using up leftovers « Penny Golightly

Luscious leftovers: bubble and squeak recipe

February 3rd, 2011 by Penny Golightly

Using up leftovers saves on waste, saves money and ideally it also saves time. From my point of view though, there’s no point doing all that if it doesn’t taste delicious too. Say no to bland, repetitive leftovers!

Bubble and squeak is kind of plain, but comforting, simply potatoes and vegetables, plus maybe a fried onion and a little salt and pepper. I must admit that sometimes I can’t even be bothered to fry an onion, but I still want it to be interesting so I chuck a few more flavours in.

Here’s my best bubble and squeak recipe to make an extra quick and tasty meal out of.

Ingredients

3 heaped tablespoons of leftover mashed potato
2 heaped tablespoons of any leftover cooked vegetables
1 level teaspoon of wholegrain French mustard or a pinch of English mustard powder
4 chopped spring onions, including the green parts
60g of finely grated cheddar or crumbled caerphilly cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Remember that there’s salt in the cheese, and that there’s probably also salt already in the leftover potato, so don’t overdo it too much.

If you don’t feel like spring onions, use finely chopped fried leek or onion instead, although this makes the preparation time longer. You can also add a small handful of chopped parsley if you’re in the mood.

If you don’t have mashed potato, you can use well-chopped/crushed cold boiled or roast potatoes instead and adjust the seasoning accordingly. It’s traditional to use greens such as cabbage or sprouts, but it’s just as good to use cauliflower, carrot, broccoli, green beans or peas.

Method

1. Crush the leftover vegetables with the back of a fork, or chop them along with the spring onions.

2. Mix together thoroughly with all the other ingredients and divide the mixture into 8.

3. Shape into rissole or thick burger shapes, and dust lightly with plain flour.

4. You can either fry them in a little vegetable oil on a medium heat for about 6 minutes or so on each side (until golden brown), or you can place them on a lightly oiled non-stick baking tray in a hot oven (about 200 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

Serve 2 per person with a fried or poached egg on the side, or 1 per person as part of a fry-up. The cheese also makes them quite nice on their own, maybe with some pickle and a salad.

It’s easy enough to halve the mixture if you don’t have enough leftovers, and the shaped ‘cakes’ can also be frozen before the cooking stage.

Do you have your own favourite bubble and squeak recipe, or might you be tempted by this one? What’s your top tip for using up leftovers?

Tags: bubble and squeak recipe, cheap food, luscious leftovers, Penny Golightly recipe, preventing food waste, save money on food, using up leftovers
Posted in Food and drink | 2 Comments »

Easy crispy pizza dough recipe

January 27th, 2011 by Penny Golightly

Once a month or so I make up a batch of bread dough. This time around I’ve made pizza bases, and they have that magical combination of delicious plus easy plus cheap. Mmmmm, my favourite.

Here’s the recipe, for those interested people who asked for it yesterday.

Ingredients

650g strong plain white flour, or Italian ’00′ white flour
2 level teaspoons of salt
1 level teaspoon of sugar
A 7g sachet of easy bake dried yeast
20ml of olive oil
400ml warm (not hot) water

I sometimes replace 200g of the white flour with wholemeal flour, for a bit more flavour and texture.

Method

1. Stir the first five ingredients together in a large bowl.

2. Add the olive oil, and slowly stir in the warm water a bit at a time to make a soft dough, then put a little flour on your hands and turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface.

3. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it is smooth and elastic in texture, then dust the inside of the bowl with a little more flour and put the dough back into it. Cover with a damp tea towel or cling film and leave for around an hour or so to double in size.

4. Give the dough another quick knead for a few seconds, then cut it up into portions with a floured knife. Divide it into 6 if you want to make yourself some 8-inch round pizzas, or divide it into 4 portions to make baking-tray-sized thin and crispy pizzas big enough for two people to share. At this stage you can freeze the dough, tightly wrapped in individual portions.

5. To cook your fresh or defrosted pizza dough, heat the oven to 230 degrees C. While the oven’s heating up, roll out the dough to the desired shape and thickness, place on a lightly oiled baking tray then top with a little passata and add your cheese and other toppings. Bake for around 10 minutes, until crisp and golden brown around the crust.

The pizza in the picture above is topped with thinly sliced onion and red pepper, capers, fresh oregano and red chilli.

Tags: cheap food, cheap pizza recipe, cheap recipes, easy pizza recipe, freeze pizza dough, frozen pizza dough, gourmet foods for less, home made pizza, homemade pizza, save money on food, using up leftovers
Posted in Food and drink | 7 Comments »

I heart Love Food Hate Waste

March 22nd, 2010 by Penny Golightly

I met some of the lovely people from the Love Food Hate Waste campaign last week, and thought I should give them a quick mention on the blog.

If you want to be a bon viveur on a budget, I suspect that eating well is probably important to you. I’m a big fan of writing varied and delicious menus, planning a balanced diet, shopping within a budget, buying seasonal foods, planning ahead, using things up before they go off, and deliberately making extra food on one day to save time later (either for the freezer or for planned lefovers). I hate needlessly throwing food away as it’s money down the drain that could have been better spent on something else. Like gin, lipstick, silk stockings or other necessities and essentials.

In the UK we throw away an estimated 8.3 million tonnes of food per year. While some of this is made up of inedible vegetable peelings, banana skins and bones, the majority of it is foodstuffs that were once edible – therefore most of this is wasted food. We waste food for two main reasons: firstly because we have cooked or prepared too much of it, and secondly because we’ve allowed food to go off before it could be used. Love Food Hate Waste believe that the average household wastes over £50 per month in this way. That’s a lot of gin and lipstick, my friends.

So in addition to the usual Golightly tips, you might like to treat yourself to a little trip over to their website as well. They have some excellent recipes for using up leftovers and some really handy tips for portion control and food storage. Plus the first UK-resident person to write ‘no freezer-burn here’ in the comments box below will bag themselves a mini collection of LFHW recipe cards and a pasta portion measurer.