Easter lunch: the art of recycling everything that is left over in the kitchen

2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:20

Post-apocalyptic scenes from a table of Easter: the diners, full and exhausted, put down the cutlery. All around, scattered on the wine-inked tablecloth, pies still untouched, rolling hard-boiled eggs, roast half lambs and crumpled slices of dove.

The Italian of the public holidays likes abundance, struggles to make conscientious shopping, hates to disfigure with guests and is not ashamed to offer lasagna and casatiello on the same menu.

It satisfies the caloric needs of an entire week in just one session, and yet, despite the dedication to taking out every course, spends the evening wrapping chocolate shells and putting together timbale and lasagna in a single promiscuous pan.

A sign that for him the leftover is not a waste, but a food in its own right, useful for completing, enriching or transforming a meal, adding to the palate the deeper and more persistent one of non-waste.

So here are our ideas for recycling leftovers from Easter lunch while having fun. You read that right, having fun.

# 1 Recycle cooked meat

KID AND LAMB: leftover kid and roast lamb are perfect for making a fake kebab: remove the flesh and de-bone, make a sauce with Greek yogurt, lemon juice, salt, pepper, mint, parsley and chopped chives. Then stuff a flatbread, adding raw vegetables to taste (cabbage, lettuce, tomato, rocket), close your eyes and feel in Istanbul.

CHICKEN: the fridge is full of leftover chicken or guinea fowl? Don't panic: cut, bone and chop the leftover meat, add egg, breadcrumbs soaked in milk, a little dry ricotta, aromatic herbs to taste, a little grated Parmesan cheese. Enrich with a slice of blended mortadella, mix well and prepare the timeless meatballs, to be fried in deep oil, lightly breaded.

Cold poultry salads are a real wild card: a spoonful of mayonnaise, crunchy vegetables, maybe a green apple, a handful of dried fruit and that's it.

PIG: in case of roast, thinly sliced and served with tuna sauce: a classic.

# 2 Recycle the fish

TERRINA: if there is some fish left, why not think of a bowl: bone and crumble all the leftovers in a container, add eggs, parsley, a little grated garlic, the grated rind of a lemon, a couple of boiled and mashed potatoes, 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs, and mix everything until you get a firm dough. Transfer to a loaf pan lightly greased with oil and sprinkled with plenty of breadcrumbs, interspersed with previously blanched asparagus and put in the oven at 180 ° C for about 20 minutes. Slice and serve with a rocket pesto or a cream obtained by blending part of the asparagus with oil, salt and pepper.

JUICE: Do you want an even faster alternative, always starting with pieces of already cooked fish? Prepare a sauce by adding fresh tomato, or sauté in a pan with grated citrus peel and a mixture of chopped herbs.

# 3 Recycle the dough

SFORMATO: Unseasoned pasta calls a flan. Just add a little soft béchamel, grated parmesan, scamorza or mozzarella, fresh diced tomatoes and other ingredients such as fried eggplant or sautéed artichokes, leftover Easter quiche. Put the pan back in the oven to get a strategic single dish, also to be frozen for weeks to come.

LASAGNA: Apart from the lasagna, there is not much to do unfortunately. Heat them in a double boiler to preserve their consistency.

# 4 Recycle the rice

SALTO RICE: The leftover rice is very versatile, the sautéed risottos are delicious, I have friends who are waiting for the next day to enjoy the crunchy crust.

FILLING FOR MEAT OR VEGETABLES: You can use it as a filling for baked vegetables, in meatballs or croquettes by filling it in the center with peas, diced cheese or ragù.

ARANCINO TYPE: A dish to do with leftover rice is the flan that resembles arancino: boiled rice seasoned with plenty of grated parmesan and saffron dissolved in a little hot water. Prepare a quick veal ragout with peas and a little tomato, then place a thin base of rice, diced mozzarella and ragù in the single-portion casseroles. Then on top of it again rice, breadcrumbs and finally au gratin in the oven at 200 ° C.

# 5 Recycle the vegetables

QUICHE AND PAST: You have a fridge full of boiled or steamed vegetables, what do you do? A quiche, a velvety or a puree, also to season pasta. With the blended asparagus you can prepare a cream to be served with well toasted croutons, with herbs and spinach the dressing of a fresh green pasta.

SEASONING FOR PASTA: Even the toughest parts of artichokes can be reused: cook them with a little water, a drizzle of oil, salt and pepper and then blend them with the immersion mixer: here is a sauce for pasta, risotto or lasagna, even better if you will have the patience to pass everything through a sieve.

# 6 Recycle dove and chocolate eggs

The simplest chapter.

DOVE: Overwhelmingly satiated by dipping the dove in milk? Try it like this: slightly heated, with the juice of a squeezed orange, well soaked, and a sprinkling of icing sugar. It is fresh, perfect as a dessert.

Valid alternatives: dove cakes and muffins (chopped and tied with eggs, a little sugar, milk / cream and baked, as is done for bread cake), tiramisu or charlotte with mascarpone or yogurt cream, single portions with ice cream, pan-fried crumble, bases for zuccotti or semifreddi, balls held together with ricotta and sugar and then passed in dried fruit and firmed in the refrigerator.

CHOCOLATE EGG: melt them in a bain-marie out of the heat, and do with them what you want, remembering that they are not suitable for chocolates, it is still processed and tempered chocolate, better think of other desserts. Chocolate salami, custard, Bavarian cream, ganache, fillings. Another idea: chop the leftover chocolate shells into the ricotta whipped with sugar, as the Sicilians do.