The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (66 page)

The simplest potato salads, made with cold boiled potatoes, need not be gloopy or heavy, though it is important to use waxy potatoes, such as Charlottes or Jersey Royals, as floury ones will crumble. Dress with a good mayonnaise, either from a bottle or home-made (see
page 34
), or a light, citrussy vinaigrette, and finish with the zing and fragrance of chopped fresh herbs. Potato salads are great on their own or with smoked or pickled fish, but they also go particularly well with cured meats such as salami, prosciutto, jamon serrano, chorizo or good English ham.

Mint and chervil
I’m always inclined to warm leftover boiled potatoes just a little in the microwave before making this salad, as they are best tepid – the gentle heat intensifies the flavour of the herbs. Slice the warm potatoes into a bowl and add a little finely sliced raw shallot or spring onion and finely chopped mint and chervil. Season with crunchy salt such as Maldon and drizzle over some good olive oil mixed with a little Dijon mustard and a splash of wine vinegar or lemon juice.

With fennel
Finely slice fennel and fry in a little oil until golden and tender. Mix with sliced boiled potatoes, season and dress with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Black olives or capers go well with this.

White bean, apple and chicory
Use a can of drained white beans mixed with sliced boiled potatoes, finely sliced raw chicory and some chunks of sharp dessert apple. Make a dressing of 3 or 4 parts olive oil to 1 part white wine vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

Greek style
Finely slice a small red onion and a garlic clove and mix with sliced boiled potatoes and chunks of ripe tomato. Lightly scatter chopped parsley on top and toss in a dressing made of 4 parts olive oil and 1 part red wine vinegar, with lots of sea salt and black pepper.

Spanish style
This is a warm salad. Fry good chunks of leftover boiled potatoes in oil until golden, adding a couple of chopped garlic cloves right at the end. You could add ½ finely chopped red chilli, if you like. Put the whole lot into a serving bowl and pour over a dressing of 4 parts olive oil to 1 part good balsamic vinegar. Season and add a handful of chopped basil, if you have it. Serve warm.

French style
Mix sliced cold boiled potatoes with a few of the tenderest little thyme leaves, stripped from their stem, or with chopped parsley and chives. Make a dressing of 4 parts olive oil to 1 part white wine vinegar, adding a little crushed garlic, some Dijon mustard and some salt and pepper.

Russian style
Mix chunks of cold boiled potato with diced cucumber and beetroot. Add slices of hard-boiled egg, a teaspoon or so of rinsed capers and some sliced spring onions. If you have it, chopped dill is lovely with this salad. The dressing should be plain soured cream seasoned with salt and pepper.

Of all the food we throw away, bread makes up the largest amount (over 516,000 tonnes of it a year, worth over £750 million) – which is perhaps not entirely surprising when you discover that in the UK around 12 million loaves are sold
each day
. Whether you buy a pre-packed sliced white loaf from the supermarket or bread from your local baker, or whether you make it yourself, you don’t have to throw away the end of the loaf. For a start, you can store it in the freezer as breadcrumbs (see
page 49
) for using with meatballs, fishcakes and stuffings or as the crispy top for bakes.

Bread or rolls going stale can be given a new lease of life by swooshing them briefly under cold running water. They should be wet all over but not soggy. Put them into a medium oven (180°C/Gas Mark 4) for 5 minutes and, hey presto, they will be crusty and fresh again. You really can’t do this more than once with the same piece of bread.

All that aside, there are also several delicious puddings to make with either sliced bread or breadcrumbs. Part of a brilliant British tradition of almost forgotten ‘nursery’ dishes, these include classics such as summer pudding – the dessert that, like Marmite, divides the nation into lovers and haters.

Also known as French toast, this is lovely for a weekend breakfast instead of pancakes. We eat it with sliced bananas and some crisp bacon, with a little lump of melting butter and a good gloop of maple syrup: it’s a sweet-salty indulgence. You could serve yours with far more sophisticated cream and blueberries, peaches or any other juicy fruit, or make a savoury version by leaving out the sugar and adding a little grated cheese to the mix.

Serves 2 adults, or 1 adult and 2 young children

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon caster sugar

2 tablespoons cream or milk

butter for frying

4 medium-thick slices of semi-stale white bread, crusts and all (stale brioche is also sometimes used, but I never have that kind of thing just lying around
)

Whisk the eggs, sugar and cream or milk together in a shallow dish. Melt a knob of butter in a large frying pan until softly foaming. Dunk the slices of bread into the egg mixture one by one, making sure that each slice is well covered and beginning to soak up the egg, then gently put them in the hot frying pan. Fry on both sides over a medium heat until crisp and golden.

These puddings were probably favourites of your grandmother and her mother before her. One is sweet and warming for winter, layered with dried fruit; the other relies on the tang of summer berries.

In this dish, the crunch of the bread at the top is offset by a creamy, sweet custard. There are lots of ways of varying it to include different dried fruits. You could also make it in teacups for individual puddings, which look fantastic and make everyone feel special. In this case, reduce the cooking time to 20–25 minutes.

Serves 4

2 tablespoons brandy or whisky – or fruit juice, if you prefer

100g raisins

200ml whole milk

100ml double cream

3 large eggs

100g sugar – caster or soft brown is best