The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (56 page)

Pasta is best freshly cooked in loads of bubbling salted water. About 100g is enough for an adult but it’s one of those things that I (and almost everyone else I know) regularly cook too much of, and there is not a great deal you can do with the leftovers. Actually, I don’t mind yesterday’s pasta and sauce warmed up in the microwave for lunch the next day – I find the ease and the stodge of it rather comforting. The few simple ideas in this chapter work well and they are delicious enough to make you think twice about sending cold pasta to landfill.

To refresh un-sauced leftover pasta, just plunge it into boiling water for 20 seconds, then drain and serve. Yes, it will be 20 seconds overdone but you don’t live in a restaurant. Alternatively, stir the pasta into a heated sauce. With a good fresh sauce, some flavoured oil or a swirl of home-made pesto (see
page 139
), you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference.

Aglio e olio
The simplest pasta sauce of all is good olive oil in which finely chopped garlic has been gently heated (but don’t let it colour or it will become bitter). You could also add a good pinch of dried chilli flakes. Once the oil is warm and the garlic tender, spoon the whole lot through refreshed pasta and serve with some finely chopped parsley.

Rustica
Heat a great glug of good olive oil with some chopped walnuts, anchovies and garlic, then spoon the mixture through the refreshed pasta. Scatter lots of fresh basil and grated Parmesan over the top.

Anchovy
Heat good olive oil with a nice fat anchovy fillet or two per person. Fork the flavoured oil through the refreshed pasta and throw over a little parsley and grated Parmesan to serve.

Broccoli and anchovy
Cut some broccoli into small florets and toss them with chopped anchovies in olive oil over a medium heat until tender. Then just fork through refreshed pasta.

Baby spinach and ricotta cheese
Soften chopped garlic in olive oil, add some big handfuls of baby spinach and turn in the oil until wilted. Spoon this through refreshed pasta and crumble some soft ricotta on top.

Onion marmalade
Add a heaped spoonful of Onion Marmalade (see
page 42
) to refreshed pasta with some toasted chopped walnuts. Crumble some blue cheese over the pasta to serve.

Tomato sauce
Heat some home-made tomato sauce (see
page 36
) and add leftover pasta to it, leaving it to warm through for 30–60 seconds.

Pesto
A gorgeously gutsy sauce of basil, pine nuts and grated Parmesan – see
page 139
. Simply toss with refreshed pasta.

Petits pois and lemon zest
Warm some lemon zest in olive oil, then stir through the refreshed pasta with some cooked petits pois.

Red onion and fromage frais or mascarpone
Cook a finely sliced red onion in a little olive oil until soft. Add fromage frais or mascarpone and warm through. Add leftover pasta to the hot sauce and let it heat through for 30–60 seconds.

Sausage or cured meat
Use leftover cooked sausages with a pinch of dried chilli flakes, or the ends of salami, chorizo or other cured meat. Cook a finely chopped small onion in olive oil until soft, then add the meat and warm through for a scant minute. Spoon the mixture through refreshed pasta and scatter over parsley and Bottled Dried Tomatoes or Roasted Peppers (see
page 44
).

This simple bake has strong tastes to perk up day-old pasta and is so good that I sometimes cook too much pasta on purpose so that I can eat it the next day. It is best made with pasta robust enough to hold its shape on second cooking, such as penne or fusilli. This recipe, and most of the variations below, uses unsauced pasta, though almost any leftover sauced pasta can be reheated in the same way, with a good covering of cheese or a tomato sauce and a topping of cheese.

Serves 2

about 200g leftover penne or fusilli

a jar of pesto or 1 quantity of home-made pesto (see
page 139
)

1 quantity of Quick Tomato Sauce (see
page 36
)

250g mascarpone cheese

freshly grated Cheddar or Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Put the cold, cooked pasta into a buttered ovenproof dish. Swirl in the pesto, then cover with the tomato sauce. Add a layer of mascarpone and finish off the whole lot with a good grating of Cheddar or Parmesan. Bake for about half an hour, until the mixture is bubbling and the cheese is browning.

Replacing the sauces listed above with one of the following combinations. Consider, too, using almost any of the ingredient combinations for bakes (see
pages 98
–
100
and
102
–
3
).

Ratatouille
Mix the ratatouille on
pages 80
–1 with leftover pasta (and the mascarpone, if you like) and bake as above, with a good grating of cheese over the top.

Leftover chicken and mushroom
Gently fry a couple of teacupfuls of sliced mushrooms with a clove or two of garlic until softened. Add the pasta and a teacup of leftover chicken torn into shreds, then swirl in some mascarpone. Top with either grated cheese or Flavoured Breadcrumbs (see
page 49
) before baking.

Canned tuna
Drain the fish, mix with a tub of mascarpone and add the leftover pasta. Top with grated Parmesan and bake as opposite.

Macaroni cheese
Make the Cheese Sauce on
page 32
, stir in the pasta and top with grated cheese before baking. For extra flavour and colour, you could add some baby leaf spinach or some broccoli, cut into florets small enough to cook through in the baking time.

Pastitsio
This is a traditional Greek way of baking pasta with a moussaka-like nutmeggy white sauce. Add a good grating of fresh nutmeg to White Sauce (see
page 32
), then remove from the heat and beat in an egg or two. Scatter some breadcrumbs over the base of an ovenproof dish, then add grated cheese, cooked macaroni and Bolognese sauce (or ragú, see
pages 78
–
9
). Finish with the eggy sauce and top with more grated cheese. Bake as opposite.

Mozzarella and diced ham
A great way of using up a Christmas ham. Dice the meat, mix with a little mascarpone and the pasta, then top with some slices of mozzarella and bake.

Leftover chicken or bacon
Add torn leftover chicken or cooked bacon to the basic recipe.