The Recycled Cook

Parma ham and cheese croquettes Well another batch of leftover coquettes today as I had some Potato and  Celeriac mash left over from yesterday's dinner. I also found in the fridge some parma ham which needed using up and some bits of leftover cheese, I keep a box just for these leftover bits  specifically for cooking.  Once again you can use the previously frozen breadcrumbs Remove the fat and chop the Parma ham quite finely,   this could of course be any kind of leftover cured or cooked ham.  Will have to try this with  Carmarthen ham  which is apparently the original Parma ham; the Romans pinched the idea from us Celts. Add the chopped ham to the leftover  was in a large bowl then great in the leftover cheese, I used a mix of three cheeses but one will do fine. Season well with salt and black pepper.  You could add a pinch of chilli powder  if you wanted to spice them up a little Use your imag...

Split pea and ham croquettes Earlier in the week we had a classic London dish for dinner of slow cooked ham joint with yellow split peas )peas pudding), served with  runner beans and chopped Italian tinned tomatoes. We had some left over so thought I would make some peas pudding, cooked onion and baked ham Croquettes. To start with either chop the whole cooked onions that were baked with the split peas or fry off some onions and chop into small pieces which we will add to the croquette mix. Add the leftover cooked spilt peas and crumble into the mixture, season well with salt and pepper. Chop some of the leftover ham into bite sizes pieces, add all the ingredients together and form into small balls with your hands.  As they are already cooked you won't need any binding agent, they are moist and starchy enough. Add smoked spicy paprika (Pimienton) if you have some availab...

The Recycled Cook By Adrian Sleeman Some basic tips H ere are a few simple ideas which will get you thinking along the lines of recycling food and hopefully you will not only enjoy some great flavours but will save some money in the process. Containers This might seem like a strange place to start but if you are going to think like    a recycled cook then you will need somewhere to store it . Take those li d ded plastic boxes that your takeaway Indian and Chinese food comes in, don't just throw them away, rinse them th oroughly and put them in your dishwasher. Perfect for keeping thos e leftover bits and pieces in your fridge or freezer. Breadcrumbs We all have bread from time to time that goes stale ( by stale I mean dry NOT mouldy) . Stale bread makes great breadcrumbs so just chop up the bread into manageable chunks (crusts and all) and blitz in the food processor.  I use an old coffee grinder which makes amazing breadcrumbs . Put the crumbs...