Food thread! Favourite leftover dishes, avoiding waste, menu ideas.

[Ninkanink]

Thought I’d start a thread for everyone to post their tips and ideas on how best to use foodstuffs. Hoping it could be an easy guide as well for those who maybe aren’t so used to home cooking or using leftover foods, or understanding how best to utilise everything you have, expiry dates etc.

We have always been very conscious of food waste so we plan very carefully to use every scrap of food, it’s not hard, it’s just a skill one develops.

I’ll post some of my favourite leftover/using up bits meals and menus here and if anyone else wants to as well, please do!

Oops forgot coleslaw/other fresh salads - lots of delicious variations.

Also lends itself very well to South East Asian broths/rice dishes/stir fries.

Actually if I had cabbage right now I’d probably do a Korean pancake or Thai fritter.

I like doing a skillet of fried onions and garlic, fennel seeds, chili flakes (to taste), pork sausages broken into little meatballs, deglaze with wine if you have it or just with water, and then toss in lots of leafy greens in the porky liquid. Savoy cabbage works well, also chard, kale, beet tops, spring greens etc. Eat with crusty garlic baguettes if you have them!

I made moules frites last night because Ocado didn't have chicken. Using the leftover white wine/cream/gubbins to make sweetcorn, bacon and potato chowder for lunch.

I’m cooking down some lamb bones and the more scrappy bits of the lamb leg with salt, pepper, a little Garam masala and some cumin seeds, ready to make a curry tonight.

The lamb leg was divided into this lot (which will make two meals) one lot for the freezer and a bigger butterflied bit to roll with herbs/aromatics (which should make three meals).

Pork goulash has been bumped further along the meal plan so mushrooms will be used for something else, which is just as well since they’re not a traditional ingredient (although I really don’t mind popping something extra into a dish as long as it vaguely goes with the theme).

It’s looking and smelling great!

I can recommend scrambled eggs and mushrooms on toast for breakfast!

Just prepped my veggies for the roasted veg pasta sauce. Ended up with 2 courgettes that were a bit soft, a slightly droopy yellow pepper, 2 red onions that I took outer layer off, half a BNS from yesterday and the rest of a punnet of cherry tomatoes that were too soft for salad. Looking forward to this!

Mmmm yes I do love mushrooms on toast. I’m trying to decide whether I want to save them for a cooked breakfast (which we have for dinner here and there), but we have had that fairly recently and I quite fancy a change...I’m saving our eggs so I can’t do scrambled eggs...but I could do cheesy mushrooms on toast or in a toastie for lunch, after we’ve used the ham today and tomorrow.

Or I might do us a cheesy ham and mushroom toastie today and tomorrow...

I’m hungry.

Thanks for all the cabbage suggestions.

I’ve got an absolute cauldron full of minestrone soup on the hob. It is really delicious and would definitely use that recipe again. Thanks for the recommendation.

As usual I forgot to read the comments below the recipe or I’d have noticed it served about 8 not 4! Lots for the freezer. Oh, and my tiny pasta stars had been lingering in the cupboard since 2015 so I decided to go with spaghetti instead. Can’t wait for it to be ready.

The pasta stars should still be just fine, if you haven’t got rid.

The minestrone looks great! It’s one of my favourite soups.

They’re also very practical because they don’t take long to cook so you can make up your soups or stews without the pasta element and then just add a handful to a single serving when you actually come to reheat the soup, or more handfuls for more servings. It avoids the craggy element you get when pasta sits in liquid for longer periods (although I don’t really mind that, I find it comforting and cosy).

@Xiaoxiong your skillet stew sounds great! I’m going to go with that idea for dinner tomorrow, I think. I’ve got some part baked crusty rolls looking to be used which will make for passable garlic baguette.

@cricketmum84 that will be delicious! I love that slightly gooey roasted vegetable yumminess.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie that cabbage in marmalade sounds very interesting. I like her recipes.

Just about any combination of odds and sods of veg, sliced up, can be made much more interesting as a Thai style stir fried side dish, or simply with rice or noodles. You don’t need the fancier veg such as baby corn/sugar snap peas.

You need a couple of tbsps of oil, pref. sesame, but it’s not critical, and a sauce made of 2 tbsp water, 1 of soy sauce, 2 of oyster sauce. (This for 2 good portions.)
And some crushed garlic, just stir fry all together for a couple of mins, add the sauce for another min or so. Quick and very tasty!

A small amount of frozen fish can easily be stretched if you have rice and an onion, into a curried kedgeree. Quick and easy too. Smoked haddock works v well, but any fish will do.

Poach the fish in water until just done, remove fish but retain the fishy water! - flake the fish, discarding skin and any bones. Add a fish or chicken stock cube and more water to the fishy water,

Fry some finely chopped onion gently for a few mins, add curry powder to taste. Add rice - 75 - 100g per head according to appetites - and fry gently until just beginning to crackle. Add stock, bring to boil, cover and simmer, topping up stock as needed. When nearly done, mix in the flaked fish.

When done leave with lid on and heat off for 5 mins.

A garnish of chopped parsley, coriander or spring onion is nice - if you have any.
Traditionally served with hard boiled eggs but I prefer it without.

I can take a pic of the marmalade cabbage recipe, if anyone wants it.

Yes to the marmalade cabbage. I intrigued by that!

@Remus yes please! We don’t have cabbage at the moment but I’ll file it away for use another time.

The curry is done, refrigerated and ready to have another day.

Used the small remainder of lamb mince nacho mix bulked out with last tin of kidney beans, added some debatable looking mushrooms, tinned tomatoes and bizarrely a tin of spaghetti hoops. Seasoned, topped with cheesey mash using up some elderly potatoes.

‘Just-throw-it-in pie’ It smells nice. DH is eyeing it suspiciously. I haven’t mentioned the ingredients yet.

That looks delicious. Curries are always nicer a day or two later.

We’re having a Friday treat. Burgers from the freezer (!!!) in baps from the freezer (!!!) with onion rings from the freezer (!!!). I needed to make space for all the minestrone soup. I’m going to try some fancy tornado potato things from Bosh.

www.bosh.tv/recipes/peri-peri-tornado-potato

@PurpleDaisies your dinner sounds like the kind of dinner that is just perfect for my mood today. Enjoy!

I forgot to say, I saved the lamb broth from cooking down the lamb, which wasn’t needed for the curry recipe, and I will use it to add extra flavour to a Lebanese lamb and bean stew I’m planning to make in a few days time (unless I change my mind on menu, in which case I’ll freeze it for posterity).

Craving onion rings now. I guess you need a deep fat fryer though? Might have to experiment with batter and a frying pan..

Loving reading all your recipes, even thinking about trying a sourdough starter, think there’s a random bag of weevil filled flour somewhere in the cupboard.

Lasagne tomorrow, without my usual kidney beans to bulk it out. Can usually make 3 large lasagnes from one pack of mince. Wonder if baked beans would work? Usually add mixed veg too, still got some sad looking mushrooms, and maybe some frozen spinach.

Also no white sauce. Will try to improvise. Have some cheese, and some double cream. Also a bit of powdered milk, think that would work?

That’s if we survive tonight’s pie I am NOT the best cook in the world

I often use baked beans in chilli. Can’t see why they wouldn’t work. Don’t tell any Italians though!