Love Your Leftovers
This week I’m focusing on transforming leftovers into something delicious. One of the key lessons I learnt from my grandparents was ‘waste not want not’. Nothing would be wasted from a meal. Anything that wasn’t eaten would be used the next day. I’m a big fan of leftovers, less so when they are termed as ‘scraps’ which is my parents word of choice; “what’s for dinner, mum?” “Baked potato and scraps!” Hmmmm…
Anyway, on Sunday we had a roast chicken. I was going out for the day and prepared the potatoes in the morning, peeling them and leaving them in cold salted water ready to be par-boiled that afternoon. I was left with a large pile of potato peelings. I left them too, in a large bowl of cold water and went out for the day. Waste not want not. When I got home I drained them and then dried them in a clean tea towel, tossed them in a drizzle of garlic infused rapeseed oil, salt, pepper and smoked paprika and then spread on a lined baking sheet. I popped them in the oven for 30 minutes. I started at 200c for the first 15 minutes and then jammed it up to 220c for the final 15 (just check them every now and again to check how they’re getting on). The result? Potato peelings transformed into a pre-dinner crispy snack!
Now what to do with the leftover chicken? Well I’ve revisited a couple of my recipes; starting with my Thai-style Chicken and Mango Noodle Salad. So refreshing now the weather is heating up! And to finish up the remaining chicken I will be using my Instant Pot to make a Mexican Rice Bowl and will incorporate the shredded chicken breast at the end.
And finally don’t forget to use the carcass of the chicken to make a wonderful stock, perfect for soups. Boil up the bones in water with an onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf and peppercorns for a couple of hours. Drain the liquid off and allow to cool before storing in the fridge for a few days (or once cool pop it in the freezer for another day). So love your leftovers and remember to waste not want not!