No Waste, All Taste: Max La Manna’s Comfort Food Pantry-raid Recipes

Cooking pinch small to nary waste isn’t astir rules; it’s astir rethinking aged habits. Take inventory of nan nutrient you already person (I for illustration taking a photograph of my fridge and pantry earlier I spell shopping), instrumentality to your database and bargain only what you need. Make judge you shop it properly, too, truthful it lasts longer, and don’t hide to navigator pinch a spot of curiosity: that bendy carrot, yesterday’s rice, nan broccoli stem you’d usually bin – they each person potential. Start small, and spot me: you’ll announcement nan wins successful nary time, redeeming money, clip and nutrient from nan bin. For me, low-waste cooking isn’t restrictive, it’s liberation. It turns what you already person into thing you really want: a delicious repast that’s bully for you and nan planet.

Crispy atom pinch peanut-chilli crunch

Leftover atom is ne'er boring – it’s an opportunity. Cold, clumpy atom gets pressed into a basking cookware until transformed pinch a aureate crust. It’s past surgery up and tossed successful my favourite peanut-tamari-chilli dressing. Add cucumber, outpouring onion, a spot of mint if there’s immoderate lurking successful nan fridge, and you’ve sewage crunch, power and freshness each successful 1 bowl. It’s impervious that nan champion meals often travel from what’s already sitting successful your fridge.

Prep 10 min
Cook 15 min
Serves 4

2 tbsp neutral lipid
400g leftover cooked rice (cold from nan fridge useful best)
60g roasted peanuts, plus other to service
2 tbsp tamari, aliases soy sauce
1 tbsp atom vinegar, aliases cider vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup
1 red chilli, stalk, pith and seeds removed, soma finely sliced, aliases ½ tsp dried chilli flakes, positive other to serve
4 outpouring onions, thinly sliced, greens and whites separated
½ cucumber, thinly sliced into half-moons
1 mini fistful mint leaves, shredded, to finish

Put nan lipid successful a frying cookware connected a mean heat, past extremity successful nan acold atom and property down pinch nan backmost of a spatula truthful it covers nan guidelines of nan pan. Leave to navigator for 8 to 10 minutes, until nan bottommost is aureate and crisp.

Meanwhile, make nan dressing: lightly bash nan peanuts successful a mortar, past operation successful nan tamari, vinegar, maple syrup, chilli and outpouring bulb whites.

Break up nan crisp atom into unsmooth chunks, move successful nan dressing, flip until good coated, past return disconnected nan heat.

Fold done nan cucumber and outpouring bulb greens, past service lukewarm scattered pinch nan mint and immoderate other chilli aliases peanuts.

Charred broccoli and achromatic legume smash connected toast

Max Le Manna’s charred broccoli and achromatic legume smash connected toast.

I emotion recipes that usage nan full constituent – stalks, florets, nan lot. It’s often wasted, but present broccoli gets a bully char past lands connected apical of garlicky achromatic beans smashed pinch lemon. Pile precocious connected toast and decorativeness pinch pickled reddish onions, and abruptly you’ve sewage luncheon from nan simplest of leftover bits. The brine from nan pickled onions is seasoning gold, truthful effort adding a spoonful to nan legume smash pinch nan citrus juice. To make your ain pickled reddish onions, thinly portion a reddish bulb and put it successful a mini jar. Add 3 tablespoons of pome cider vinegar, a tablespoonful of sweetener and a spoon of salt, and adjacent nan lid. Give it a mini shingle and pickle until serving.

Prep 10 min
Cook 10 min
Serves 4

Olive oil
2 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
400g tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Zest and juice of 1 lemon, plus other juice for serving
Sea brackish and achromatic pepper
4 heavy slices sourdough (stale is fine)
250g cooked broccoli, stalks and florets, astir chopped
Shop-bought aliases homemade pickled reddish onions (see look intro)

Heat nan oven grill to 150C/300F. In a mini pan, lukewarm a tablespoonful of oliva lipid pinch nan garlic, past adhd nan beans, citrus zest and juice, and a scatter of water. Mash to a chunky consistency and play pinch brackish and achromatic pepper.

Lightly toast nan sourdough for astir 2 minutes. Spread nan achromatic legume smash generously complete each toast, past heap precocious pinch nan broccoli florets and stalks. Drizzle pinch oliva oil, past grill for a fewer minutes until nan broccoli is nicely charred.

Finish pinch immoderate pickled reddish onions and a last compression of citrus juice, and serve.

Tomato and lentil pasta bake

Max Le Manna’s herb and lentil pasta bake.

This is my benignant of dish: turning likelihood and ends into autumn comfortableness nutrient gold. Last night’s herb sauce? Stir it done pasta pinch a tin of lentils. That chunk of old bread? Blitz it into breadcrumbs for nan topping. And effort stirring a spoonful of nan caper brine into nan condiment on pinch nan lentils: nan salty tang gives things a assistance and uses what astir group propulsion away.

Prep 5 min
Cook 25 min
Serves 4

Heat nan oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Bring a cookware of salted h2o to a boil and navigator nan pasta for 3 minutes little than nan packet instructions. Drain, reserving immoderate of nan pasta cooking water.

In a ample bowl, harvester nan pasta, herb condiment and lentils, and play to taste; if nan condiment seems excessively thick, loosen pinch immoderate of nan reserved pasta water. Tip nan operation into a baking dish.

In a abstracted bowl, operation nan breadcrumbs, capers, oliva lipid and nutritional yeast, if using, past scatter complete nan apical of nan pasta. Bake for 15 minutes until nan apical is aureate and crisp. Serve consecutive from nan crockery pinch a greenish crockery aliases immoderate bits are successful nan fridge.

• Max La Manna is simply a low-waste cook and writer of You Can Cook This! published by Ebury astatine £22. To bid a copy, sojourn guardianbookshop.com