Bring Me Your Leftovers - MadameD's Food Surgery

[MadameDefarge]

Got a fridge full of nonsense, or indeed, rather lacking in anything?

This thread is to help those stumped for ideas with what they have lurking in their fridge/freezer/cupboard and need to knock something up.

I am here quite a lot, and as a professional (resting) cook I would relish the challenge to help people out!

it would also be good with just a plain tomato pasta sauce...

huuuuuum, Bolognese!

reporting back, yesterday's leftover casserole was stupendously good. The mushrooms seemed unaffected by being frozen, and were not mushy;they bulked out the chunked meat. I had however put in too much celery, or maybe it would have needed longer to dissipate, as the chunks tasted too strong, so got fished out.

It was a bit too wet, as I put in a litre of good beef gravy plus the remains of the potroast veg whizzed up with red wine, but the liquor was as good as I have ever made, and reminiscent of Brown Windsor soup, which I think I only did once as it is very expensive and wasteful of ingredients, if done properly. Mash helped soak it up. Have chilled two half-litre tubs of the casserole for freezing or reheat.

so that's all the wilty vegs and left overs dealt with.

yay! I must admit I was a tad concerned about the whizzing, but glad it worked out and you have yummy stuff over too.

vegetable bake, god sorry, missed that.

Steam chopped veg green beans, carrots, broccoli, sliced tats etc make a white sauce. If you are a bit scared of the trad bechemel sauce technique, try delias easy one. I would also add more milk and make it like a custard consistency. you do need to commit to using a decent amount of salt, Also stir in two or three teaspoons of english mustard (though dijon would be fine too. if you have parley do add some.

arrange veg in dish. Pour over sauce. You could add cheese to the sauce to if you fancied. I would personally top with breakcrumbs, but thats just me! bake for about 20 mins or until golden and bubbling. 180C

This could be fun, my fridge consist of:
dry cured and smoked racks of lamb.
sausages
"lutfisk" (stock-fish soaked in lye)
black pudding (the sweet variety)
mashed swede
steamed asparagus
red cabbage.

Yay! I cant wait!

you will haveto wrestle with the lutfisk yourself. Maybe rebury it for a while?

A couple of decent meals there!

What was the lamb smoked with? Any particular herb or spice rubbing?

Otherwise I would cook it with as a normal rack, and make a braised red cabbage [http://frenchfood.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/Red-Cabbage-In-Wine-Recipe.htm here]] THis recipe isnt' too heavy.

Serve with the mashed swedes, butter etc.

Just to check do you have dry cured smoked lamb, or dry cured lamb, and also non cooked smoked lamb?

A bit confused about the sweet black pudding, do mean a spanish style one like Morcilla?

I would do bangers and mash with the black pudding, with a rich onion gravy with a bit of added apple and vinegar to give the sweet sour flavour that would go well with both sausages and black pudding.

steamed aspargus, I would roast very quickly in olive oil and seasoned, and serve with a poached egg with a melted butter sauce with lemon juice in it (careful to not use the whey)

Wow, what a great thread I have just stumbled on! Just marking my place as will definitely be back !

or a hollondaise if you want.

is whizzed veg wrong?

well, as you found out, it adds more gloop to the stew. and I do like the texture of veg so would have probably just chopped to same sized pieces and added near the end just to warm through in the stew really!

maybe half and half would be better, so you still get the lovely taste of the veg cooked through the whole dish

OK. The whizzed veg were soft cooked from the previous pot roast, rather well done, and were whizzed a sort of puree sauce, about 250g. I threw in fresh carrots, parnips and onions in chunks to cook in the casserole itself

it does sound rather fab! get you with the other veg in there too now...

This is a fab thread. Just marking my place and will be back this evening after a lovely day at work.

Madam D, sounds fab!

[http://www.dinside.no/924542/slik-velger-du-pinnekjott This is the lamb...]]
Salted, dried, cured, and smoked. Then steamed for three hours. It is delicious. But we have leftovers. Lots of them!

I fully take your point about lutefisk, but my sister ate it all cold as a bedtime snack yesterday!

Red cabbage and hotpot
Pickled onions I would eat out the jar with cheese
(Still has tonsillitis, still on no food and hungry!!)

Nearly full pack of weetabix , we don't eat it, bought for fil. What can I do with it

Ditto the jars of pickles etc

Hellooo, back again! I have a block of sweet dessert pastry and a jar of mince meat. I was intending to make mince pies but it seems pointless post Christmas. So what can I do with these?

I have (store cupboard) lots of sugar (Demerara, caster, icing) different spices incl ginger, sultanas, desiccated coconut.

Plus a half jar of cranberry sauce. You don't need to find a use for all the ingredients just thought I'd give an idea of what else I have..

Make one big mince pie, in a pie tin, with lattice pastry on top. Eat with custard. Bloomin' lovely.

yes I agree, Remus, I would also mix in the cranberry sauce.