Cookery Book Reviews

Love Your Leftovers by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Visually this is a very appealing book, a hardback (a must for cookery books) with a slightly retro-feel which is entirely appropriate for a book about using up leftovers.

There is a very useful page, 'Frequently Occurring Leftovers,' which gives multiple suggestions about how to use up various common foods such as potatoes, cheese, chicken and over over ripe bananas.

The first part of the book makes suggestions about curries, crumbles etc giving a crumble topping that can easily be made in bulk and cooked ahead and stored in an airtight container (very nice I tried it!)

The main text is divided into recipes by specific leftovers from meat, fish, rice to a section for Christmas and using store-cupboard basics.

Some of the recipes are obvious such as bubble and squeak and eggy bread but as one tends to forget about these old standbys it is very much welcome and many recipes have a Hugh slant to them. I have never had sweetened eggy bread for a pudding– I have now!

There is a recipe 'Root Gratin' which uses leftover roasted vegetables and is great for a vegetarian – I suspect that with some of the recipes I shall deliberately cook extra roast veg to make the recipes the following day.

For those of you who really hate waste there is a very economical potato peel soup which I haven't tried but actually looks very good and is no doubt very nutritious There is also a fish head soup which is easy and tasty. Fishmongers will often give fish heads away if you ask nicely.

There is a recipe 'Pork in Rosemary Cream Sauce' which s a great way of using up leftover pork which I find tends to be dry the following day.

The recipes are well laid out and easy to follow and there are extra tips and suggestions about other ways of making the recipe with alternative ingredients is very useful

We have a few vegetarians in the family and I feel a vegetarian section would have been a useful addiion.

In my family we like to try out new recipes and share them, especially easy and quick meals and I think this book will supply us with a few more treasured ones and ideas to experiment and make up our own.

A great Christmas present for foodies and people who hate waste