Tasty Leftover Recipes
PART TWO
Reducing food waste will have a positive impact on our contribution to climate change. Wasted food often ends up in landfill sites creating harmful gases, and when we waste food we waste all the water and energy that went into getting that food.
Find out how you can enjoy tasty meals and reduce food waste by trying the recipes from this booklet or use them to get some ideas for your own recipes.
This page contains the recipes from the booklet. The booklet includes tips to reduce food waste and eat leftovers healthily as well as some recipes provided by the local community for Food Fruition’s recipe competition.
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CLIMATE FRIENDLY FOODS
Some tips to reduce your carbon footprint associated with food are:
A diet based on vegetables and cereals is generally more environmentally-friendly than meat and dairy products.
Eating in season and locally grown fruit and vegetables.
Reducing food waste.
Less processed foods and less travelled are generally better.
FOOD SAFETY
General Tips
Make sure that food is fully cooked.
Do not reheat leftovers more than once.
Wash your hands thoroughly before you start preparing food.
Prepare, handle and store raw meat separately.
Keep chopping boards, utensils and work surfaces clean.
Check ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates.
’Use by’ date: After the end of this date food shouldn’t be eaten. ‘Best before’ date: Food can be eaten after this date although its quality may not be at its best.
POTATOES
To avoid toxins in potatoes:
Do not store potatoes in the fridge. Store them in a dark, dry and cool place instead.
Do not eat sprouting or green potatoes.
Do not burn or overcook them when baking, roasting or frying.
Do not eat raw.
RICE, COUSCOUS AND BULGUR WHEAT
To avoid food poisoning caused by bacteria:
It is best to eat rice immediately after cooking.
Place leftover rice in the fridge within an hour after it has been cooked and eat within 24 hours.
EGGS
To avoid toxins in potatoes:
Eggs shouldn’t be eaten after the ‘best before’ date.
Cook them thoroughly and make sure that both yolk and white are solid.
Store them in the fridge and keep them separated from other foods.
Place leftovers of dishes containing eggs in the fridge as soon as possible and eat within 2 days.
Cottage Pie
This traditional recipe can be done with leftover mashed potato or any other root vegetables, eg. Parsnip, celeriac, etc.
3 tbsp olive oil
1kg beef mince, or cooked lentils*
3 carrots, finely chopped
3 stick celery, finely chopped
2 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp tomato puree
850ml beef stock
few thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
*If using lentils, skip the browning stage and just add with stock and herbs.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Brown the mince, then set to one side.
Heat the remaining oil and add onion, celery and carrots to soften.
Add garlic, flour and tomato puree and cook for a few minutes before returning the mince to the pan.
Add stock and herbs, bring to a simmer and leave to cook uncovered for about 45 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper, and remove herbs.
Transfer to an oven proof dish, and spread over mashed potato.
Cook in a preheated oven at 220°C/200°C fan oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until top is golden.
Bean Burgers
Use any leftover cooked vegetables to make this super-tasty veggie burgers.
1 tin of beans, drained (you could also use chickpeas or any bean of your choice)
Equivalent amount leftover cooked vegetables, eg. Carrot, potato, beetroot, squash etc, mashed
1 egg, beaten
1 clove garlic, crushed
a squeeze of lemon or lime juice
pinch of spices of your choice
4 tbsp breadcrumbs*
salt & pepper to taste
*Make your own by breaking stale bread into chunks and pulsing in a food processor, or grating.
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Add everything to a food processor except bredcrumbs, blend together, taste and season well.
Form the mixture into burger shapes and coat in breadcrumbs. Spray or brush with oil and place on baking tray.
Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, turning once.
Fish Cakes
Use any spare potato chunks and stale bread for this fishy delight.
200g cooked fish
6 leftover mashed potatoes
1 egg, beaten
100g breadcrumbs
vegetable oil
2 tbsp herbs of your choice
Preheat oven to 200°C. Brush an oven tray with vegetable oil.
In a bowl, mix together potatoes, fish and herbs, and season well.
Divide mixture into 6, one at a time take a quarter and pat it into a flat circle. Dip first in egg, then in breadcrumbs and place on tray.
Bake for 15 minutes, turning once, until golden.
Panettone Pudding
If you have too much panettone left after Christmas, this pudding is a good way to use it.
½ panettone, stale is fine
25g butter
2 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of grated nutmeg
For the custard: (alternatively, buy ready-made)
350ml milk
50ml double cream
2 eggs
25g sugar
Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a pie tin.
Slice the panettone and butter each slice on one side. Spread a layer, butter side up, on the bottom of the pie tin. Sprinkle with cinnamon, repeat until you run out of bread, finishing with bread on top.
To make the custard: Gently heat the milk and cream together over a low heat.
Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk with ¾ of the sugar until pale.
Add the milk mixture to the bowl and stir well. Strain the custard into a bowl.
Pour the custard over the panettone, sprinkle with the remaining ¼ sugar and nutmeg, and leave to sit for 30 minutes.
Bake for 30 – 40 minutes, until custard has set and top is golden brown.
Shakshuka
This is a great middle-eastern dish to use overripe tomatoes.
5 large tomatoes, roughly chopped (or 1 tin chopped tomatoes)
1 white onion, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
8 eggs
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp harissa paste
small handful black olives, roughly chopped
handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped
In a heavy bottom pan, heat up a generous amount of olive oil over a medium heat.
Add in garlic and onion, a pinch of salt and sweat off for 5 – 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft but not coloured.
Add paprika and stir through for a minute, gently toasting the spice.
Add tomatoes to pan and stir everything together. Season with salt and pepper. Pop a lid on, turn the heat down and leave to simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the tomatoes have cooked down add the harissa paste and stir through. Taste to check for seasoning.
Make a well in the tomatoes with your spoon with one hand and crack an egg into it with the other – this requires a little dexterity, if it’s easier you can crack the egg into a cup first and pour it in. Repeat for all the eggs. Replace the lid and allow the eggs to poach.
Once cooked, remove from the heat and scatter over the olives and coriander. Serve immediately.
Chicken Noodle Soup
“After cooking a full sized chicken, I often have lots of bits of chicken left over. Sometimes I refrigerate the chicken overnight and use in a cold salad the next day, but in winter months, you cannot go wrong with chicken noodle soup. You can substitute the chicken for turkey. You should get 4 portions from this recipe.” – Eddie.
1.5 litres chicken stock*
2 carrots, sliced (thinly)
2 bay leaves
1-2 large onions (chopped)
1 small leek, trimmed, sliced (thinly)
2 celery stalks, trimmed, sliced (thinly)
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp salt flake
1 small bunch fresh thyme
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
150g/5oz rice noodles or Capellini (Angel Hair) pasta
*You can make your own chicken stock from leftover bones from your roast! Bring to the boil in a large pan of water with carrots, onion, celery and salt, then allow to simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Strain through a sieve and use as needed. Keep it in the fridge, or freeze in portions. You can add any herbs or garlic you like as well.
Heat the stock in a pan, add the vegetables, bay leaves, thyme and simmer until tender (about 20 minutes).
Remove the bay leaves and thyme.
Shred the chicken or turkey and add to the simmering pot.
After 2 minutes, add the noodles and cook them until tender (usually 3-4 minutes).
Remove from the heat, add the parsley and season with salt and pepper.
Broccoli and Almond Soup
This recipe is ideal for using broccoli leftovers.
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion
500ml water
2 teaspoons vegetable stock
50g whole almonds
100g broccoli florets
Roughly diced the onion and fry until golden.
Boil the water with the stock.
Add the almonds, broccoli, and onion.
Simmer for 10 minutes, leave to cool for 5 minutes and blend.
Bavarian Bread Dumpling
Semmelknödel in German, these traditional dumpling are quite easy to make and taste great! | Preparation: ~35 minutes | Serves 4
3 bread rolls (old and hard)
100 ml milk (hot)
½ Onion
10 g Butter
1 tsp Parsley
1 Egg
Pinch or two of salt, pepper, nutmeg
Optional: flour
Cut up the old bread.
Pour hot milk over the cut up bread and cover immediately.
Chop onions and throw in pan together with butter.
Add one table spoon of chopped parsley to the onions.
Add parsley and onions to the now softened bread.
Crack an egg over everything.
Add salt, pepper, nutmeg.
Work everything together into a dough.
With slightly wet hands form round dumplings.
If the dough is too sticky, you can add some flour to dry it up.
Gently lay the dumplings into slightly boiling salt water.
Reduce heat so that the water only simmers.
Leave dumplings in pot without lid for 20 minutes.
Dumplings are ready once they float at the surface.
Mashed Potato Cakes
If you have mashed potato left over from the previous day’s meal, this makes a great addition to a Scottish fry-up.
400g leftover mashed potato
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1-2 tbsp flour
salt and pepper
splash of vegetable oil
splash of milk (if necessary)
Mix the mashed potato with the egg and 1-2 tablespoons of plain flour.
The dough should be thick but if too thick add a little milk to loosen.
Add some salt and pepper to the mix then shape into a cake about 2 centimeters thick and 6-7 centimeters diameter.
Add some oil to the pan (if you have just cooked some bacon then this will add another flavoursome dimension to the cake), and fry over medium to high heat for 3-5 minutes until its crispy and golden brown.
Add a poached or fried egg on top to complete the breakfast of champions.
Eat Well Guide
To eat healthily you don’t have to only eat vegetables or to eat the ‘’super foods’’ that are so fashionable nowadays. To reduce your risk of diseases such as cardiovascular disease and some cancers, you just need to have a mixed diet which includes a variety of foods from the different food groups, in the amounts +-shown above.
Note: The Eatwell Plate does not apply to children under 2 years old as they have different nutritional requirements.