The Recycled Cook

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...

Recycled Casserole If you have frozen any previous meat, regardless of whether it is roasted , slow cooked or casseroled you have the basis for a really nice meal. It may be that you have a singe lamb chop left, some slices of beef or some pieces of chicken, not enough for meal on its own but just sitting there getting frost damaged with so much potential. If, like me, you are bad at labelling then you could end up with a lucky dip casserole but so long as you are not mixing fish and meat you should be fine. Today while rummaging through the freezer I discovered I had some slices of steak and the  remnant of a slow cooked beef dish so decided to combine them into a beef stew I started by cooking off a small chopped onion, garlic, celery and a carrot util it was soft and starting to  brown. This mix is used a lot in latin countries as a base, what the Italian call a "sofrito". The steak was raw so I seared it in some olive oil...