Trifles from under-ripe fruit and days old croissants, crisps from carrot peelings, a cheesecake resurrection and more from chef, writer and broadcaster, Richard Fox. Food Philosopher Nancy Gershman caught up with Chef Fox as he prepared to hit the road again, sharing tips on curbing food waste for the Love Food Hate Waste Roadshow.

Chef Richard Fox: My parents were from the wartime generation. They didn’t have issues with food waste because everything was scarce; everything you had was cooked up and used.  Food waste is the scourge of our society but it didn’t exist in our parents’ generation. Today we’re a disposable society. Food is disposed of like everything else.

For example, you’ve got a lot of deals where you buy one get one free. You buy huge amounts of produce that you don’t need, they’re all under-ripe when you buy them and then all of it over-ripens at the same time. What I do is use it when it’s still under-ripe.

Trifles from stale croissants, under-ripe fruit and over-ripe berries

I make a simple syrup* with sugar and water and add spices -maybe a cinnamon stick and anise, and poach that rock hard peach for 15 minutes until it’s soft, sweet and juicy. If I don’t eat it straight away, I use it in a trifle.

*Simple Syrup recipe: 2 parts granulated sugar to 1 part water. Bring water to a boil, add sugar and stir so that the sugar is completely dissolved with no sugar crystals visible, then remove from heat and let cool.

To make the trifle, I take old stale croissants that I’ve bought the previous morning and tear them up, put the pieces in the bottom of a wine glass, and pour the simple syrup over the croissant until it turns into a soft sweet sponge. Then I take the rock hard fruit I’ve cooked in simple syrup (which is now sweet and soft) and spoon that on top. The next layer might be a coulis I’ve made out of over-ripe raspberries or some other fruit that’s past it’s best. Then I’ll top it all off with a little crème fraiche.

Savory pastries from bits of leftovers

Let’s say you’ve got two tablespoons of Bolognese sauce or chili, and maybe some roasted red peppers and a small piece of cheese that won’t be enough for two portions or even one in its own right. I’ll turn these into what I call “free party food” by placing them on a base of some sort. I use white bread but you can use any kind of bread (even bread going stale) just so long as you cut off the crusts. Roll the bread out with a rolling pin to about 2mm thickness. Take a pastry cutter and cut out a disk the size that will fit into a mini muffin tin – just like you would make a pastry. Add seasoning and a touch of olive oil (with a pastry brush) and place a spoonful of the Bolognese, the chopped red peppers and the cheese (now grated) on top of the bread “dough.” Pop it in the oven for 10 min at 180-degrees until golden brown.  You can freeze these finger foods after baking, or store them in an air tight container.

Mini-Yorkshire puddings are another way to use up negligible quantities. When you grow up in England, Yorkshire puddings with roast beef for lunch are a Sunday staple.  In muffin tins, situate your little Yorkshire puddings,* fill them with chopped up bits of leftovers, and freeze them. Even if you don’t have enough chili left over for one person, you may have enough to fill 3 or 5 mini-Yorkshire puddings as a starter or finger food.

*Yorkshire pudding: Equal volumes milk, eggs and plain flour plus a pinch of salt.  Beat slightly. Pour Yorkshire pudding mixture into well greased muffin tins.  Cook in a 375°F oven for 20-30 minutes.

Basically, as long as you have flour, eggs and milk in your refrigerator you can pretty much make every kind of edible vessel: pancakes, Yorkshire puddings and the like!

Fish cake patty from fish fingers

If you happen to have fish fingers left over and one floret of broiled broccoli from the day before, you can combine these foods with a bit of mayonnaise, mashed potato and pan fry it like a patty.

Salad pesto from limp or fading salad leaves

If the bottom of a salad bag (for example, watercress or rocket) is getting a little limp and the leaves faded, I’ll make a pesto out of it with basil, any nuts at all (like walnuts or hazelnuts) and olive oil.

Storage tip for salad: To extend the life of your salad sold in plastic bags, remove the leaves from the bag (because they tend to go damp and moldy inside plastic bags).  Line a plastic container with paper towel sprinkled with cold water, put your salad inside, add another paper towel sprinkled with cold water on top and seal the container.

Cook n’ store perishing vegetables for a rainy day

If you’re looking at the food in your vegetable drawer and see a vegetable beginning to be past its best, cook it, even if you don’t have a meal plan for it. Their appearance changes for the better and the flavor won’t be impaired at all by cooking it. For example, you can use mushrooms when they’re just getting wrinkly (but not wet) on the outside. Fry them in clarified butter* with white wine and double crème and you’d never know. So cook those vegetables, let them cool down, and then store them in the fridge rather than let them deteriorate.

*To make clarified butter, melt unsalted butter slowly and skim off the white foam that rises to the top. Pour off the clear yellow liquid.  What remains will be a pure, liquid butterfat easier to use at higher temperatures.

“Crisps” from root vegetables

If you have access to a deep fryer or a mini deep fryer, try this recipe. Scrub your carrots or parsnips or whatever root vegetables you prefer and make sure they are nice and dry. Drop them into a deep fat fryer until they go golden brown for 2-3 minutes. Add salt and pepper.

Scramble condiments into eggs on toasted rounds

I’ll often cut a stale baguette into thin slices, roast those in the oven or toast them. These then become lovely little bread bases for scrambled eggs into which you can stir anchovies and roasted red peppers, olives, chiles, whatever condiments you have that are coming close to their due date.

Creamy spread from “blitzed” cannellini beans, cream cheese and a condiment

If there’s just the last bit of a condiment left, take a tin of cannellini beans, blitz them in the blender, add some cream cheese and you’ve made a dip or spread. Serve with chutney on the side, if you like.

Make a brand new cheesecake from leftover cheesecake

Blitzing up cookies, even when they’re a bit stale makes a great base for cheesecake. But you can also make a brand new cheesecake out of the cheesecake slices you have left over from a dinner party. Just blitz the slices in a blender with more cream cheese and then tuck it into a new mold.

Chef Fox’s words of advice

1. Use your nose and not just labels to test the freshness of dairy products. I always keep milk, cream and yogurt in the fridge and almost never look at the use by date. Of course I look at it but I also smell it. People should use their senses first.  If you’re worried that you won’t use your milk, cream and yogurt by its true expiration date, remember that dairy products freeze quite well.

 

2. Use stuff up before you go shopping again. You know the cooking show, “Ready Set, Cook”? Do the same at home; make as many dishes as possible with whatever you’ve got on hand, or what you’re given. Adopt that thinking in your cooking.

 

3. Break away from the recipe. If you haven’t got an ingredient, substitute what’s similar: you’ll create something just as good.

 

4. Don’t be afraid to experiment and go with your gut feeling. The worst thing is you can throw it away – but that was what you were going to do with it anyway!

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