A third of all food produced for human consumption around the world is wasted. If you love to cook you’re in a great position to do your small part to reduce food waste, one meal at a time. Bones and vegetable offcuts become stock, stale bread is blitzed into fresh breadcrumbs and coriander roots are cleaned up to pound into curry pastes – all of which freeze well. So before you go shopping, or bin food off-cuts, think about what delicious dishes you can make from what you have on hand. Here are my favourite no waste recipes.
Crema Catalana One of my favourite Sardinian sweets is bianchini, moreish little meringues studded with toasted almonds and lemon zest. Making them (or any meringue) means leftover egg yolks and a perfect excuse to cook crema Catalana. This classic Spanish dessert is also very popular in Sardinia, a reminder of the Catalan influence there. The […]
Red Rice & Herb Cake Every rice-centred cuisine has a version of fried rice to use up leftover cooked rice. I created this red rice & herb cake inspired by the Vietnamese tomato rice, cơm đỏ, which Mark Jensen introduced me to. It’s a great way to not only use up excess steamed rice but […]
Coppa di Mascarpone This simple dessert was a fixture on Italian restaurant menus in the ‘70s and ‘80s but seems to have fallen from favour now, replaced I suspect by the more complex tiramisu. While tiramisu is an excellent dessert (and you can see my recipe at the video below), Coppa di Mascarpone is simpler […]
Coconut Jelly This light, fluffy, slightly sweet coconut jelly, often seen on yum cha trolleys, is also a popular finish to a spicy meal in Malaysia where it’s known as agar-agar kelapa. I use Ayam Tetra Pak coconut milk for desserts rather than the canned one; it’s whiter and smoother so works better in sweet […]
Bruschetta Caprese It’s good to eat with the seasons, but occasionally I want a touch of summer year-round – that’s when I call on a few of my favourite things and create this delicious bruschetta Caprese. Windy Hills Farm pots of living basil are the perfect way to use this summer herb year-round, Vannella’s small buffalo […]
Pasta Frittata This is the best way I’ve found to use up leftover pasta that has a relatively dry sauce, such as tagliatelle Bolognese, orecchiette with broccoli and spaghetti aglio e olio. The photo here was made with leftover orecchiette with salsiccia & mushrooms (see video below) and was a great match with a glass […]
Mushroom Bruschetta One of the things I loved most about Lucio’s Paddington restaurant was the seasonal bruschetta that always arrived with our aperitivi, a tradition I like to continue at home. In autumn, the crisp air of the Italian hills is filled with the wonderful aroma of mushrooms, inspiring cooks to prepare many dishes (sometimes […]
Pita Crisps With this not-even-really-a-recipe, you’ll never buy pita crisps again, nor will you ever waste a piece of leftover Lebanese bread! Perfect with hummus or any dips, crumbled over salads, alongside soups or just as a moreish snack on their own with a glass of the gorgeous copper-hued La Nebbia Col Fondo naturally sparkling […]
Chicken Avgolemono Soup Avgolemono is a classic Greek combination of egg (avgo), lemon (lemono) and stock to create a tangy soup or sauce. As a soup it’s usually made from chicken stock with rice cooked in it, a typical example of peasant cuisine where nothing is wasted (the meat from the chicken bones added back […]
Grilled Asapagus with Sauce Maltaise Like this recipe? You’ll love my online French cooking class featuring the Food of Provence! Spring brings so many wonderful ingredients together, including two of my favourites, new season asparagus and blood oranges – and I love to combine them in this dish. Being one of the classic ‘mother sauces’ […]
