Webchat with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Thursday 3 December - Love your Leftovers

[UrsulaMumsnet]

In the second of our awesome chef webchats this week, we're welcoming HUGH FEARNLEY-WHITTINGSTALL for a webchat on Thursday, 1-2pm.

Hugh will be on hand to help you with your Christmas cookery conundrums and to celebrate the release of his new cookbook Love your Leftovers, we're also inviting you to challenge Hugh to come up with a recipe from your leftovers.

Join us on Thursday at 1pm or post a question to Hugh in advance on this thread. Everyone who posts a question or sets Hugh a leftover challenge (let us know what's lurking in your fridge) will be entered into a draw to win one of four signed copies of his book.

Hello Hugh

Im a great fan of yours. Been down to RC and done a fair bit of foraging with your friend John. I try so hard not to have leftovers, and having a couple of dogs certainly helps, but its the contents of half jars of stuff that take up a WHOLE shelf of my fridge that leave me flustered.

(I'll leave out chutney, as I use that up on your lamb and squash curry which I make regularly, and mustard as that always goes with sausages)

So, the list is as follows, and your mission - should you choose to accept it - is to make up as many suggestions as you can... or even a 3 course meal!

Pickled ginger
Stem ginger
Hollandaise
Mint Sauce
Dill sauce
Tapenade
Tamarind
Redcurrant jelly
Tahini
Tom Yum paste
Pesto (going mouldy as usual)
Horseradish
Umani Paste

I wait with bated breath :)

Oh, this caused me to look in all the corners of the fridge and I discovered:

some leftover cheesey potato
lemon pesto in a jar
some home made lemon curd, almost on its last legs
two rashers of streaky bacon
pickled beetroot and a very soft and squidy acovado.

Trouble is, I can't bear to throw anything away, unless of course it's crawling with maggots. HELP!

I believe maggots are good for catching fish, atrocious

Hi Hugh,

I thought your recent programme was really thought provoking and it certainly prompted me into making more soups and being a bit for mindful in general.

That said, I impulse bought an acorn squash at the local farmers market at the weekend and it is now languishing in my fridge as I don't want to just bung it in a soup. Other things that are lurking include a heel of ginger, 3 red chillis, a quarter of a swede, some sad looking potatoes and some parsley. Can you help? Thank you!

I know what I want to ask.

Is it true.........

Nah, better not.

Hi Hugh,

On Christmas Day I'll be cooking for my husband and our two daughters, aged 7 and 1. We're having a five bird roast and I have no problem with using up the leftovers, but I'm struggling to know what side dishes to cook in the first place! My husband loves big flavours, so I want something he'll enjoy but that the two girls are also happy to eat. Equally, I don't want to spend the entire day in the kitchen, so dishes I can prep the day before would be very welcome indeed.

Keep up the good work

Hi Hugh,

I absolutely have no cooking related questions whatsoever to ask you, just want to say hello and I think that you rock! Love your new shorter hairstyle

Been to Park Farm and is absolutely bee-yoo-tiful. You are one lucky devil.

Keep up the good work,
Beards.

Squoosh :o You beat me to it....

Will inspect fridge and cupboards later and come back with a question.
Love RC and all the programmes.

This...err....might not end well.

Hi Hugh, thanks for coming onto mumsnet! River Cottage Every Day is the only cookbook I have (out of about 100!) that I have made more than 10 things from. I counted up the other day and have made at least 30 of the recipes - and every one was brilliant!

I loved your war on waste programme - best things I've seen for ages. I've signed the petition and am really looking forward to your update next year. The most significant point for me was the food charity man saying that supermarkets are built on a philosophy of over-supply, and that being out of stock was the cardinal sin - to be avoided at all costs. It has really made me rethink my own approach to food and shopping at supermarkets.

Also, I have every River Cottage Handbook and hope they go on forever! I absolutely love them. A honey one and a cheese one would be brilliant. I'd love it if you could give me a heads up of upcoming ones?

p.s if anyone reading this is a massive HFW fan and is looking for other great options, try Matt Diacono. His books are outstanding!

More ways to use coffee grounds, please. I've dried the ones leftover from my last batch of cold brew, but now I have an entire jar full and no idea what to do with them. I'm going to do the coffee rub in the book but that'll only use up two tbsps so will barely make a dent.

What can I do with the rest, please, Hugh? We don't really garden, so would love to use them in a recipe instead. Cake? Stew? Coffee-granola? Somehow magically transform them into instant coffee granules? Help! Why is making cold brew so deliciously wasteful?

Hello Hugh!

Looking forward to catching up with this thread after work tomorrow.

In my fridge I have:
Broccoli
A few baby plum tomatoes
A small bit of cucumber
Baby potatoes
A sweet potato
Peppers
Ginger
Garlic
Butter
Milk
Cheeses (double Gloucester, cheddar and a little bit if mozzarella)
Turkey ham
Quorn chicken
Quorn frankfurters
Prawns
Eggs
Chocolate

Anything (edible) I can make from that lot?

Thanks

Hi Hugh

I meal plan so generally have few leftovers and anything that is leftover finds its way into something. The bits and bobs that I have hanging around at the moment, prior to doing a meal plan thu or Fri, are:

Half tin baked beans
Red peppers
Few spring onions
New potatoes
Some bacon lardons
Greek yogurt
A sweet potato
Carrots

Do not fear, these will all be eaten one way or another! Any interesting ideas welcomed!

Oh, actually I have a question.

Leftover tofu.

How do you make it edible, let alone interesting?

I put some in a veggie lasagne the other week and it tasted like chalk. It was the hard, crumbly stuff. Maybe I'll just use Tasty Lancashire next time.

Hi Hugh

I'm another menu planner who doesn't often have lots of leftovers but when we do I'm often at a loss with what to do with them or forget about them and, when rediscovered, worry if it's still edible.

My question is what's your favourite thing to cook because you know you will enjoy the leftovers.

Hi Hugh

I'm from France - so am I am used to people saying we have a "national cuisine" - I don't think we really do to be honest, we are perhaps just a bit more seasonal and, dare I say, rigid, in our likes and dislikes!

If you had to eat one country's cuisine for the rest of your life what would it be?

In my fridge I have:

Olives - mixed
Roquefort
Eggs
Left-over roast beef
Half a tin of flageolet beans
Creme fraiche
Half a tin of cat food

Thanks

PS: Your Meat book is a family favourite - and your barbecue rib recipe is awesome and so very easy to do; thank you

Ha, squoosh beat me to it! Come on, someone's got to ask the obvious question. Might it be best asked live?

I'm working sadly but I'm sure one of you will do the dirty work.

Oh Jesus YES ask it ask it ask it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ask what? ....

Squoosh's question was my first thought too, lol.

Followed by...

Why do you have so many leftovers that you need a whole book? I cook, we eat it...occasionally there's enough to freeze one portion for later, mostly it's just, gone.

Hi Hugh,

Like word River Cottage Every Day is my most used cookery book. It's just superb and I've never had a dud from it. Thank you :)

My question is what things do you always cook extra of so that you can make something else with the leftovers?

I always fry up left over boiled spuds for dinner the next night. And extra broccoli and green beans gets chopped into small bits and used in a cheesy omelet. Yum.

Oh it just has to be asked, has to.

Please someone do it.

I'm in the wrong time zone for it :(

I am actually glad to have a chance to ask a question.
I watched your latest TV program where you accosted people in the supermarket and threw a percentage of their shopping away. Did you check that those people could afford to lose that food or was it faked? My husband and I found that very difficult to watch as we are on a very tight food budget and count exactly what we need. If someone threw away a percentage of our food shopping we wouldn't be able to eat at the end of the week. I can't ask a question about leftovers as we never have them.