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.

@ishouldcocoa

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 :)

You're obviously a condiments fiend and most of the things on your list probably last a long time. But I shouldn't tell you that or they will still be here this time next year!

The ginger is a lovely ingredient for my recycled chocolate tiffin on page 310 of Love your Leftovers, which will also take care of any half open packs of biscuits in your cupboard.

No reason why you couldn't mix the hollandaise, mint sauce and dill sauce to have on the side with a nice piece of fish.

Or even as a change from ketchup with your fish fingers, perfect in fact, in a fish finger sandwich.

Redcurrant jelly makes a lovely hot and sour dipping sauce if you melt it with a little vinegar, chopped garlic and chilli.

As for the tahini - when did you last make a humous? You can also add leftover roast veg such as parsnips and carrots to the chickpeas. See my roast veg humous on page 124.

Hi Hugh,

My first question is my main one (posted yesterday about RC handbooks, but I've thought of another. Why did you do a book on Australia? It's t only one I haven't yet bought and I'm not sure about it - seems such a departure from your usual stuff. Can you convince me to get it? (And complete my HFW collection?)

@atrociouscook

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!

Hello atrociouscook

I bet you're not really so bad! I can see a very nice frittata or omelette coming together with everything in your list in it except the lemon curd.

And I think the nicest way to eat lemon curd is swirled into yoghurt rather than on bread. So I hope you've got some yoghurt!

CheeseEMouse

*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!*

Hi

You really have got a brilliant set of ingredients there for a big tray roast.

Chunks of squash swede and potatoes, tossed with a bit of your red chillies, finely chopped, oil salt and pepper, even the ginger if you like.

Roast at 190 for a good half hour, taking the tray out once or twice to give everything a good turn. It should all turn out crispy and caramelised. You can sprinkle the chopped parsley at the end. You really shouldn't be shy at putting things like this together even if you haven't ever combined ingredients like this before, I promise it will work!

@Quills

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

Great to hear you are going for a 5 bird roast. If you want the accompanying veg to stand out, try roasting with a sprinkling of cumin seeds.

I often roast whole sprouts and shallots together with cumin. It makes a great change form plain boiled sprouts.

squoosh, you vixen .

I'd like to know what is your favourite biscuit.

@WordGetsAround

Hi Hugh,

My first question is my main one (posted yesterday about RC handbooks, but I've thought of another. Why did you do a book on Australia? It's t only one I haven't yet bought and I'm not sure about it - seems such a departure from your usual stuff. Can you convince me to get it? (And complete my HFW collection?)

The Australia book isn't really mine, it's written by the host of River Cottage Australia; Paul West with a few recipes from me that I cooked when I joined him on the show. But it is a really lovely book, full of original ideas and even though its from the other side of thee world, you won't struggle to find the ingredients.

I've got a lot of jam on my preserve shelf. A couple of years ago the jam habit got a bit out of control. Any ideas for what I can do with random jams including Mirabel, blackcurrant, plum and gooseberry.

@WordGetsAround

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!

So glad you like RC Every Day but I'm betting that you will find Love Your Leftovers just as useful. Thank you for watching my War on Waste shows. Its support from people like you that will make the difference in the end. I'd like to ask the whole of Mumsnet to sign up to our pledge at wastenotuk.com/, it's very simple, we promise to be better at wasting less food at home, and at the same time demand that our supermarkets step up and do their bit to waste less too. We are close to 300,000 sign-ups but perhaps with help from Mumsnet, we can make it half a million - why not!

@expatinscotland

squoosh, you vixen .

I'd like to know what is your favourite biscuit.

Favourite biscuit is easy - I've loved ginger nuts since I was a kid, so they're not left over very often in my house but they are anther brilliant edition to my chocolate tiffin (p.310 in Love your Leftovers)

Thanks Hugh - and what about the River Cottage Handbooks? Can we have at least another 20, including honey and cheese?

@radiohelen

I've got a lot of jam on my preserve shelf. A couple of years ago the jam habit got a bit out of control. Any ideas for what I can do with random jams including Mirabel, blackcurrant, plum and gooseberry.

Hi radiohelen

Sometimes you can get away with mixing all your leftover jams together, to fill a Victoria sponge for example.

I also use the odds and ends of jams with plain natural yoghurt for a quick-fix pud or elevenses treat, maybe with a sprinkling of granola or even a crushed gingernut!

Jam mixed with yoghurt also makes lovely easy lollies if you've got something you can use as a mould.

The book is on my Christmas list.

Do your children use your recipes? Do they have a favourite?

My nearly 10-year-old daughter loves your flatbread recipe.

@StillNoFuckingEyeDeer

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

Hello StillNoFuckingEyeDeer, I remember you from last year (how could I forget?!?) Thanks for joining us again. I'm quite confident you could use the first 8 things on your list to make a delicious veggie hot pot and with your leftover cheeses, you must try my potted cheese recipe on p. 230 of Love Your Leftovers - really easy and delicious.

@expatinscotland

The book is on my Christmas list.

Do your children use your recipes? Do they have a favourite?

My nearly 10-year-old daughter loves your flatbread recipe.

Yes I'm delighted to say that my kids have been known to cook my recipes once in a while. It's breakfast things like drop scones and eggy bread they tend to do the most. But the two oldest are getting quite ambitious now at taking on meat and fish dishes.

@pastaofplenty

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

Hello pastaofplenty

This might sound like a fudge answer but it would have to be British food because we have adopted so many good ideas from food cultures from all around the world that we can pretty much cook anything we like!

Seriously, I love cooking exotic recipes with home-grown ingredients. It makes me feel like my veg garden stretches all around the world.

I like the sound of your leftovers apart from the cat food!

I think you have the makings of a lovely tart there. But if you don't feel like making a pastry case. You could just beat the eggs and creme fraiche, add the beans and rocquefort and maybe a friend sliced onion and bake in an oven-proof dish for a yummy supper. You can nibbles the olives with a glass of wine while you're waiting for it to cook and save that leftover roast beef for a fabulous sandwich.

Ooh think I'll have to get my teens into making drop scones, or Scottish pancakes as we called them after holidays at around that age in Scotland.
Used to make them with my sibs after school maybe before DM got home.

Do you have a good recipe? Think I'd put maple syrup on them now if I had some - but think they used to be very good just with butter!

How do you make fresh cheese/paneer? I tried using up some milk by adding vinegar to make a cheese like the internet told me but it was an unmitigated disaster! Is there a secret?

@TheSandmansSon

Hi Hugh, thanks for joining us today

Are you serious about those crispy fish skeletons in your new book -would you really eat them??

Absolutely serious! I know it sounds weird but fried fish skeletons are a really delicacy in Japan and are actually really easy with mackerel or sardines. Cooked as per the recipes they are not spiky or dangerous as you may expect but deliciously crunchy like pork crackling. I like serving them with a simple dipping sauce, made of soy, rice wine vinegar and a little chopped chilli.

@beardsrock

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.

People are a bit Marmite about tofu as of course it doesn't have much flavour and is more of a texture thing.

I do like it in a classic Asian type broth with strong flavours like lemongrass, soy, ginger and chilli, plus the texture of mushrooms, the contrasting creamy bland tofu works really well.

You can actually drop it in all kinds of chunky soups to get that contrasting texture.

Hi Hugh,

My French MIL insists on giving me jars and jars of home made apple jelly. She eats it on toast but I am at a loss at what to do with it. Any suggestions?

Toffee.

@OnePlanOnHouzz

Hi Mr.F-W. For us it's a name change that's required - if I say 'it's leftovers' there's a collective groan before I even start ! So - any cool names you can come up with to go with your inspirational dishes will be greatly appreciated !! Many thanks ! Karen, OnePlan ( thanks for your work with the fish and Chook peeps too ! You really did great ! )

I have to say I've come to love the word leftovers. It suggests new and improvised dishes to be excited about. But you could always call your leftovers 'pre-loved' if you think it might help!

@JugglingFromHereToThere

Ooh think I'll have to get my teens into making drop scones, or Scottish pancakes as we called them after holidays at around that age in Scotland. Used to make them with my sibs after school maybe before DM got home.

Do you have a good recipe? Think I'd put maple syrup on them now if I had some - but think they used to be very good just with butter!

There's a classic drop scone in the River Cottage Family cook book. But do try the oaty banana drop scones in Left Your Leftovers (p. 264); brilliant for using up very ripe bananas.

Do you have any cooking betes noirs that you just avoid now? I have accepted that I will never make sourdough bread without a bread machine and mix.