There's Nothing Wrong with Leftovers

Leftovers. When applied to food it really isn't a very appealing word. Implying everything from dull to unwanted and possibly disgusting, why on earth would anyone want to eat leftovers?
Funnily enough, something left from a previous meal can be unbelievably enticing. A cold roast potato sitting in the fridge is just begging to be snatched and eaten there and then.

If you can wait long enough, more often than not, surplus cold cooked vegetables can be made into a completely new meal.
We were quite good over Christmas and did not have too much left over, however as always I did do too much veg on purpose. Some sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts, a few roast parsnips and carrots and there should have been some roast potatoes, but they were snaffled up sooner.

I made a tasty brunch using the aforementioned vegetables, but had to cook some potato to bind everything together into a type of bubble and squeak/hash cake. With the addition of some small pieces of smoked brie, extra seasoning and an egg to stick it all together. Just chop and mash everything until it can be moulded into a round flat cake shape, dust with flour and shallow fry in a little oil until crispy and warmed through.
I served them with cranberry sauce mixed with some chilli sauce for added zip.

Photo: ©childsdesign 2010

Grilled Fresh Sardines with Roasted Marinated Vegetables and Gremolata

Sardines are great. It doesn't matter whether they're from a tin or fresh, they're always good. I picked up some Cornish ones the other day, and they were really fresh, smelling of the sea. Their plump silvery bodies looked so inviting.

Although sardines can be eaten whole I prefer not having to deal with any bones whilst eating them, so I set about filleting them. It was very easy as they were of a good size.

Sardines are an oily fish, so something that can stand up to that whilst cutting through the richness was needed to accompany them. Choosing to create a Mediterranean style dish, I slow roasted some tomatoes in the oven, which partly dries them and intensifies the flavour. Just halve some medium sized tomatoes and place them in a baking tray, sprinkle with a little sea salt and sugar and put in a low temperature oven for about 2 hours, or until they have shrunk to about half their original size.
I also cut some red and yellow peppers, courgette, and red onion into large chunks, tossed them in a little olive oil and roasted them in a medium oven until they had softened and taken on some charring at the edges.

The rest was easy. I put the tomatoes and rest of the vegetables into a bowl, added a small splash of red wine vinegar, a good slosh of extra virgin olive oil, a generous pinch of dried oregano, a few capers and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
This I just left to marinade all together while I made the gremolata.

I grated the zest of lemon into a bowl, then add a grated clove of garlic and finely chopped flat-leafed parsley and mixed together well.

All that was left to do was to cook the fish. I laid the glistening sardine fillets, skin side up on a non-stick baking sheet and seasoned with a little salt and pepper. There was no need for any oil – the fish had enough naturally.
Then I put them under a preheated grill on a very high heat, until the skins started to blister and crisp slightly. I didn’t need to turn them over as the fillets were thin enough to allow the heat to penetrate and cook them all the way through.

To serve, I piled the marinated vegetables on to plates along with any liquid and then placed the sardines on top and sprinkled with the gremolata.

Bread was all that was needed to mop up the sweet and succulent juice.

Warm Crotin Toasts and Figs Roasted with Honey and Thyme

I'm a bit of a fan of goat's cheese and was lucky enough to pick up a pair of little Crotin cheeses in Lidl when they were having  a 'French Week'. 

The cheese is soft in texture and has a nutty full flavour, but not at all sour. The rind is quite edible as it's not long matured.

I decided that it would be good warm, accompanied by something sweet yet savoury on a nice slice of crunchy toast.

For two people I took four fresh ripe figs and cut a cross through the stalk end, being careful not to go all the way to the bottom and place them in an oven proof dish. I then liberally drizzled them with runny honey and then sprinkled on some fresh thyme leaves. I baked them in a moderate oven until they became quite soft.

The toast had to be quite special, so I used sour dough bread for its depth of flavour. I cut four slices (my loaf was quite small) and then toasted them lightly on both sides. I put these on a baking tray and then sliced each Crotin into four pieces and lay two bits per piece of toast and put in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese was warm and soft.

While they were cooking I made a simple dressing with balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and Dijon mustard.

I then removed the toasts from the oven and put on to plates, spooned the figs, along with their sweet juices on top of the cheese. All it took to finish of was to add some mixed salad leaves with the dressing drizzled over.