The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (65 page)

A drained can of white beans
Warm the beans through just slightly in some of the olive oil and substitute for the fennel or celery.

An alternative dressing
For a chunky salsa, roughly chop together parsley, capers, anchovies and a deseeded tomato. Thin with good olive oil and a little white wine vinegar and add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard. Drizzle over the salad. (You could also use Bagnetto as a dressing, see
page 46
.)

This is another way to use up leftover beef, provided it is pretty rare and tender, since the acid in the limes will continue to ‘cook’ it. It may sound odd but, trust me, the results are superb.

Serves 2

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 green or red chilli, deseeded and very finely chopped

2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce

1 tablespoon caster sugar

2 tablespoons lime juice (about 2 limes) zest of 1 lime, finely shredded

1–2 teacups (about 200g) cooked beef, sliced into fine strips about 1cm wide

Combine all the ingredients except the beef in a mortar and work with the pestle to ensure that the garlic and chilli are well pounded and combined with the liquid. Allow to stand for about 20 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved.

Arrange the beef on a plate and pour over the dressing. Let it stand for 10 minutes and then serve.

Tomato
Deseeded and finely chopped, for colour and a new depth of flavour. Add to the finished salad and combine well with the beef.

Rare leftover lamb
Omit the fish sauce from the dressing. Use lamb instead of beef and gently mix it with a finely sliced red onion, and/or a few finely chopped mint leaves – plus, if you have some, some really slim green beans that have been rapidly boiled, drained and cooled. Pour over the dressing, as above.

This makes a filling meal on its own. I deliberately cook too many Puy lentils so that I can make the salad below, but you can vary things by using whatever canned pulses or beans you have in the cupboard, with the cheese and nuts of your choice. The salad doesn’t have to be warm either, but the advantage of the heat is that it encourages the cheese to ooze.

Serves 2

2 teacups cooked Puy lentils

2 handfuls of rocket, baby spinach or other salad leaves

1 small goat’s cheese, broken into chunks or sliced

a handful of walnuts, roughly chopped and toasted

a few roasted peppers (optional – see
page 44
)

For the dressing:

1 small garlic clove, crushed

a good pinch of sea salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard powder

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon each of walnut oil and olive oil

Warm the lentils slightly and put them in a bowl. Mix all the ingredients for the dressing and toss with the lentils. Arrange the leaves on a plate and spoon over the lentil mixture. Add the goat’s cheese, the toasted walnuts and, if you like, a few strips of roasted peppers. Serve immediately.

Chickpea and Parmesan
Use a drained can of chickpeas in place of the lentils, warmed gently in a pan with a little olive oil, and substitute Parmesan shavings for the goat’s cheese. Make a dressing of oil, lemon juice and crushed garlic. Leave out the nuts.

Chorizo and chickpea
Substitute a drained can of chickpeas for the lentils, warming them gently in a little olive oil. Thinly slice some cooked chorizo or skin it and crumble it over the leaves and chickpeas. Use a dressing of olive oil and red wine vinegar. Leave out the nuts and use some Parmesan shavings instead of goat’s cheese to serve.

Leftover chicken
Shredded leftover chicken can be added to any warmed pulses. Use either the dressing in the main recipe opposite or a mixture of oil, lemon juice and crushed garlic. Toasted pine nuts are good here.

Leftover fish
Particularly good with warm Puy lentils. In this case, I would use a very simple dressing of 3 parts olive oil to 2 parts balsamic vinegar, omit the cheese and use toasted pine nuts instead of walnuts.