Day: 25 June 2013

I’m a fan of using up leftovers. I turn it into a sport, as anyone who’s a regular reader of my blog would know. I’ve recently shared how Maggie Beer and Poh use their leftovers and how to eat your scraps.

Today I’ve pulled together a few extra tips and tricks for using stuff you couldn’t eat the night before. I’ve also asked a few foodie friends to contribute, including Curtis Stone whose latest book What’s For Dinner is really very, very clever. Martyna Candrick is a recipe developer and photographer in our orbit. For regular readers of this blog you’ll recognise her name. And for the chocolate fiends, you’ll recognise two of her recipes in the Chocolate Cookbook. My mate Arabella Forge is a Melbourne dietician whose book Frugavore is a flippin’ excellent resource and cookbook for anyone wanting to cook real and mindfully. Jules Clancy is a food scientist and blogs at The Stone Soup, usually using five ingredients or less.

So now, wrap your chops around these ideas:

1. Grow your scraps.

Try growing some of your scraps. Like a fennel bulb you didn’t get around to finishing. Simply place the white root end in a glass jar with a little water, and leave it in a sunny position. I keep mine in the kitchen window. The green leafy part of the plant will continue to shoot. When it’s time to cook, just snip off what you need from the green growth and leave the white root end in water to keep growing. Freshen up the water each week or so, and you’ll never have to buy them again. To learn how to grow more of your scraps, this article is insanely good.

2. Cook by what’s in your fridge.

Non-profit Foodwise has a handy tool whereby you type in your ingredient (say, avocado) and it will find relevant recipes. It also has loads of recipes from food celebs from Australia (Neil Perry, Kylie Kwong) and Britain (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall; Paul, Stella & Mary McCartney).

3. Freshen your carpets with rosemary.