The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (54 page)

Frozen prawns
I leave out the egg for this. First fry the onion as opposite, with a finely chopped garlic clove. Add the rice and fry for a couple of minutes. Add a handful of defrosted cooked prawns and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the soy. Garnish with a few finely chopped spring onions.

Vegetables
Defrosted frozen peas, a red pepper cut into small dice, small broccoli or cauliflower florets, even carrots – anything goes when adding vegetables to this dish. If they are already cooked, add them with the rice to heat through. If raw, add them to the onion, the thickest or toughest ones first, adding each subsequent vegetable as the one before it has become tender. Remove the vegetables from the pan and cook the egg as opposite. Return the vegetables to the pan with the rice and toss well.

Both risotto and jambalaya are heart-warming dishes that use raw rice, cooked from scratch, and both are ideal for using up leftovers. But in other ways they are only distant cousins. First, risotto uses short grain Italian rice, such as Arborio, Carnaroli or Vialone Nano, which swells and goes creamy as it cooks, while jambalaya uses long grain rice, which has a dryer, fluffier texture. Second, risotto calls for one or two simple flavours only, while jambalaya – as its name suggests – is something of a fridge-clearer: with this dish, it’s a case of the more the merrier. Don’t be put off by the myth that risotto is difficult; it’s just that it demands attention, asking to be stirred pretty constantly over the 20 minutes that it takes to cook. Jambalaya, on the other hand, is not so needy.

There is much debate about the ideal texture of risotto – sloppy and almost soup-like on the one hand, firmer and dryer on the other. It’s a taste thing. I prefer to err on the side of wetter rather than dryer and I have no problem with the comforting idea of eating risotto with a spoon. In the end, it’s entirely up to you.

Once you’ve made a plain risotto, the variations are infinite. Just remember to add leftover meat, fish or vegetables at the last minute, giving them time to warm through properly without falling apart or losing their bite. Because they will not add much flavour to the rice as they cook, add stronger tastes at the end of the process as well as at the beginning: finely chopped garlic or aromatics such as celery and fennel are good at the start, and the freshest herbs you can get your hands on at the end. Use the best Parmesan you can find (but don’t include it with fish).

I make risotto just as often with leftovers as I do with fresh ingredients. Nor do I mind reheating it for lunch the next day. I also go out of my way to cook too much risotto every time, because there’s a delightful Italian thing to do with the leftovers – Arancini (Risotto Balls), see
pages 140
-1.

Serves 2

about 500ml vegetable (or chicken) stock – home-made (see
pages 27
-
30
) or made with vegetable bouillon powder

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion or shallot, very finely sliced

200g risotto rice

2 tablespoons vermouth or dry white wine (optional
)

a knob of butter

a good handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve

salt and pepper

Heat the stock in a pan and keep it at a bare simmer.

In a separate pan, heat the olive oil, add the onion or shallot, then cover and cook gently until softened.

Add the rice and stir it well, so that each grain is coated in oil.

Add the vermouth or wine if using (or a ladleful of stock) and let it bubble, stirring well, for 30 seconds or so, until it has been absorbed by the rice. The rice should begin to look creamy.

Keeping the pan over a low heat, add a ladleful of stock and stir pretty constantly to encourage that creaminess to develop.