The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (13 page)

The quantities below make a generous amount for sandwiches and salads; the mayonnaise will keep in the fridge, covered, for 3 days.

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon mustard (English or Dijon
)

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

a pinch of salt (unless you are adding anchovies, gherkins or capers
)

250ml basic olive or groundnut oil (in other words, oil without a strong taste
)

black pepper

Whiz together the egg yolks, mustard, vinegar and salt in a food processor. With the machine running, pour in the oil in a very slow, steady stream (if you are making the mayonnaise by hand you will need to add it, almost literally, drop by drop). Pour too fast and the oil and egg will separate. What you want is for them to emulsify into a fairly thick, creamy sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

If by chance the mayonnaise does separate, take a clean bowl and whisk another egg yolk in it. Then add the separated mixture a drop at a time, whisking vigorously as you go. It should all come back together.

Hollandaise is very similar to mayonnaise but you make it in two stages to produce a more robust sauce that is served tepid – a perfect partner for artichokes, spinach, poached eggs and leftover fish or fishcakes. Rich with egg yolks, this sauce will curdle if it is over-heated. If this happens, turn down the heat and make sure the hot water in the pan is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Whisk a single egg yolk in a cup and add it slowly to the original mixture, whisking all the time – with luck, it should come back together again.

Hollandaise will keep in the fridge, covered, for 3 days.

Serves 4 generously

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons water

a squeeze of lemon juice

1 small shallot, very finely chopped

5 black peppercorns

3 large egg yolks

175g unsalted butter, diced

salt and pepper

Put the vinegar, water, lemon juice, shallot and peppercorns in a small pan and bring to a bare simmer. Continue to simmer until the liquid has reduced to about a tablespoon (this can happen quite fast, so don’t pick up the phone at this stage). Strain into a small bowl and leave to cool completely.

In a glass or china bowl, whisk the egg yolks until really fluffy, using an electric beater or rotary whisk. Add the vinegar reduction. Put the bowl over a pan of simmering water – make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Then simply add the butter in small chunks, whisking as you go. The two should emulsify into a thickish cream, just like mayonnaise. Keep whisking as you add the butter until it is all used up. Season to taste. You can keep the sauce in a warm place for half an hour or so. If you put a circle of greaseproof paper on the top, any skin that’s formed will lift off with the paper when you’re ready to serve.

This is one of those sauces that take less than 10 minutes to prepare and just half an hour to cook. It soon becomes a household staple. I make it in bulk and freeze it in relatively small portions – enough for two, say – so that I can whip it out for leftover suppers, especially pasta, pizzas, meat or fish balls, casseroles and bakes. It’s a truly basic recipe, so feel free to tinker with the quantities of onion or garlic to suit your taste. You could add a big pinch of dried chilli flakes, a handful of basil or thyme or a couple of anchovy fillets, or pepper it with stoned black olives and rinsed capers. For a really gutsy pasta sauce, add a skinned, chopped chorizo or a small glass of red wine right at the start, once the onion has softened. You really can’t go wrong with it.

When fresh tomatoes are cheap and in season, or when they are bursting from their growbag, use them in place of canned ones, for a paler, fresher-tasting sauce. You don’t have to skin and deseed the tomatoes – just push the finished sauce through a sieve to get rid of the indigestible bits. I’d leave out the tomato purée and sugar too: when reduced down, really ripe tomatoes have their own sweetness and summery intensity.

The quantities below make enough for 2 generous servings of pasta.

a splash of olive oil

1 small to medium onion, chopped

1 large or 2 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped

400g can of chopped Italian tomatoes

2 teaspoons tomato purée

½ teaspoon caster sugar

salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic and sweat for a couple of minutes so that they soften but do not colour. Add all the other ingredients and stir well, squashing down any tomato lumps to help break them up (if you want this sauce to cook quickly, strain the tinned tomatoes before using them – but I prefer to condense that liquid by cooking, which deepens the flavour). Bring the sauce to a very gentle simmer and cook slowly for 20-30 minutes, until it has reduced and thickened. You will need to stir it from time to time, and watch that it doesn’t catch and burn at the bottom. Check the seasoning. Either use straight away or cool and store in the fridge (for 3-5 days) or freezer (for 3-4 months).

Besides infusing meat with rich flavours, marinades can be really useful as a stay of execution for meat that should have been cooked the night before. You
could
put it in the freezer (but once defrosted it will need cooking immediately). Alternatively, when meat is just on the margin of its recommended use-by date, marinades are a quick and easy way of buying just enough time, safely.

Marinade ingredients fall into three groups: oils, which seal the meat from the air and carry the other flavours; acids, such as citrus fruit or vinegar, which help to tenderise the meat; and herbs and spices, which can be chopped or ground and added to cold oil or, as they do in India, warmed very gently in oil to release all their flavour. You can also add all sorts of flavourings such as honey, ketchup, soy sauce, horseradish or mustard. Speediest of all, you can use oil to thin down almost any ready-made pesto, curry paste or harissa for a very simple marinade.

Here are some ideas for marinades you can knock up fast depending on what you have to hand. To use any marinade, put the meat or fish in a shallow dish, coat it with the marinade, then cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for up to 8 hours, until you are ready to cook (fish would generally be marinated for a shorter time but if it’s a question of making it last between breakfast and dinner, then a longer period is okay). Then remove it from its marinade, leaving some of the liquid and flavourings clinging to it, and grill, fry or roast it.

Use around 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar or lemon. Exact quantities of herbs and spices don’t matter but you won’t need much more than around a tablespoon of chopped herbs or a good pinch of spice to give great flavour.