Let's talk Rechauffé today.

How to Rechauffé your healthy leftovers.

Rechauffé means to warm up, heat up leftover food (in my own terms I would say to JAZZ UP leftovers) *winks*.

Rechauffé is an art of using leftovers; it is more than digging into the fridge and mixing just any leftovers though. It requires more planning.

The advantages include reducing waste, saving money and it also saves lots of time.

Step 1: PLAN AHEAD. Say for instance, you have bought and/or cooked more than what you would eat in one serving (which is usual or expected, for example Chicken or meat) You can plan your next meal around the excess. This is the principle behind rechauffé food, not taking scraps off the plate.

Step 2: START WITH BASIC. With washed vegetable scraps that are free of any dirt or mold such as peelings and ends can be used if they are not of poor condition. For example-

·         Potato peelings can be seasoned with spices and baked until crisp for a low fat snack.

·         Carrot, onion & celery trimmings can be used in stocks.

Step 3: TO RECHAUFFE VEGETABLES - Should you have a range of fresh vegetables for steaming, sometimes it better to steam the whole vegetable (like cauliflower & pumpkin) rather than have raw leftovers that may rot or go stale. You can use the surplus the next day in different ways.

·         For cauliflower, the surplus can be chilled and reused in dishes such as cauliflower cheese, or marinated in vinegar and spices and served in a salad, used in soups or pureed and reheated.

·         Potatoes can be grilled, roasted, used in salads, soups or mashed.

·         Cabbage can be marinated in salt & vinegar and reused in salads.

·         Pumpkin can be used in scones, breads, soups etc.

·         Carrots can be reheated and served with honey.

·         Blanched Green beans can be sautéed quickly in a pan with a little hot coconut oil, chili or soy sauce, or some fresh chopped herbs. Or served cold in salads.

Step 4: Cooking like this means that you don't have surplus raw ingredients and you can reheat or serve a different way to save time.

With surplus boiled eggs, use them in sandwiches, curried eggs or in salads.

With surplus roast, grilled, poached or steamed meat, it can be used in sandwiches, salads, curries, braises, Bolognese sauces, casseroles, soups etc

Ofada or Brown Rice as well as Bulgur can be easily reheated or used in fried rice, Wheat pasta can be used hot or cold in salads.

Surplus breads can be used for breadcrumbs in a food processor.

Fruits can be cut raw for fruit salads or stewed. Surplus stewed fruits can be with oatmeal.

Stocks and sauces can be used as a foundation of other sauces, soups or stews.

Planning in advance on ways to use surplus food and reduce waste is the whole goal.

Info courtesy http://www.wikihow.com/Rechauff%C3%A9-food

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