The Recycled Cook

The Recycled Cook Wild Fennel and Goats cheese Arancini As we now have rather a lot of wild fennel, amongst other things in the herb garden I thought it was time to use some of it in a dish.  I had some leftover rice in the freezer and some goats cheese that needed using so  decided on a nother twist on Arancini today.  Wild fennel doesn't have the large bulb that we are used with "Florence " fennel , the wild variety  has just a strong root so cut the fronds above ground level and it will continue to produce. You will need to simmer the Fennel for about 30 minutes as it is quite fibrous While this is cooking you can chop your cheese into small pieces, don't worry if it is soft as it will be mixed in. I put the rice in a bowl over the cooking fennel to defrost gently. You need to be careful with saving and re-using rice, as it should not be left at room temperature long before freezing. something I have covered in a previous...

The Recycled Cook Chicken and Pepper Paella Another classic dish today, "Paella"  but this is not the dish every tourist expects. Paella is basically a leftover dish, buy all the ingredients and it will cost a lot of money but these are ingredients most Spanish households would always have always. I had some previously cooked Chicken thighs on the bone, red and orange peppers and some French beans. I used a Paella pan on a tripod but a large frying pan or wok works fine. To start heat some extra virgin olive oil in the pan.  Add chopped onions, peppers, garlic, beans (blanched) to the pan and cook until the onions start to soften. Add the rice and fry in the oil,stirring into the mix. Add a dash of white wine Vermouth or dry sherry (Fino or Manzanilla would be perfect).  Once the alcohol has burnt off add a ladle of hot Chicken or Vegetable stock, (I used both) stir in and allow to absorb the liquid.  Keep adding just as for Risotto but after the fi...

The Recycled Cook Beef and red pepper casserole Ever find yourself with a piece of been left over from the Sunday roast and wonder what to do with it? Thats what I had to cook with last night so I looked to see what I had left over to add to it to make a casserole. I found a large red pepper, some spring onions, shallots and some herbs in my fridge. I also had some baby new potatoes that needed using up. I had already kept a small saucepan of  gravy from the weekend which I had thought o f using to make a curry. Didn't take many pics this time as to be honest there were not that many stages in the cooking. I diced the beef joint (topside) and put it in a casserole dish added the leftover gravy along with some chopped flat leaf parsley,  6 unpeeled cloves of garlic and the coarsely chopped red pepper. I peeled the baby new potatoes (you could leave the skins on but these had started to sprout) halved them and pa...

The Recycled Cook Thai Basil and Chilli Chicken (Pad Krapow Gai)   This meal is made from scratch so not strictly a recycled dish but a great way of using up leftover vegetables and spices, such as red and green peppers, onions, chillies, garlic etc. In Thai the word for chicken is Gai, if you see this on a menu as Pad Ka Prow Goon it will be with prawns. Thai people rarely cook chicken in these dishes from raw as you can't guarantee it would cook  through so start by putting you chicken pieces (I used thighs but chicken breasts would do fine, forget wings, not enough meat on them for me). Chop some white onions and shallots if you have them, fry them off in a large wok or frying pan in a little light oil, (coconut oil is perfect) you could also add spring onion or baby leeks too. When these have softened slightly add the chopped garlic and chillies, you  can vary this by adding some  ginger, galangal, Kafir lime leaves or  l...

The Recycled Cook Aïoli Today's blog is just an accompaniment but one that adds a distinctive mediterranean flavour to your dish.  For this dip you only need two ingredients, Mayonnaise and garlic. I used light Mayonnaise as it is what I had but you can use the full fat person too of course. If you are really adventurous you can make your own, will deal with that in another blog. The proportions in this are entirely down to you, crush the garlic cloves with the blade of a large  knife. far better than a garlic press. Finely chop the garlic and gradually add to  the  Mayonnaise, make it as strong or weak as you like, taste until you are happy with the balance. Mix well and chill i the fridge until ready to use. The longer you leave it the more the flavours will develop. Great as an accompaniment to any dish but works particularly well with fish, especially with a French dish called La Bouride which I will cover in a late blog. You can ...

The Recycled Cook Courgette (Zucchini), carrot and onion fritters Another easy blog today, as I had some carrots, courgettes (Zucchini) and onions left over I decide to make some fritters.  Nice as a starter or just a snack, they can be easily frozen for use at a later time too. Try making an accompanying spicy Yoghurt dip, I will blog this separately later. This is another dish that children might want to get involved in making, I apologise in advance for those that have to do the clearing up, this can get a bit messy. First of all grate the carrot, courgette and onion and add to the mixing bowl. I prefer to use a metal bowl for this but use what you have available. The quantities as always depend on how much you have left over.  You could always supplement the mixture with other vegetables such as parsnips, swede or  potato. Squeeze out as much of the moisture as you can and transfer to a second mixing bowl. If the mi...

Chilli rice cakes A nice simple blog today, well its hot and I want to be in the garden. This is one that your children might want to help with too, tough on them not being having the freedom the are used tonight  now. All I needed for this was leftover rice (please  make  sure that you chill your rice as soon as it is cool, leaving cooked rice in room temperature for even an hour can be risky). The first thing to do is mix the rice with some chilli sauce, this will not only add heat and colour but will help bind the rice cakes together. Depending on the rice and how loose it was when it was cooked you might ned to add a little flour too, I used rice flour but corn flour works just as well. Once you have mixed the rice roll it out onto a clean  surface, baking tray or ideally a silicone baking mat  if you have one. They shouldn't be too thick or they won't dry out very well. Dust the rolling pin an...