Category: Leftovers

Tomato cream pasta with smoked bacon

Warning: this dish can engender serious feelings of satisfaction and well being.

Cream and tomatoes along with cream and roasted red peppers make dreamy, greedily good comfort food. Think cream of tomato soup, roast red pepper and smoked paprika cream, light and fluffy roast red pepper flan and (yes) cream of tomato ice cream with basil sauce.

Now this particular recipe evolved from a surfeit of post ganache making “sweet cream”, a small container of roast Romanian tomato sauce in the freezer and a sad looking piece of smoked bacon lurking at the back of the fridge. It was also the day of yet more gruesome dental treatment. Creamy, carbo comfort food was never more deserved.

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Baked “Pastrav Afumat” (Smoked Trout) fishcakes

These fishcakes are the posh version of the smoked mackerel fishcake (same method and quantities) and are just a little bit more subtle and refined. Romania teems with decent trout and its easy to find the smoked version. I often flake it into a rucola salad and add some citrus slices and a light vinaigrette for a fast lunch or dinner party starter. But as a comfort food you can’t beat the combination of mashed potato, smoked fish and a crunchy coating. The beauty of this recipe is that it can be served as a starter with a tzatiki sauce or as a main course with some green salad, crudités or a beetroot salad.

These are easy to make and instead of frying them, I bake them, which reduces the fat content dramatically, stops your kitchen smelling like a fish and chip shop and lets you do other things while they bake!

Gadgets & Gizmos

A baking tray, a potato masher is handy but a fork will do

Ingredients: serves four

600g of mashed potato (no butter or milk added)

200g smoked trout

A bunch of parsley roughly chopped

A bunch of spring onions finely chopped

Some lemon zest (1 lemon)

Salt and pepper

1 egg for the mixture

1 egg for the coating process beaten in a shallow bowl

1 packet of breadcrumbs, ‘panko” if you can find them, or home made slightly coarse ones.

You can also flavor with horseradish or tarragon – whatever your favorite fish flavorings are.

How To

Cut and peel the potatoes (approx 650-700g before peeling and cooking) and boil in salted water.

As the potatoes boil, line the baking tray with aluminum foil or baking paper. Brush with oil. (do this before your hands are covered in potato fish mixture, which of course I have never tried to do at all).

Beat the one egg in a shallow bowl.

Cover a plate with a thick layer of breadcrumbs.

Cook the potatoes until they are nice and soft and “mash-able”. Drain them and mash/crush with a fork. They do not need to be a perfect puree- a little potato texture is nice here. Don’t be tempted to blend or blitz or else you will end up with potato glue – handy for wallpapering but not what we want here. The potato mash should cool down fairly quickly – I speed things up by running cold water over them as I drain them in a colander. The mix should be cool when you add the fish.

Flake the fish, keeping an eye out for bones. Do this with your fingers because then you are more likely to feel any errant bones.

Mix in the parsley, lemon zest, salt, pepper and one egg

Scoop into little patties and mold with your hands.

With a fork and spoon dip into the beaten egg mixture and drop carefully onto the breadcrumbs. Roll around (the fishcakes not you) until coated and place on the baking tray.

Bake for 30 mins at 180C. You may need to turn them over once to achieve an even golden color on both sides.

Enjoy with a tzatiki sauce or even a tahini and coriander sauce as pictured here due to the yoghurt running out. Garnish with lemon wedges if you want extra lemon flavor.

Brussel sprout & parmesan soup

If like me you were traumatized by school dinner boiled to death, mushy, rancid and a curious shade of muddy pink Brussel sprouts it might be time to revisit them on adult terms. I have recently been experimenting with them (almonds, pancetta and even chorizo thrown into a wok and stir fried) and am becoming a fan.

The trick is I think to stir fry them just until they are browning and caramelizing and this gives an amazing sweet taste that offsets the slightly sulphury compounds found in all brassicas and most importantly it cooks them so they retain their crunch. The addition of cream and parmesan to Brussel sprouts seems to be one of those food “holy trinities” – they go just brilliantly (also good is a gratin of Brussel sprouts with parmesanned breadcrumbs), and this soup uses that to great effect.

This recipe is one of those recipes that is more a guide than a list of quantities to be followed religiously. In these abstemious times it is good to have recipes that seem to be made for using up leftovers and in fact the version I made on Boxing Day this Christmas made full use of the left over gravy and bread sauce…in to the soup pan they went! I think I garnished with crispy bacon but it might have been a parsley drizzle. So here is a recipe with suitable improvs and substitutions thrown in:

Ingredients

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 medium onion chopped

2 or 3 roast potatoes or parsnips would be fine to add

1 liter of stock or left over gravy made up with water to 1 litre1.2l vegetable stock , made from a stock cube

600g pan fried until caramelized a little Brussel Sprouts (if using leftover sprouts then also do try and fry them to obtain this caramel taste)

Some cream, milk or leftover bread sauce – approx. 500ml

A little nutmeg and fresh thyme and a bay leaf

100g freshly grated parmesan (other strong cheese does work but I like the parmesan)

How To

Fry the sprouts in a wok until caramelized (helps to halve them) with the chopped onion. Add any other vegetables you are using when the Brussels are done.

Pour into a larger saucepan that is big enough to contain all the liquids. Add the stock/gravy and cream, a pinch of nutmeg, a bay leaf and two or three sprigs of fresh thyme.

Bring to the boil and when boiling switch off and add the parmesan. Now blitz with a hand blender. Add milk until you have the consistency that you require.

Note: it is worth making sure you use stock – a stock cube in a hurry never hurt anybody – as it deepens the flavor and help makes the dish taste like soup and not pureed vegetables.