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!

oh and thank you vest. as long as the cupboard has an ensuite...

educating girl. this I can def help with.

Sweet potato gratin.

400ml of milk. bay leave, thyme, a bit of grated nutmeg if you have it. bring to boil. turn off heat, leave to infuse for ten mins.

Sweat down chopped onions and garlic clove.

grease baking dish with butter. layer up sweet potato and onion mix. season as you go. pour over the milk.

cover with foil and bake for about 30 mins until sweet potato tender. squish sp under liquid and cover with about 50gs grated cheese. cook uncovered now for another 30 mins until bubbling and golden.

You need to let it stand for about ten mins before serving.

If you have any cream, then substitute for same amount of milk.

If you can't sort yourself out with a mini fruit salad and yoghurt then I give up on you!

Though you could do a kind of apple and strawberry (not grape!) crumble...

:D Thanks so much! Yes I can manage the fruit salad!

or coat the grapes in icing sugar and freeze.

omg have just seen the link to the Simon Rimmer stilton mushroom pies. They would completely hit the spot in some carb-free form for me.

Do you think it would be ok to:

• leave out the pastry completely and cook in dollops in ramekins? or in a fairy cake tin? In which case, what do you do - butter the dents and lob it in, or actually put in paper cases?

• substitute shredded sweetheart cabbage for the carrot?

I am imagining these would work better cold than souffle and might do for work...?

Thanks!

I would just have the filling as is, no further cooking required.

For work I would blanch some broccoli or green beans, or spinach and peasm or lettuce and peas in stock, then slather the filling on top.

if you need to sub the carrot ( I am guessing they are too high in carbs I would not use cabbage. It has its own needs for cooking. peas would work?

but finely chopped broccoli stems would work as well.

peas also carby.
I think chopped celery might be the thing (instead of carrot)

Is there no way without the pastry to make it into discrete "things" rather than "stuff"? I guess not, as now I look you serve it in ramekins, so it was always going to be "stuff". Maybe an egg would make it cake-able

Am I just being weird now?

not necessarily. it would end up as a stilton and mushroom frittata, which would work for me! I would also add fresh chopped parsley!

you would need to figure out the amount of eggs needed though so it wasn't too dense.

ok!
I appreciate this thread greatly, what a fab idea, it is sad if people all over the country are throwing away weird bits.

Maybe we should have a companion Swap Thread. I have a jar of posh looking pate (with a long shelf life) which I can't bear (I hate the taste of liver). anyone want to swap it for anything? anything fishy or spicy you don't like?

Gosh, I do like the idea of a unwanted comestible swap. but it could be pricey on postage and packing?

maybe we could commit to donating to our local food banks?

Hi MD, I have two tubs of ricotta that need using, I have puff pastry in freezer so was wondering about doing some sort of tart, but open to suggestions. Thanks!

this is really special but a bit faffy.

ricotta and caremelised onion tart with puff pastry

rose elliot also does a fab ricotta, courgette and pea lasagne...need to look it up though..

9 sheets lasagne

olive oil
2 chopped onions
500g thinly sliced courgettes
275g prozen petit pois
4tbs spoons chopped mint (dried would be fine, just do a tbls)
500g ricotta cheese
300ml milk
300 ml soured cream
75g paremsan grated
salt and pepper.

Soak lasagne sheets (even if supposedly precooked) in cold water.

fry onions gently until they start to soften, then add courgettes. cover and cook gently for 20 mins until tender but not browned. stir in peas and mind, season.
mix Ricotta with 2 tbs of milk, to loosen it a bit. season.
Drain lasagne.
Line dish with one layer of lasagne. Spread half ricotta mixture over lasagne and half the courgette and pea mis over that, the another layer lasagne, then ricotta, then courgette. Finish with layer of lasagne.

Make topping out of sour cream gradually loosened with remaining milk. pour over. sprinkle with parmesan.

bake in preheated oven 200C for 40 mins.

If you don't have sour cream, thenI think a normal, but rather loose white sauce (bechemel) would work, with parmesan mixed in.

proscuito tomato and ricotta tart

This is good too. You could make it with baked or fried bacon, or ham, if no prosciutto. maybe leaving out the olives. use dried basil if no fresh, but drizzled with olive oil to rehydrate a bit.

this also takes my fancy, leek and ricotta tart

And here isBaked ricotta
Serves 4
A whole ricotta (try a 250g/9oz tub, from supermarkets)
Page75133549926.jpg
Toppings of your choice such as honey, oranges and lemons or dried chilli, dried oregano and fresh marjoram leaves
Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas 5. Place the ricotta in a baking dish, making sure to drain and discard any liquid. For a sweet version, drizzle with honey and grate over the zest and very fine slices of oranges or lemons. For a savoury dish, drizzle the ricotta with olive oil, season, crumble over dried chilli, then scatter with oregano and fresh marjoram leaves, if you like. Roast for 20-25 minutes until any water has evaporated and the ricotta is golden around the edges. Leave to cool and serve at room temperature.

Thanks they look great. Think I might go for the onion tart as we are having a buffet lunch at my mum's tomorrow and my two siblings are vegetarian. The sweet baked ricotta looks yummy too!

I like this thread. I have 18 chicken breasts to use up. Have a few store cupboard ingredients and can buy fresh ingredients as needed. Things have are
soy sauce
hoi sin sauce
rice wine vinegar
stock cubes
balsamic vinegar
worcestershire sauce
tomato puree
honey
golden syrup
tinned tomatoes
cannellini beans
lemon juice
garlic
ginger
frozen peppers
frozen sweetcorn
basmati rice
egg noodles
tortilla wraps
pasta shapes
lasagne sheets
bacon
shortcrust pastry
dates
prunes
raisins
dried yeast
red lentils

I hate spicy food, DH hates cheese and neither of us like cream based things.

hope it works! I do a similar one to it...

Do you like polenta?

that is to sharon!

What can I do with the two boxes of dates I bought? I don't like dates. I bought them in case my sister fancied something sweet as she doesn't eat refined sugar. But she didn't and now I'm stuck with them! What can I do with them?

first that comes to mind is Ching He's three cup chicken, which is not spicy unless you add the chilli. you could add it after for your dh.

three cup chicken

Dont worry about using breast, just cut into strips and cook for less time. same with sesame oil, not critical