10 top tips for using up your leftovers

We can’t say it often enough: we love leftovers! Food waste is stupid, too, so that works out perfectly. I’m not a big fan of ‘typical’ breakfasts with lots of bread and toppings, but once I’ve been awake for a few hours, you can serve me a bowl of reheated potato and leek soup from yesterday for brunch. And these 11 tips for using up leftovers are pretty great too.

Of course, you can simply reheat whatever you ate yesterday and eat it exactly the same way again, but to keep things interesting, there are other ways to use up leftovers. Or ways to use certain ingredients so that you have hardly any waste. A number of readers shared their ideas on the internet platform Bored Panda, and we’ve added our own spin to some of those tips.

The many lives of focaccia

Made your own focaccia? Good for you! Anyone can do it; you just need to take the time to let the dough rise. And if you can’t finish it quickly, tear it into pieces and bake them until crisp as croutons. And if you’re tired of croutons, grind them finely into breadcrumbs. Sprinkle them over spaghetti with some chopped parsley and chili pepper, or mix them into meatballs.

Frying bananas

Of course, you can use overripe bananas in banana bread. But it’s even easier to cut them into thick slices and gently fry them in butter. Sprinkle over a little brown sugar and a tiny pinch of salt and you have a delicious dessert, especially if you spoon them over vanilla ice cream (butter and all!).

Loof you too

The green leaves from a bunch of radishes or carrots are perfectly edible, you know. Wash them well, spin them dry in a salad spinner, and the radish leaves can go into a salad. You can make pesto from carrot tops in a small blender, with, for example, walnuts, olive oil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

An apple a day keeps the waste away

Don’t throw away sad, soft, wrinkly apples; make applesauce out of them. Admit it: oven-roasted chicken with fries and homemade applesauce is still, deep down, one of the things you most want to eat, right?

Everything in the frittata

A frittata is the ideal ‘sponge’ for almost any cooked vegetables you have left over, and also for peppers that have seen their youngest days. Cut the vegetables into slightly smaller pieces and mix them with beaten eggs, salt and pepper, and a little milk or cream, then pour everything into a deep frying pan. Let it cook gently (with a lid on the pan if you like), and your leftover vegetables will have been given a very happy second life.

Crispy cauliflower leaves

I don’t throw away cauliflower leaves; I cut out the thick ribs (you can save those in a bag with other vegetable ‘scraps’ in the freezer to make stock). I toss the leaves with the florets in oil, garlic, salt and pepper when I make roasted cauliflower. Then spread them well over a greased baking sheet and roast them until wonderfully crisp. They’re ready faster than the florets, so roast them separately or beforehand, or remove them from the baking sheet halfway through with tongs.

Fish for fish cakes

If you’ve cooked fish, it isn’t always as tasty to eat again the next day because the texture can become a little grainy. What are fish leftovers perfect for? Fish cakes! Roughly chop the fish in a food processor with an egg, some flour and fresh herbs, shape into cakes and bake until golden brown in a hot oven or frying pan. Also delicious on a bun with tartar sauce and lettuce.

Ragù in a wrap

Ragù that you made for pasta Bolognese may be even better the next day. Especially if the sauce isn’t too ‘wet’, you can spoon it onto a (reheated) wrap with lettuce, roll it up and you’ve got a whole new meal. Just fold the bottom closed properly!

Cheese leftovers are the best

Cheese left over from a cheese board, but pieces too pathetic to serve that way again? Be adventurous and mix them all together. You’ll get fromage fort, a creamy cheese dip that’s wonderful for dipping baguette into. Here you’ll find the recipe for fromage fort, which is so simple that it hardly qualifies as a recipe.

Shrimp shells for stock

When you peel shrimp (whether before or after cooking), save the shells and legs you remove. Put them in the freezer in a bag where you also keep other fish scraps, such as bones or heads, and use them as the basis for a fragrant fish stock. Absolutely delicious when you want to make risotto, for example!

Also read:

• Vegetable scraps? Turn them into a meal!
• The best cold leftovers
• Never put hot leftovers in the fridge; follow these tips instead

Source (in part): Bored Panda