The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (69 page)

I don’t think the kitchen fruit bowl existed in my childhood – it seems to be a particularly modern invention, perhaps a result of the five-a-day mantra. Some fruit, it’s true, is best kept out of the fridge, and to some extent that’s a matter of choice. But there’s no doubt that most of us buy far more fruit than we actually eat, and that much of it goes mouldy in front of our eyes. To take the simple apple as an example, we throw away 4.4 million
each and every day
– at a cost of around £317 million per year. Shocking, eh?

Some of the following recipes can be made with fruit in its prime, too. If you are juicing, for instance, you should use only firm, ripe fruit. Smoothies and lollies, however, are much tastier made with really ripe fruit, and banana cake can be made only with bananas that are going black.

For crumbles, baked or stewed fruit, don’t forget delicious home-made custard – the recipe is on
page 33
.

If you’re looking for fruit pies, turn to
pages 130
–
2
; for bready-fruity puddings, see
pages 224
–
9
; for baking with fruit, see
pages 241
–
6
.

Smoothies (made with fruit juice or yogurt) and milkshakes (made with milk or ice cream) are so straightforward that to give a recipe seems almost superfluous. If you want something really cold, you can add ice to either and blitz it up along with everything else. Soft fruits such as berries and stone fruit can be blended with milk, yogurt or ice cream. A liquidiser is best, but you could use a ‘stick’ blender or even a food processor. Use a juicer for citrus fruits and a juice extractor for fruits such as apples, melons and pineapples, adding this juice to the liquidiser with the other ingredients.

For any smoothie or milkshake, including all the suggestions below, you will need to blend the fruit a little before adding milk, yogurt, ice cream or juice to make a really smooth drink. Play around with the amounts of liquid or ice cream until you find the strength and texture you like best. Drink immediately. Here are some mouth-watering combinations:

Banana with a squirt of runny honey or a scoop of chocolate ice cream

Cherry and apple or apricot

Mango and the pulp of a passion fruit

Mango and banana

Peach and raspberry

Pear, melon and cucumber – add mint leaves, if you like

Pineapple, strawberry and mango

Pineapple and raspberry, strawberry or banana

Pineapple and mint leaves, blended with ice

Smoothie and milkshake mixtures are also great for freezing into ice lollies. Use a little less milk or fruit juice to make them quite strongly fruity. For a change, use plain yogurt and fruit (but if you are using berries, sieve the mixture before freezing if you don’t want your kids to complain).