Category: Leftovers
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Even Tesco says we're wasting too much food
That crinkled bag of salad with mushy brown juice, lingering on at the end of your fridge. The old banana which, even as the brown dots consume the skin, you’ll get around to eating any day now. And the sinking feeling of guilt every time you look at the half-pan of bread, and feel torn…
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Recipe: Leftover chicken fricassee
Fricassee was a staple in our house growing up, I still love it, but my sister informs me that just hearing the word turns her stomach. Following a roast dinner, every bit of the carcass would be stripped clean and used in a fricassee the following day. This recipe is based on feeding four people.…
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Summertime lamb soup
Words to describe lamb: warm, comforting, nourishing. Delicious in stew. Everything you’d want on a cold winter’s day. Happy summer. Spring lamb is at its best right now, in the middle of this unseasonably pleasant summer. Whacking it onto the barbeque is one option, but I still had a lot of meat leftover from Aldi’s…
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Concoction, and other leftovers
“Concoction” was Dad’s most famous recipe. His three kids vividly recall excitement when Concoction was cooking in the kitchen. We still speak about it in hushed tones. But what was it? Nobody quite remembers. My sisters say it included any combination of leftovers. I always thought it contained fried cabbage. Dad himself had totally forgotten…
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Recipe: Chicken Biryani
My friend Asad once prepared a delicious chicken biryani for a group of us using left over chicken and a hodgepodge of ingredients. We were on holidays in a rented house and only had what we’d brought, but it was one of the nicest biryanis I’ve ever had. It’s a great way to use up…
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Recipes: Party food
Well, if like me, you’re planning on having a few over for food and want to serve up some interesting finger food; Arancini are the perfect and elegant bite for when people are standing around with drinks. They are deep-fried rice balls made from saffron risotto rice with a mozzarella centre. You can also fill…
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Living for free
I have friends who very rarely, if ever, pay for their food. Instead, they go foraging through the skips and bins of Dublin city, picking up the mountains of perfectly good discarded food. It’s easy to sneer – ugh, eating from the bin? – but the food is usually well packaged or wrapped up; they don’t…
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Recipe: Lamb and barley soup
Now’s the best time of year for lamb. Lovely, lovely lamb, so tender and juicy – and pricy. Last week, I picked up two lamb shanks for about €11.00 and made this recipe from BBC Food. It tastes as good as it looks, with the meat falling off the bone. I’m always loathe to throw…
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Recipe: Leftover rice
My husband was recording in the house over the weekend and we had about a million people over. I made a ricky load of chilli and rice to keep the troops going – the chilli was scoffed but I had loads of leftover rice. What to do with it? Well, you can do a number…
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The best chicken and veg soup
At last! I’ve finally discovered the answer to making good chicken stock, and you’re not going to like it. It’s salt. Simply cover your chicken carcass with well-salted cold water. Add an onion chopped in half along with a stick of celery and a whole carrot (if organic, no need to peel). Bring it to…