The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (32 page)

Gratins are simply baked dishes topped with cheese – fantastic for using up any vegetables not so much left over as entering the twilight zone, plus the remnants of your favourite cheese. Once the vegetables have been softened in a steamer or with a knob of butter in a pan, they can be blanketed in a cheesy white sauce or a tomato sauce or just left in their unclothed state. In either case it’s the topping that makes the dish: a grating of cheese or a cheesy breadcrumb mixture, baked until the cheese bubbles and browns or the top is crisp. This is food for cold evenings.

One of my all-time favourite suppers, made with either strong Cheddar with a grating of nutmeg in the white sauce or the zingy taste of mountain cheese such as Emmental, with a pinch of mustard powder.

Serves 2

1 medium cauliflower, cut into good-sized florets

1 quantity of Cheese Sauce (see
page 32
), made with 1 teaspoon mustard powder

some good hard cheese for grating, or 1 teacup mixed breadcrumbs and grated cheese

bacon rashers, cut into pieces and fried until crisp, to serve (optional
)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Put the cauliflower florets in a steamer and cook for 5-7 minutes, until just yielding to the point of a knife. Put them in an ovenproof dish and cover with the sauce, then grate some cheese over the top or scatter over the mixed breadcrumbs and cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Always ensure that the top is really golden before serving.

I like, unconventionally, to pile the cauliflower up on to a thick slice of toasted brown bread, spooning over the thick sauce and scattering pieces of bacon over the whole lot. You can, of course, serve it on its own.

Leek and parsnip
Peel and dice the vegetables and either steam them or soften them in a little butter or oil in a covered saucepan. Instead of cheese sauce, cover them with double cream spiked with a good teaspoon of grainy mustard. Mature Cheddar cheese on top, with or without breadcrumbs, works beautifully. Bake as opposite.

Sweet potato, broccoli and thyme
Steam the vegetables until tender and place in a dish without a cheese sauce but with a few knobs of butter, some chopped thyme and a breadcrumb topping (see
page 49
). Bake as opposite.

Spinach
Wash plenty of spinach and then wilt it quickly in a covered pan in just the water clinging to the leaves. Drain, cool and squeeze out excess water, then put the spinach in an ovenproof dish. Pour over a white sauce seasoned with a good grating of fresh nutmeg (see
page 32
). If you have some ricotta cheese, crumble it over the spinach after pouring on the sauce, then finish with a plain breadcrumb topping (see
page 49
). Bake as opposite.

Chicory
Cut the chicory heads into quarters lengthways and steam for 5 minutes. Put in a dish with some inely sliced celery and top with little knobs of Roquefort (or any blue cheese) instead of cheese sauce. Scatter over a breadcrumb and parsley topping (see
page 49
). Bake as opposite.

Macaroni cheese
If you substitute cooked macaroni for the cauliflower you have a quite different dish. Leave out the mustard and instead stir into the sauce some Bottled Dried Tomatoes (see
page 44
) or bits of bacon cooked until just brown.

Celery with capers and anchovies
This is an enduringly Italian combination and one of our fallbacks for the packet of celery left in the fridge. It goes really well with white meat or fish, and is equally good as a light lunch with crusty bread. Blanch 3cm-long pieces of celery in rapidly boiling salted water for 4 minutes, then drain. Put into a buttered ovenproof dish, scatter over chopped capers, garlic and anchovies to taste and drizzle with olive oil, before baking as on
page 98
. You could top it all off with Flavoured Breadcrumbs (see
page 49
).

Mushrooms with garlic and parsley
Chop some mushrooms into small pieces and put them into ramekins. For each ramekin, mix in ½ clove of finely chopped garlic and a teaspoon of finely chopped parsley. Finish with a knob of butter and a sprinkling of salt and pepper, then bake as on
page 98
. For a gutsier alternative, add some dried chilli flakes, lemon zest, chopped thyme and a teaspoon of dry white wine per ramekin. Sprinkle more parsley on top. Serve accompanied by crusty bread or toast.

Beetroot and white sauce
Boil the beetroot until soft (depending on size, this can take anything from 40 minutes upwards, and almost always takes longer than you think). Test for tenderness with a sharp knife, then drain and peel. Slice the beetroot and put it in an ovenproof dish. Add some finely sliced onion that has been cooked in a little oil or butter until soft. Make a White Sauce (see
page 32
), adding a bay leaf as it cooks. Season well with black pepper, pour the sauce over the beetroot and bake until bubbling. This dish is especially good with roast lamb.

Tartiflette
The French Savoie equivalent of our cauliflower cheese, tartiflette makes use of boiled waxy potatoes, speckling them with ham or bacon and a coating of strong, semi-soft mountain cheese – classically, Reblochon or raclette. In some ways the dish is more a bake than a gratin, but in any case it should not be attempted by anyone with an aversion to strong, smelly cheese.

For 750g potatoes, use about 150g diced ham or browned bacon, 250g cheese and half a small pot of cream. Lightly brown some onions and garlic in butter or oil. Add the sliced boiled potatoes and let them colour gently. Arrange in an ovenproof dish, scatter over the ham or bacon (or layer the potatoes and meat, if you prefer), scatter cubes of the cheese over the top and pour over the cream. Cover with foil and bake at 180°C/Gas Mark 4 for 15-20 minutes, then remove the foil and grill for 5 minutes to give it a crisp top. For an authentic tartiflette, add chopped gherkins to the potatoes, or serve them separately.

The Arabic name of this dish,
fatta,
means ‘to break in pieces’. It is a traditional Middle Eastern dish somewhere between a bake and a warm salad (there’s no oven time required), with yogurt as its essential ingredient. Although it’s usually made with freshly poached meat, it works just as well with leftover chicken or lamb, the layers and textures of the dish making it particularly pleasing.

Serves 4

1 large pitta bread

60g pine nuts

675g plain yogurt

a small bunch of mint leaves, chopped

1 large garlic clove, crushed (optional
)

570ml meat broth or stock (see
pages 28
-
9
) for warming the meat

4 teacups (about 400g) leftover beef, lamb or chicken, torn into pieces

400g can of chickpeas, drained

Split the pitta bread open, toast it, then leave to cool. Break into bite-sized pieces.

Warm a small frying pan over a medium heat and add the pine nuts. Toast them carefully, moving them around with a wooden spoon to make sure they do not burn. When the nuts are golden, remove them from the pan and leave to cool.

Mix the yogurt with the chopped mint and the garlic, if using. When you are almost ready to serve the dish, bring the meat broth or stock to a bare simmer in a large pan. Add the meat and chickpeas and continue to simmer for 3-5 minutes, until they are warmed through.

To assemble the dish, spread a layer of broken toasted pitta over the bottom of a deep serving dish. Remove the meat and chickpeas from the stock with a slotted spoon and arrange these over the bread. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of the stock over the top and finally cover with the seasoned yogurt. Garnish with the toasted pine nuts and serve immediately.