Top 7 Deliciously Different Ways You can Use Up Leftover Bread

This is without me throwing away a single slice! These people are nutters.

There is so much can be done with leftover bread, it goes with almost anything! As I have mentioned before I stash all my crusts and bits and pieces in the freezer so that I always have the making of something good.

There are, of course, many well knows dishes such as bread sauce (my luxurious bread sauce recipe is here), bread pudding (both the custardy one and the manly bread pudding!) , croutons and pangrattato (posh word for crunchy breadcrumbs) so on, all great uses of spare bread but this post suggests some more unusual ideas from around the world that are well worth trying.

Pappa al Pomodoro ~ Tomato and Bread Soup from Tuscany – for 4

This is traditionally made with fresh tomatoes but canned chopped tomatoes work fine as a substitute, or use a mixture as in this case.

750g cherry tomatoes
2 or 3 thick slices of stale rustic bread - diced
60ml olive oil
1 medium onion – finely chopped
3 finely chopped garlic clove
small bunch of fresh basil – the leaves shredded, the stems coarsely chopped
1 x 390g carton or 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
(if flavoured with garlic, basil or chilli all to the better!)
250ml vegetable stock
a little great extra virgin olive oil for drizzling and/or freshly grated Parmesan

~   Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/170ºC fan/gas 5.
~   Toss the cherry tomatoes with a little of the oil season and roast in a shallow dish till starting to collapse. You can do this hours or even a day or so in advance if you happen to have the oven on for something else.
~   Gently cook the onion in the rest of the olive oil till starting to soften, then add the garlic and basil stems and cook a few minutes more.
~   Add both the chopped and the roast tomatoes and the stock and bring to a boil.
~   Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring and squashing a bit.
~   Stir in the bread and most of the basil and allow to sit of the heat for several minutes.
~   Stir the bread unto the tomatoes to form a thick porridgy situation.
~   Now it’s up to you;  leave it at that, stir more to make a silky texture, add more stock or water for a soupier consistency, taste and season.
~   Bring back up to temperature and serve drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with Parmesan and scattered with shredded basil (or parsley as in my photo but basil is best!)

The Tuscans also make a fine bread and tomato salad called Panzanella - see here for details.

Skordalia

This is a traditional Greek sauce, a kind of garlicky mayonnaise with the bread replacing the egg yolk. This makes 150ml.

80g of dry bread torn into pieces
1 clove of garlic – chopped
pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp red wine vinegar or lemon juice
4 tbsp olive oil

~   Soak the bread in cold water for a few minutes till saturated then squeeze out as dry as possible.
~   Crush the garlic and the salt to a paste with a pestle and mortar.
~   Work in the damp bread and stir in the vinegar.
~   Gradually, a drop at a time as with making mayonnaise, whisk in the olive oil to emulsify.

Fried Bread Curry! (aka Roti Upma)  

This really is delicious, so much nicer than I expected and now a regular for me.  The recipe for Roti Upma is here, check it out! 

Melted Onion Panade – for 4

This is also surprisingly lovely!  A kind of French onion soup / bread pudding cross! It is best made with more substantial bread rather than the soft stuff.

3 large onions
3 tbsp olive oil
350g good bread – thickly sliced
About 500ml good beef stock (or other if you prefer) – hot
200g grated cheese – I used Davidstow Cornish Crackler which is divine

~   Melt the onions in the olive oil and when utterly, utterly tender turn up the heat and stir till starting to caramelise.
~   Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350°F/160ºC fan/gas 4.
~   Put the bread on a baking sheet and pop in the oven for a few minutes till dried out but not taking any colour.
~   Butter a shallow ovenproof dish and lay a third of the bread slices in it. Break them if necessary to fit in neatly.
~   Spread with half the onions and sprinkle with a third of the cheese.
~   Repeat these layers, using up all the onions, the final layer should be bread sprinkled with the last of the cheese.
~   Pour over the stock, adding just enough to lift the top layer of bread so it starts to float. Do this gently so the cheese stays in place!
~   Cover the dish with a sheet of foil and bake for 45 minutes then remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes or so till the cheese is golden and delicious looking, like this ...

Curried Cashew Fritters

I invented this just after I wrote Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers  which is a shame, I would have loved to have included it!

1 medium onion – diced
½ tbsp oil
1 tsp curry paste
120g stale bread – torn into pieces, spread out and left to dry out for an hour or so (or popped in the oven for a few minutes)
up to 125 ml hot vegetable stock
as many salted cashews as you fancy and can muster – coarsely chopped

~   Fry the onion in the oil till soft and turning brown.
~   Stir in the curry paste and cook a couple of minutes till fragrant.
~   Add the bread pieces and then gradually stir in the stock.  The bread should soak up all the stock and be completely soft but with no excess liquid in the pan so don’t add it all at once, take it slowly.
~   Remove the pan from the heat, cover, cool and then chill to firm up.
~   When ready to cook add 80g coarsely chopped salted cashews (don’t add them earlier as they seem to go soggy).
~   Divide into four little cakes and fry in a little oil till hot crisp and golden.
~   Serve with a dollop of yogurt or raita and a bit of salad.

French Toast Pancakes from Leftover Bread

This is useful if you fancy French Toast but only have bitty scraps of bread, and in this case softer bread is best. Per person you need ...

1 egg
½ tbsp sugar
50ml milk or cream or a mixture
a drop of real vanilla extract
pinch of salt
40g ish of stale bread pieces

~   Whisk together all the ingredients except the bread.
~   Stir in the bread and allow to soak a few minutes.
~   Melt a little butter in a non-stick frying pan and using a slotted spoon carefully transfer the bread to the pan forming into two cakes.
~   Cook till the bottoms are firm and brown, turn very carefully and cook the other side.
~   Serve with maple syrup or whatever else takes your fancy.

Apple Cribbly

A touch of nostalgia for me here – we served this dessert in our restaurants in Cornwall in the 1980s. It is either traditional Cornish or Cornish-ish, either way it is perfect with clotted cream.

You need about equal quantities of peeled and diced apple (this is one case where I don’t recommend Bramley apples; you want them to hold their shape) and diced stale bread, nothing too substantial in this case.

~   Toss the diced apple with sugar to coat, discard any that doesn’t stick.
~   Melt a knob of batter in a frying pan, add the sugary apple and cook, stirring occasionally till it is softening and browning and oozing lovely caramelly juices.
~   Use a slotted to spoon to remove the apple from the pan and set aside.
~   Add the diced bread to the pan and cook till the juices have been absorbed and the bread is turning crisp and golden.
~   Return the apple, toss all together and serve immediately with ice cream, cream or clotted cream.

If these are just a few of the suggestions I can think of for leftover bread  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!

Six Deliciously Different Salads You'll Love this Summer!

It’s a bit in and out weather-wise here today but nevertheless I’m going to write about salad.  It is June after all!  Here are six of my favourites.

Peppered Steak Salad with 2 dressings! 

This is probably my most successful salad ever, it became so popular that people would order it even if it wasn’t on the menu! That didn’t really faze me because it is quick and easy and, as I always kept the trimmings when I prepared steaks, there were usually a few around. If not I cut up a steak and added the remainder to my collection.

steak or steak trimmings

salt

plenty of freshly ground black pepper

a little olive oil

salad leaves

Balsamic-Dijon Vinaigrette – preferably homemade

a little brandy

double dream

~   Cut the steak across the grain into strip about 5mm thick.

~   Toss salad leaves in a little vinaigrette to coat.

~   Season the steak with a little salt and then with lot of black pepper as this pretty well the point of the dish!

~   Heat the oil in a hot pan then sear the steak which will be all it needs to cook to medium-ish. Set the steak aside whilst finishing the sauce.

~    Add a tablespoon or so of brandy to the pan (carefully and if using gas do this away from the flame), add enough cream to make a small sauce and simmer for a minute or so till thick.

~   Arrange the dressed leaves on a plate, the steak on the salad and then drizzle with the sauce.

~   Eat immediately with good bread.

Roasted Carrot & Pecan Salad

A few months ago I “discovered” Chantenay carrots and the best thing I like about them is how lovely they are roasted – just topped and tailed, tossed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted, covered with foil, for about 45 mins then uncovered and cooked a bit more till caramelised.  

Roasted Chantenay carrots make a wonderful salad warm or cold tossed with a few toasted pecans and tender leaves and then drizzled with balsamic glaze. You can make this glaze yourself by boiling down balsamic vinegar to about a quarter of its volume and sweetening with honey but it is easier and less smelly to buy it.  Season with lots of freshly ground black pepper and crunchy sea salt.

Panzanella

This is a Tuscan salad made from bread, tomatoes and other good stuff.  Per person you need ...

1 tbsp olive oil
½ tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

100g ripe tomatoes – coarsely chopped

half a small red onion

a little crushed garlic

1 slice of good country bread

~   Mix together all the ingredients except the bread mashing slightly so that the tomatoes release their juices.
~   Toast the bread till crisp, golden and maybe just starting to char a little!
~   Cool the bread, tear into pieces and stir into the tomato mixture.
~   Set aside for about 10 minutes, the aim is to have some of the bread soft and juicy and some of it still crisp.

According to Love Food Hate Waste we in the UK throw away 24 million (!!!!!) slices of bread a day. What is wrong with people?  See here for 7 more unusual ideas for leftover bread – and that’s just scratching the surface. In fact, see here for ideas and recipes for 450+ leftover foods!

Grilled Lettuce with Warm Bacon-Balsamic Dressing 

Serves 2

This is quite posh but easy!

1 little gem lettuce cut in half lengthwise

3 tbsp olive oil* plus a little extra

2 rashers of smoky bacon in small dice

½ tsp runny honey

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

a handful freshly grated Parmesan cheese

freshly ground black pepper

~   In a small pan cook the bacon in the 3 tbsp olive oil till it is crisp and golden.

~   Lift the bacon from the oil with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain on kitchen roll.

~   Allow the olive oil to cook slightly then stir in the honey and vinegar.

~   Set aside for a few minutes whilst cooking the lettuce.

~   Pre-heat a grill pan, griddle or frying pan to good and hot.

~   Lightly coat the cut side of the lettuce with fresh olive oil.

~   Season and cook cut side to the heat for a few minutes till turning golden.  Do not cook the other side.

~   Serve the lettuce cut side up, drizzled with the warm dressing and sprinkled with crispy bacon and parmesan.  Grind over a plentiful grind of black pepper.

*  As you may have realised this is really great, in a way, with bacon fat instead of olive oil.

Lemony Salmon Salad

This is good if you cook too much salmon as I often do – eyes bigger than my head syndrome. Not so much a recipe – more an idea. Make a simple lemon vinaigrette ...

90ml olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon caster sugar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

salt and pepper

~  Put all the ingredients in a jam jar, put the lid on tightly and shake till combined.

~  Toss leftover or purpose cooked salmon into the dressing and chill for a few hours. 

~  Toss with diced ripe avocado and a little mayonnaise.

Add fresh herbs, a slice of lemon and a white wine spritzer and you’re laughing!

Blue Cheese, Sugar Spiced Walnuts & Pear Vinaigrette

.

For this one you need ...

a lovely blue cheese – I like St. Agur

salad leaves

pear vinaigrette

sugar spiced walnuts

Pear Vinaigrette

1 large almost ripe pear

150ml cider vinegar

2 tbsp runny honey

200ml olive oil

~   Peel, slice and cook the pear in the vinegar till tender and the vinegar has gone!

~   Put the pear in a liquidiser or food processor together with the honey and whilst running gradually add the olive oil till the dressing has emulsified.

~   Taste and season.

Sugar Spiced Walnuts

~   Toss all together to make a salad! 

Sorry I haven’t got a photo of this one but here's a nice one of Cornwall!

Lovely Summer Dessert

You know what would make a good dessert after one of these salads?  Ice cream, that’s what and I just happen to have written a book, Luscious Ice Creams without a Machine, on a cunning no churn ice cream recipe ...

Great preview here!