidson who has compiled so much food info.  It’s phenomenal!

I looked up Lunch, although I thought I already knew what it is and discovered that …”there are few foreign equivalents” to lunch as most countries consider midday a good time for their main meal.  I learnt that our modern meal of lunch dates back to the early 19^th century when it was a meal mainly partaken by women or ladies who lunch.  I am delighted to read that many 19^th century lunches appear to have been “collations of leftovers” but not that “British lunch has generally lacked gastronomic interest” – well not here!  

Having aspired to become one of the “lunch-eating classes” I am determined to make the most of the meal.

I have just dipped into this wonderful book so far - it is very interesting and informative but tiring on the arms.