I have one update at the end here from Betel at Rustic Food, Ay Coregi, a crescent roll from Turkey.
By now we all know the reasons for staging this monthly event. I need say no more.
A crew of ten cheese sandwich munchers (plus myself) show what cooking at home is really about and how imaginative it can be. It’s about trying to find a use for the limp celery lying in some undetermined liquid in the bottom of the crisper. It’s about trying to emerge from under a stack of dried bread crusts with something other than croutons or breadcrumbs. It’s about finding something unexpected in the back of a cupboard or fridge and putting it to good use. It’s about using every last scrap of food cooked and then knocking together a few dribs and drabs for lunch on Monday.
Occasionally, we may shop for specific ingredients for that special dish. I find those kinds of recipes annoying and impractical for everyday. I’ve more important things to do (blog?) than prance around like some ponce seeking the perfect ortolan that I’m going to ruin with truffle oil anyway.
How exciting is it is it to have a freezer stacked withhome made chicken stock? With a few left over veggies, herbs and spices and potato/rice/pasta/noodles to make infinite variations of dishes spanning the globe.
Thanks to all of you for taking pak and I’ll be back for more recycyling ideas mid-April.
In NewZealand, Bron Marshall managed to whip up a béchamel from some manky but surprisingly crisp celery with left over salami and some other kitchen staples. These were stuffed into impressive pastry cones made from, you guessed it, left over puff pastry. With a dusting of praprika finishing these delights the family were complaining that Bron hadn’t made enough.
Haalo at Cook everything almost once from my current hometown Melbourne (in Australian, not Florida) got all rhetorical: What more could be Pete Wells? Taking some savoury pie filling, feta, run of the mill, good ole everyday cheese that’s sitting in the dairy drawer and finally a couple of pita bread cases. With the help of the spiffy sunbeam toaster, stale-ish leftovers becaming glistening, crispy munchies.
From Germany Katja over at Kaffeebohne caught my eye with Serviettenknödl –a dough made out of old bread and other ingredients. Orginally from Austria and Bohemia, the dough is cooked wrapped in a clean towel (serviette or napkin and hence the name). Katja usually eats it with mushroom and freezes half for another time. Serviettenknödl can be eaten as either a sie or a main.
Queen of the herb bloggers Kalyn from Kalyn’s Kitchen in Salt Lake City dumps all her chicken leftovers in the freezer until there is enough to make stock. She thinks of Pete Wells as she dices in some carrots and hacks at the onions as well as any other veggies past their prime. In the pot they go to create a delicious and versatile chicken stock…
M over at Not Gourmet in sunny Queensland, Australia uses every last inch of pork belly. The two main dished are Porketta (Italian Pork Roast) and Roasted Pork Belly with Asparagus and Mustard Sauce. But first a snack of Chinese pork ribs.
Eggy at Greedy Goose writes “that I have things like a whole container of chicken curry or the remains of some lunch dish from several days past. Straggler ingredients like the odd handful of spinach, a sole tomato, or two sticks of celery usually find their way into the dog’s bowl at dinner. Either that, or they get made into some sort of cake over the weekend.” Some cake! Actually a leftover curry comes out of the freezer reigniting childhood memories with prata, a flat bread similar to canai, paratha or roti.
Over a Cooking with Chopsticks in Kyoto, Hanna’s taken that unused chuck beef bought for another dish and made Ethiopian-inspired Beef Stew with Spätzle . She browned the meat in a cocotte adding (among other things) three mouldy tomatoes, half a giant North American eggplant, fingerling potatoes, some frozen beans and half a cup of undrinkable wine. Finally, from the back of the pantry come some raisins. Leftover Spätzle is reheated to complete the dish.
Ulrike at Küchenlatein recycled leftover lemon rice freestyle, with sprouting mung beans. She simply tossed them in a hot wok for one minute. Quick, easy, simple and tasty.
Over in New York Chef Paz is making Monday lunch with leftovers. “I think I’ll make another cheese sandwich with my American cheese slices ;-), finish off the Italian Wedding Soup, make a salad out of the lettuce leaves, marinated baby artichokes, roasted chicken and broccoli stalks…
Mee Goreng comes from Cuccina Rebecca in glossy Sydney. A few friends are over on Saturday night. Some hokkien noodles are blanched in hot water. Leftover chicken from the other night is shredded while some old lemon grass stems are excavated from the fridge…
Tempted by octopus in the market, I wonder what to do with it. Luckily I bought too much stuff for a paella the other week and have some indestructable but wrinkled mini roma tomatoes lurking in the fridge.
Lifetime student Betul At Rustic from England makes the Turkish favourite Ay Coregi, a crescent roll. Roasted peanuts, what’s left at the bottom of the biscuit tin, some hardened turkish delights, peanut butter sandwich pieces, little bit of marzipan, Betul’s previous cake failure, unwanted sandwich crusts, lots of chocolate with white coatings plus essential spices went into it. Wow, I want some. A welcome addition, that I’m sorry I originally left out.
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