How a broccoli floret inspired my book about leftovers

Plus a gorgeous recipe from Second Helpings: Smoky Cajun-inspired Rice. It's perfect for using up leftovers meat like ham, turkey, chicken and sausages.

Hello and welcome back to Pen and Spoon! If you celebrate Christmas, I wish you peace and joy for the festive season. This week’s newsletter and recipe is free for everyone, so please share it to spread the love. This is a preview of my new book, Second Helpings, which is out on January 11. I’d be delighted if you pre-ordered it, which you can do here. It makes such a difference to the success of a book if there are healthy orders before it’s released. Thank you in advance. In the meantime, please enjoy my newsletter and recipe. And feel free to join my community of paid subscribers to receive my weekly newsletter and recipes (recipes are generally only for paid subscribers).

My new book, Second Helpings, out on January 11: click here to pre-order. Beautiful photography by Facundo Bustamante

How can one single lonely floret of broccoli be the inspiration for a cookbook? Let me introduce you to my mum. When I was a kid, our fridge was always brimming with oddments because she threw absolutely nothing away. Scrapings of cream clinging to the sides of a carton, milk that had turned a bit sour, chicken bones, tiny morsels that hadn’t been eaten from a previous meal, cold porridge … they were all kept and used up. I even remember a single floret of cooked broccoli camping out in the fridge, waiting for a home in a new meal.

Although I found this approach a bit odd when I was a child, my mum’s frugality and resourcefulness, rubbed off.  Many years later when I was flat sharing, my housemates and I would play Ready Steady Cook, and have fun coming up with weird meals made out of the slim pickings – and leftovers – lurking in the fridge. Now, I find the most interesting and satisfying way to cook is to base meals around remnants of other meals, as well as surplus food, and bits and pieces that are past their best.

Leftovers often taste better than the meal did the first time around, because the flavours have had time to mingle and develop.  That’s why so many of us find Boxing Day leftovers just that little bit tastier than the original Christmas Day meal.

Secondly, it’s exciting to corral ingredients that need using up on the benchtop and come up with interesting, delicious and sometimes unlikely ways to bring them together in a meal. (Let me tell you a secret:  I’ve now written fifteen cookbook sand some of the best recipes I’ve developed are the result of using what I had, rather than what I thought I needed, in a dish).

As well as being financially foolish, wasting food harms our planet because it accelerates climate change.  Food dumped in the bin will go on to sit in a landfill and produce vast amounts of methane while it slowly decomposes

But while it’s financially and environmentally sensible to cook with leftovers, I prefer to view them as potentially delicious future meals rather than using them up as being a worthy act. We all love classic leftover dishes, like bubble and squeak and hash with an egg on top. But leftovers offer so much more; they deserve to be celebrated in loads of delicious different ways. I hope the recipes in my book Second Helpings will inspire you to love leftovers more. And what should you do with a single cooked broccoli floret? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

Smoky Cajun-inspired Rice

Leftovers: cooked chicken, turkey, pork, ham, sausages

Serves 4
Preparation: about 1 hour

About 250g (9oz) sausages (cooked or uncooked) and/or bacon and/or ham

2 Tbsp goose or duck fat, dripping or vegetable oil (if needed)

1 large onion, finely chopped
1 red or green (bell) pepper, finely

chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 spring onions (scallions), finely

chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 Tbsp tomato purée (paste)
1 x 400g (14oz) can chopped tomatoes 1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp smoked paprika
1⁄2 tsp cayenne pepper
200g (generous 1 cup) long-grain rice,

rinsed well and drained
700ml (3 cups) chicken or turkey stock,

or more as needed
About 250g (9oz) cooked chicken,

turkey and/or pork, cut into bite-

sized chunks Fine sea salt
Hot sauce, to serve

Place the uncooked sausages and bacon (if using) in a heavy casserole over a medium heat. A bit of the fat from both will come out as they warm up but if the pan stays dry, add some extra fat. Turn to coat in the hot fat, then keep cooking and turning now and then until cooked through. The bacon should take 2–4 minutes each side – remove from the pan when done. The sausages will take 15–20 minutes. Cut into bite-sized pieces and transfer to a plate with the chopped cooked sausages and any ham you’re adding to the dish. Set aside.

Pour the fat from the pan into a bowl, then add back 2 tablespoons (or if there’s not enough, use dripping or oil).

Add the onion, (bell) pepper, celery, spring onions (scallions) and a generous pinch of salt to the pan and fry gently over a medium-low heat for 15 minutes until soft and translucent. Stir in the garlic and tomato purée (paste) and fry for 3 more minutes or until you can smell the tomato caramelizing.

Stir in the canned tomatoes, thyme and spices and simmer for 5 minutes over a medium heat.

Stir in the rice and stock. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly to ensure the rice doesn’t stick. Fold in the meat, and cook for a further 10 minutes, covered, again stirring regularly. If the rice is not done after 20 minutes total cooking, add a splash more stock or water and continue cooking until the rice is tender; you want quite a loose consistency.

Serve immediately, with your favourite hot sauce alongside for guests to add themselves.