Leftovers

We are all currently loving our kitchens — the oven gets switched on almost every day and it's constantly messy. We are baking, cooking, and eating in a way we wouldn't have on a normal Wednesday morning or lazy Monday evening.

Before you know it, you have so many bits and pieces left over from previous meals. Let's do something with them.

What did we do?

Here are some of our secrets to keep cooking and baking without waste — though we'll always recommend sharing with whoever needs it most.

Oven-roasted Lamb

A delicious leftover to have around — it can become the easiest lunch or dinner in no time.

A hearty soup with pieces of lamb for chilly evenings, bulked out with leftover vegetables, lentils, or chickpeas.
A proper pot pie — you've got the time, so make your own buttery pastry.
Spice it up for a lamb korma served with torn flatbreads.

Fresh Vegetables

When the pantry starts filling up with veg that's about to turn, a recipe isn't your only option.

Pickle as much as you can. Play around with spices and adjust to your taste — the basics stay the same but it's easily tweaked.
A classic roast vegetable soup never fails. Experiment with flavours rather than sticking to tradition.
Most vegetables freeze well if fresh isn't an option right now.
Let some vegetables show signs of new growth and replant them in your garden — a slow living favourite.
Make jam or chutney. Homemade is always best.

Roasted Vegetables

Already cooked, roasted, fried, or steamed vegetables can be used again in so many ways.

A simple frittata with soft cheese, spices, or herbs topped up with milk and eggs.
Blended into a soup.
Stirred into a dhal with a few spices, chickpeas or spinach, and coconut milk, cream, or yoghurt.
Tossed into a bowl with fresh herbs and a herb oil or vinaigrette.
Most root vegetables chop down well into bread or muffin batter. Try our rye bread recipe with spring onions and sweet potato.

Fruit

Fruit ripens fast — here's how to use it before it turns.

Bake something sweet: a cake, tart, or banana bread. Berries make a great compote over yoghurt, ice cream, or cake.
Make jam — a marmalade for citrus, or a preserve for pears and stone fruit. These keep really well.
Chop and freeze for smoothies.

Baked Goods

From bread to cake to cookies, nothing needs to go to waste.

Slice bread into biscotti-sized pieces and dry it out. Sweet breads replace biscotti beautifully; savoury breads become crackers, croutons, or dippers for soft cheese.
Crush leftover cookies into tart bases or cheesecake crusts.
Turn cake, croissants, or most breads into a baked pudding — soak in a sweet egg and milk mixture, add dates or homemade jam, and bake.
Blitz and dry most breads into breadcrumbs. Store completely dry in a sealed jar in the pantry.

There is definitely a lot more we can do with leftovers, but these tend to be the staple of most kitchens.

As you start making one thing, it often opens the door for another ingredient to be used in the same dish — soos ons in Afrikaans sê, "twee vlieë met een klap". Be creative and make new things from what you already have.