Cook Creatively from Leftovers & Storecupboard

So many recipes in books and online, while they may be very good recipes, are just that – a recipe. No suggestions or ideas for how to cook creatively by varying the recipe for different ingredients, how to season to taste, food pairing, or how to use different components in the dish – spices, herbs, different cheeses, etc., what to do with leftovers or how to change a dish to make it exactly what you fancy aka creative cooking.

To me these are all very important factors in cooking.

Cook Creatively with What You Have

I generally make dishes up as I go along, even professionally, depending on what I have available, hence the “Sudden” in this blog’s title, so the ideas I give are not necessarily ones you see every day. Spontaneous cooking is like that!

Cooking with Leftovers (which are not boring!)

Of all the foods in the world leftovers are my favourite ingredient and using them my favourite way to cook. If I find myself with random bits and pieces to use up, I am delighted and often inspired; I enjoy the challenge of making them into a good meal and then I enjoy eating it! 

This is a fun and economical way of discovering new ideas and dishes; sometimes the result of playing with leftovers is so pleasing that the end product has become a regular on my menus.

There are many ways leftover food can happen, for instance …

Genuine leftovers, either the tail end of a made-up dish or the last few scraps of ingredients which are surplus to the requirements of a recipe.

By-products of cooking, for instance a Parmesan rind or potato skins.

Too much of something having been over enthusiastic when picking blackberries or maybe due to a two for one offer.

A very small amount of something you wish you had more of, for instance two squares of chocolate and four friends.

An accident – such as what to do with the packet of biscuits you just sat on.

Of necessity, as leftovers occur in random amounts, many of my ideas and recipes are flexible. Here is an index of my recipes for leftovers on this blog.

Of course, some leftovers can simply be reheated, here’s some advice. And here’s some more useful information …

How to Store Leftovers Safely

12 Important Basics of Cooking

Tips that help Cook Creatively

I keep a very well stocked storecupboard but some of it is pure indulgence on my part – I think you should do the same, including the indulgences bit, it really helps with creative cooking.

Storecupboard Ingredients to help Cook Creatively

I’m not going to list here what you should keep in stock, you know your own habits and preferences. It may that you eat a lot of fish and chips at home so that malt vinegar is an essential or perhaps you’re a bugger for cream teas and always have clotted cream to hand. However, here are some great ways to use storecupboard ingredients and also some things you can make yourself for your storecupboard.

Basic Recipes

Many basic recipes can be varied ad infinitum with different main ingredients, various additions, seasonings, cooking methods etc.

It’s a good idea to collect some basic recipes somewhere: online, in books or in your head, or for easy reference write them all into a kitchen notebook which you can refer to when cooking rather than having to look them up. Start a basic recipes collection to work with.

Here’s some to start with …

Easy and Very Flexible Soup Recipe

Vinaigrette Salad Dressing Basic Recipe

Rich, Quick and Easy Luxurious Cream Sauce

Easy and Delicious Meat Sauces

Guidelines for Making Bean Dips

Risotto – Basic Recipe and Ideas

Basic (but Brilliant!) No Churn Ice Cream Recipe   

Don’t Experiment when Baking ~ well not much! Successful baking requires a carefully controlled chemical reaction to work properly. Measure accurately, scales are much better than cups for this. Here are some conversion charts that should help.

By all means add nuts, fruit, chocolate chips, spices, a different glaze, etc. but don’t mess with the ratios of the main ingredients (flour, raising agent, sugar, fat, eggs, liquid), the order you add them to the recipe or the cooking temperature, or you risk a failure.

My book, Creative Ways to use up Leftovers, which I have recently self-published in a new edition and which I am really pleased with (probably I’m a bit of a bighead!) has loads of ideas and recipes for leftovers ~ have a look here.