Washington - In his latest book, River Cottage chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall calls them “planned-overs.”
They're leftovers that you intended to leave over - ingredients that you cooked more of than you needed at the moment, knowing that you'd be able to make great use of them later.
“The creation of 'planned-overs' doesn't even have to be linked to the meal you're making,” he writes in Love Your Leftovers, published in Britain this year but not yet in the States. “If I'm in the kitchen anyway, roasting vegetables or stirring a soup, I'll often throw half a box of Puy lentils into a pan with a bay leaf, half an onion and a kettleful of water, and get them cooked. It's almost no work, and while I might not have a specific plan for their use, I know that tub of pulses [legumes] in the fridge will see me right for some mouth-watering, substantial salads over the next few days, with crumbled cheese, crisp leaves - and perhaps some of those roasted roots.”
Hear, hear. I can't imagine cooking any other way, which is why books like Fearnley-Whittingstall's and Tamar Adler's The Everlasting Meal have spoken to me so strongly. Thankfully, there has been a mini-trend in such books, the ones that encourage us to see our cooking not in terms of stand-alone, buy-all-the-ingredients-and-make-this recipes but in terms of a what-do-I-have-and-how-can-I-use-it sensibility. Eugenia Bone's The Kitchen Ecosystem laid out the philosophy beautifully.
I beat this same drum regularly; I can't help it. Ever since I started cooking this way, I've found a rhythm in the kitchen that I've never wanted to let go, for good reason: It has helped me get satisfying meals on the table in a fraction of the time it used to take. And my food waste has diminished remarkably.
Here's an example of how this can work: On a recent Sunday, I roasted separate batches of beets, mushrooms and cauliflower, cooked a pot of black beans and made a batch of granola. The granola is my breakfast every morning, and the mushrooms and cauliflower have gone into salads, soups and tacos. The beets and some of the beans then found their home in veggie burgers that also employed quinoa, flaxseed and more. (The beets give the burgers a beautiful crimson hue.) The only things I needed to buy to finish the recipe were burger buns and avocados.
The best part? Only three of the six patties were eaten as intended, while the other half went into the freezer for yet another weeknight, when they might turn into something else entirely.
Beet, Quinoa, Black Bean and Flaxseed Burgers
6 servings
MAKE AHEAD: The baked patties can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 6 months; bring them to room temperature before pan-frying.
Look for oat flour by Bob's Red Mill in the gluten-free section of supermarkets or natural foods stores; you can also easily make your own by grinding rolled oats in a food processor or clean spice grinder.
Adapted from Superfoods, by Julie Montagu (Quadrille Publishing, 2015).
Ingredients
For the patties
8 ounces small beets, trimmed and scrubbed (may substitute pre-cooked beets)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup quinoa
1 1/4 cups drained and rinsed black beans (canned no-salt-added or homemade)
1 small shallot lobe, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons oat flour (see headnote)
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, or more as needed
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more as needed
2 tablespoons coconut oil
For assembly
6 whole-wheat buns, toasted
2 tablespoons tahini
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Arugula, lettuce or other tender greens (optional)
Flesh of 2 avocados, sliced
Steps
For the patties: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wrap the beets tightly in aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet; bake until fork-tender, 50 to 60 minutes. Unwrap, and when cool enough to handle, slip off the peels under running water. Let continue to cool. (Leave the oven on for baking the burgers; you can use it to toast the buns in the meantime.)
While the beets are roasting, combine the water and quinoa in a small saucepan over high heat, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat until the liquid is barely bubbling, cover and cook until all the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool. (You should have about 1 1/2 cups.)
Cut the cooled beets into 1/2-inch cubes, placing them in a mixing bowl. Add the black beans; use a fork to mash the two together, then stir in the cooled quinoa, shallot, garlic, cilantro, vinegar, lime, oat flour, flaxseed, sea salt and pepper. Taste, and add sea salt and pepper as needed.
Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Don food-safe gloves if you're worried about beet stains. Use your hands to divide the beet mixture into 6 equal portions, shaping each into a fat patty. Transfer to the baking sheet; bake (400 degrees) until the tops are firm and dry to the touch, 15 minutes; flip and repeat on the second side. Let cool.
Melt the coconut oil in a large skillet (preferably nonstick) over medium heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the patties, working in batches as needed to avoid overcrowding). Cook until browned and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
To serve, spread the bottom half of each bun with about 1 teaspoon of the tahini, then sprinkle lightly with crushed red pepper flakes, if using. Finish each burger with (in order): a few arugula leaves, if using, a beet patty, avocado slices and the top bun, and serve.
Nutrition Per serving: 550 calories, 20 g protein, 83 g carbohydrates, 19 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 700 mg sodium, 19 g dietary fibre, 9 g sugar
The Washington Post