Waste
We don’t like waste round here so I always try to think of creative ways with leftovers.
I over bought parsnips for Christmas (one of many festive traditions…) and my brother turned up with apples from their Airbnb hosts. So I made a smooth velvety soup – the sweetness of the apples was perfect and the soup most delicious. I always like to add a little something on top when I serve soup and this one worked beautifully with some crispy fried lardons and sautéed chestnuts for the vegetarians.
And then a very large butternut squash turned up in my Oddbox – I made a hearty vegetarian tagine (more about that coming up soon) and with the rest I made a tasty butternut squash and carrot soup (another festive over-order).
Party time
All this virtuous using up of stuff reminded me of the time my daughter had a bit of a do to celebrate her and her chums getting through exams (more or less) unscathed and ready to embark on the next phase of their lives. It was all very exciting and great to watch them growing up.
Not quite grown up enough to eradicate all traces of the party without some help though. As she and I restored the kitchen to something akin to its former glory (aka moderate tidiness), she made me laugh out loud when she told me, in horrified tones: “I’ve found two bottles of cider that people have opened and hardly even touched. It’s such a waste”. Once I stopped giggling, I agreed with her and promised her I would try to make use of what was left.
Onion soup, a bit like French onion, but with cider. I thought this would be satisfying purely because I could be all smug and virtuous about it, but in fact it was genuinely excellent. Lighter than the traditional French way (which I do love) and utterly delicious, with sliced baguette and lots of grated gruyere on top.
Baking
That dealt with one bottle of the offending cider, so inspired by my lovely friend and kitchen co-conspirator Jenny, of Silver Screen Suppers, who was at the time constantly baking with Hammerton beer, I decided to rustle up some cider bread. I picked elements from various booze-based bread recipes and made a delicious rustic seeded loaf, great for a cheesy ploughman’s style lunch. I popped it in the freezer, defrosted it in time for the local horticultural society autumn show, where it got first prize in the bread category. Oh yeah.
Thank you to the wasteful teens for inspiring me to try out some new ideas.