Review of Suzy Bowler’s excellent Leftovers Handbook, with loads of recipes and ideas for using up leftovers.
Earlier this year, fellow Cornish food blogger Suzy Bowler published the most fabulous book of ideas and recipes for using up leftovers. This is a hot topic now and quite rightly so. The UK wastes a phenomenal amount of food and with rising food prices and people going hungry, this really isn’t on.
However, this isn’t your average how to be frugal cookbook. It is, in Suzy’s own words, “about getting the utmost pleasure out of every single scrap of food available to you“.
Suzy is a chef by profession and very obviously loves good food. Do take a look at her blog Sudden Lunch where you will find more inspiring ideas to convert leftovers into “eating opportunities”.
The Leftovers Handbook
The Leftovers Handbook: an A-Z of every conceivable ingredient in your kitchen with inspirational ideas and recipes for using them is pretty much what is says on the cover. It’s is an A-Z of ingredients that are likely to be in your kitchen and might well be in need of using up.
There are hundreds of interesting, creative and sometimes very simple ideas to be found within the 288 pages of this book. All the obviously perishable foods such as blackberries, cauliflower and yogurt are covered, but there are plenty of others which are less obvious.
How annoying is that last small glassful of sherry in a bottle which is taking up precious cupboard space? Look no further, Suzy has it covered.
And how about leftover dhal? Form it into patties, cover in flour and fry. I love dhal and usually make mega quantities to last for a few days. It does sometimes get a bit boring by day three however, so I’m quite excited by this idea.
As a vegetarian I skipped over the ideas for anchovies, bacon fat and various other fleshy substances.
The Leftovers Handbook by Suzy Bowler is in paperback format and is published by How to Books, 2013. ISBN: 9781908974082. It retails at £12.99.
Fun As Well As Interesting
The ideas and recipes are accompanied by witty and amusing commentary that had me smiling and laughing out loud on more than one occasion. I had the book on my bedside table for a while and dipped into it at random before going to sleep.
Whatever page I opened, there was something interesting, useful or funny to read. Chips? Suzy gamely states “there really isn’t a lot that can be done with leftover chips but I’ll give it a try“. And she does manage three possibilities.
There is a section at the back covering basic recipes and techniques that don’t readily fit into the A-Z format. This includes Alfredo pasta sauce, which I hadn’t heard of before, but will be using regularly from now on in. I’ve already made it twice and it is blissful – perhaps not surprising given the copious quantities of fat involved.
It also covers batters, pancakes and fritters, blanching vegetables, dough, eggs, how to freeze fruit and a number of other useful things.
Quick Banana Chocolate Ice Cream
I had a go at making Suzy’s chocolate banana ice-cream. It’s a simple process whereby you mash up three very ripe bananas and beat in a tablespoon of chocolate spread. So simple and so good.
It went straight into the freezer with no fuss. And you don’t have to beat out the ice crystals part way through freezing. It was almost instant ice-cream and tasted a lot nicer than I was expecting. What a great way to use up brown bananas.
Leftovers Handbook: Chocolate
The very first ingredient I looked for was, obviously, chocolate and I wasn’t disappointed. Leftover chocolate does seem a bit of a contradiction in terms, but I do sometimes use odd quantities in cooking and get left with just a few squares of very dark chocolate that I don’t want to eat.
As well as several recipes, including one for hot chocolate caramel sauce, there are plenty of ideas on how to use up those last few fragments. Suzy includes a number of “cook’s treats” and you’ll find them scattered around the book. The one for chocolate sounds heavenly, but you’ll need to get hold of a copy to find out what it is.
In the meantime, know this: dark chocolate goes well with stews; dark and milk pair well with a host of ingredients including peanut butter; white chocolate “goes frightfully well with berries“.
Leftovers Handbook: Peanut Butter
At the back of my store cupboard, I recently noticed a long forgotten half-empty jar of peanut butter. Turning to Suzy’s book, I discovered many wonderful things you can do with peanut butter; the ones Suzy lists are all good clean fun.
Take peanutty sweet potato soup. That’s one I’ll be trying as soon as the opportunity arises.
Leftovers Handbook: Handy Hints
The book is peppered with handy hints which are highlighted in the text. I didn’t know, for example, that if you used raw kiwi fruit in jellies, an enzyme it contains prevents setting.
Along with the ideas and recipes, there are plenty of tips on what pairs well with what. For instance, kumquats go well with duck, ginger, cranberries and cinnamon. This is by no means a prescriptive book – it is all about encouraging your own creativity.
Recipes For Using Leftovers
Until you manage to get hold of this extremely useful and entertaining book, here are a few of my recipes. They’re specifically designed to use up leftovers.
- Hazelnut chocolate cake truffles
- Leftover advocaat cake
- Leftover mashed potato omelette
- Pineapple shrub
- Rye sourdough pancakes
- Vegan savoury bread pudding
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you have a copy of The Leftovers Handbook, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for using up leftovers?
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If you’d like to see more book reviews, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All interesting and inspirational, of course.
Choclette x
Sharing
I’m sending this over to Fab First Fridays hosted by Fiona Maclean as I think this book is worth publicising more widely.
Judith Luscombe says
Wow chocolate banana icecream, I must remember to try that, sounds lush
Lorna MacFadyen says
what a great idea for a book! I think I am quite a good cook but not very adventurous, much better with a recipe or an idea.. I’d fail miserably at the mystery box round on Masterchef 🙁
Maya Russell says
Also looking for guidelines on safety of reusing meat etc.
Maya Russell says
I like peanut butter too so this book would be good for me.
Maya Russell says
Fab book I’d like to get it. I’m not surprised you found it hard to find recipes for left over chocolate. 🙂
Fiona Maclean says
Thanks for linking up again! I agree it DOES sound like it’s worth publicising a bit more, it’s one of the few cook books I could see myself using…and I’d never heard of it
Kath says
I like the sound of this book very much – a useful book to have in the kitchen.
Laura Denman says
This sounds very interesting. Another book to add o the collection!