Too Good to Waste Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers

I'm Nigel Slater.

I love cooking tasty, simple food, dishes that make the most out of what

you have in the garden, fridge or cupboard.

One thing I can't stand is waste.

Everyone has ingredients that may have seen better days, but, for me, I see it as a challenge to turn those

unloved bits and bobs into magnificent meals.

That's absolutely gorgeous.

Stale bread, brown bananas, hard cheese,

all used to end up in my bin, but not any more.

Now my forgotten ingredients are always transformed into something

truly divine, whether they come from the kitchen or the garden.

And really, there's a few things in the garden,

that might have ended up on the compost,

that could actually end up like this.

I think that's gorgeous.

After this, you won't want to waste another ingredient again.

You know, there's few suppers that give me greater pleasure than the ones that I've made out of nothing.

When I've found a bit of something in the fridge that many would have consigned to the bin,

but actually, it's good enough to use, and make something delicious with.

This gorgeous savoury pudding is a great way to use up any tired leftover lumps of cheese.

You could, if you wanted to, do this in one large, deep dish.

But then you risk it becoming a souffle.

That's when it all becomes very complicated, because you've got this,

this word, this terrifying word that has all this baggage - souffle.

It sounds scary and yet, actually, it's just a bit of cheese and some egg whites.

I'm using four large eggs to make three puddings.

Separate the eggs, save the whites till later and mix the yolks in with the cheese.

I don't think we need to be too fussy about the type of cheese.

What matters here is that it's a good flavoursome one, and that you've got roughly the right quantity.

For four yolks, you'll need 350 grams of cheese or thereabouts.

I grate quite roughly.

I love getting little chunks of melted cheese in my pudding.

Though I do grate the rinds, you can cut it off if you want to.

If you think about it, this is the body of what you're making,

this is where it's getting its texture from.

Thyme will add a freshness to all that savoury cheese.

It's so rewarding, cooking with bits that would otherwise end up

being thrown away, and I don't like to say that, but they probably would.

You know, those bits that you think, "I'll use that later,"

and you put it on a saucer in the fridge and

next thing you know, it goes.

Season with a little black pepper.

Then bring the whole thing together with some luscious double cream.

I want these puddings to really melt in the mouth, so I'm whisking

the egg whites to make the whole thing light and fluffy.

Put the mixture in.

What I want to do is get the egg white through the cheese mixture.

Add it in little bits.

And it's a question of mixing firmly, but at the same time, you don't want to bash the life out of it.

A little parmesan on the bottom and top will help the puddings crisp.

Sprinkle on a little more thyme and then bake in a really hot oven for around 10 minutes.

This is my kind of cooking -

simple, quick and pretty impressive.

They smell incredibly savoury.

They have a softness to them, and a creaminess, so I'm hoping for...

that it's all light and fluffy and very, very moist right in the middle.

This is gorgeous.

That's absolutely gorgeous.

It is very rich, but it's sort of very light at the same time.

That, with a nice, crisp green salad, that would be supper for me.

Use any old cheese for this.

Hard or soft, it's all far too good to waste when

you realise you could make something as heavenly as this with it.

The stronger the cheese, the less you'll need.

For me, throwing good food away is just money down the drain,

and since I was young, I've always had a good eye for a bargain snack.

It amazes me that there's so much good food for free.

Hedgerows just lined with fruit.

When I was a kid, I used to come up to these very bushes and pick them, and they're still here.

All this food just too good to waste.

Just waiting for us to come along.

If I buy it in the shop, I just have to have what they give me, whereas here I've got a choice.

And also that thing about getting something for nothing.

Mind you, these blackberries probably won't even make it to the kitchen, so I'll have to raid the fridge, again.

All those occasions when I'm rummaging through the fridge in search of supper, and I find those

annoying little bits of things, where I haven't quite used all the ingredients.

You know, those odd bits of bacon that you find, and that's when I just need to think differently,

and instead of being an ingredient, it needs to be a seasoning.

I'm going to use up my last scraps of bacon

to make tonight's squash supper even more delicious.

Squashes of all kinds hate water, so instead of boiling it, I'm going to steam it.

Cut like this, that should take around 10 to 15 minutes.

So they can sit tight whilst I make the seasoning to go with it.

And the heart and soul of this seasoning is going be those few rashers of bacon.

Doesn't matter whether this is smoked bacon or not, what matters is that because it's got plenty of flavour,

everything else I'm going to put in this pan is going to soak it up.

I like frugal food, but it's more than that.

I actually like the challenge of using up something, not just for the sake of using it,

but of using it in an appropriate way and actually making it a worthwhile part of the supper.

Rosemary and garlic will bring a lovely, aromatic, earthy flavour.

Then, to complement the succulent, sweet squash, sprinkle in

a generous pinch of dried chilli flakes.

A little fresh chilli would also work.

I've got a really good seasoning going on in this pan, but I don't want a soft supper, I want something

with a little bit of crunch in it and I've got a bit of bread that needs eating up.

It's not fresh enough to eat with a chunk of cheese, and it's

not stale enough for breadcrumbs, it's that in-between stage.

You might need to add a little bit of oil, because bread acts like a sponge.

When the squash is beautifully soft, add it to the sizzling pan.

And I fancy a smattering of parsley. It really helps to brighten and freshen the whole dish.

The squash is soft and the bacon's crisp,

and the bread has soaked up all the flavours that were in the pan

and it's a great way of using up just a tiny bit of bacon.

It's really made my supper sing.

I like that.

Next time you're left with a few unwanted rashers, use them to flavour and liven up another dish.

A small amount can make a big difference.

There comes a point at the end of the growing season when there are

lots of things you don't quite know what to do with, and it's very tempting to put them on the compost.

Nothing wrong with that, but it's much better if you eat them.

Will and Bryony have been juggling their Bristol allotment alongside a busy family life for four years.

Not surprisingly, a few things have been left a little too long.

One of the things about the allotment is, we're not totally

focused, it's more about space and fun and coming here to relax and if

sometimes you totally miss an entire crop, you've just got to go, "Oh, we missed that."

Classic example of that, under there you can see some green, under there, there should be some spuds.

-And there...

-Can we have a look at those later?

-Yeah, they were first earlies and salad

that have just got a little bit left.

Those beans don't exactly look at their prime either!

I should think our runner beans are too big now, because they get stringy and tough.

There is a point in the year where I'm afraid the word is chutney.

But you soon get rid of those strings and they're not that bad.

-Yeah, they're not that bad.

-But don't ever waste a single thing.

There is an optimum time to pick everything, that moment when it's at

its sweetest and its smallest, but it doesn't mean that you can't use it at other times. Let's do some cooking.

The Wrights' beans may be destined for chutney, but I want to show them that they can rustle up

instant, tasty snacks from veg they might think is past its best.

Do you want to dig a spud up?

I'd love to dig a spud up.

-Yes, there we go!

-Yeah, it should be all right, they'll be all right.

It's great to know the kids, Annie and Sam, love this place too.

Although I have a suspicion that news of some tasty cooking could have swung their visit today!

What I want to do is just make a flavoured oil so that all the things

that are hanging around, they're just going to be frying very slowly, with a few herbs and stuff.

Will's great selection of mint, thyme, bay, rosemary and garlic will make a delicious combination.

What are you doing with the spuds, you part boiling them, then...?

Well, these really were new potatoes that have gone...

they're quite big, and I think they'll probably fry very well.

-And what I'm hoping is that we'll sort of get some slightly herby chips.

-Yummy.

-Sounds good to me.

-End of gardener's season fry-up, really.

-Just mix that up, really.

-It looks nice.

You might have to be a little bit patient.

-Oh, it smells amazing!

-Wow!

-It looks really good.

-Smells nice.

I know chips and dips is always a winner, so I'm making a simple

yoghurt dressing, with Dijon mustard and a smattering of fresh herbs.

We've not done this, this is the next thing. I think we should start doing some cooking up here.

There's a few things in the garden that might have ended up on the compost, but could actually end up

like this, in a pan with some olive oil and some herbs.

Seems like we've got something here.

The sauce is really nice.

-I think that's gorgeous.

-Mm, mm.

-Not bad, is it?

I hate to see anyone's hard work going to waste,

so I'm really chuffed to be able to show the Wrights a tasty way to save their seemingly old "new" potatoes.

So if you're getting the grow-your-own bug,

then why not check out my exclusive recipes -

One vegetable that always seems to get relegated to the compost is the marrow.

I've got a soft spot for a marrow. There's something so sort of Old English about them,

like country fetes, and I'm not going to waste it,

it's not going to end up on the compost, like so many of them.

He's going to be my supper.

To save the marrow from the heap, here's an idea for a delicious family supper that I think you'll love.

The flesh of the marrow is really, really refreshing.

It's bound to be, it's made up of so much water. And what's happened in the past, so many times,

is that we've been given them for supper with a bit of watery mince in them

and some white sauce on top, and I can't think of many more unattractive presentations for a vegetable.

My favourite way to cook marrows is to wrap them up in paper, so they bake in their own steam.

People who say marrow doesn't taste of anything - well, no, it doesn't have a lot of flavour.

It just soaks up others.

So if you put lovely, juicy things with it, like tomatoes, then it soaks up all that juice.

Cherry tomatoes' sweetness and dainty size work perfectly.

What I'm after here are the juices.

I want things to all amalgamate, the juice of the tomatoes and the juice of the marrow.

I'm also going to put in a few seasonings.

Chilli will add a kick to the marrow's juicy flesh.

A sprinkling of oregano, too, but any fresh herb you want to use up would work.

Bake in quite a hot oven for around 40 minutes, until the flesh is soft.

One final ingredient will really give this supper some oomph.

And very few people think about having warm feta, but it's absolutely delicious.

I'd like the feta to soften a little and combine with all those juices, so this will just get five minutes

more in the oven, with another sprinkle of fresh oregano.

As you open that paper, all the herbs are coming up and all the tomato juice.

Inside you've got all these juices here, which are kind of the heart and soul of what's in there.

It's sort of sharp and sweet at the same time,

and I've got slightly salty cheese, and then this lovely sort of herbal tomato flavour coming in as well.

Year after year they just sit there, in the vegetable patch,

just quietly rotting, and I could have done that, every year.

I'm never going to waste a marrow again!

This will work just as well with any big courgettes that have seen better days, too.

This is one tasty supper from one very unloved vegetable.

Let's hear it for the marrow, I say!

They're extraordinary, slightly otherworldly, really.

You would actually expect to find little gnomes

sitting at the end, or little fairies popping round.

Would you believe there are over 2,000 different varieties of edible mushrooms?

Specialist growers Jane and Sue cultivate 14 of them in this fungal wonderland in Hampshire.

Now, this is a really nice mushroom. It's called nameko and it is native to Asia.

This is a king oyster, a good, nutty flavour, with that.

You can char-grill them...

Stunning mushroom.

This mushroom farm supplies some of the UK's top restaurants.

Albeit slowly, as some of these can take up to three months to grow!

These little beauties are white enoki and you can eat them raw.

Mm, very palatable, quite perfumed.

These are yellow oysters. This is what they look like when they're picked.

You have to imagine that hanging off the side of a tree.

They're very, very delicate, so if you cook them, they lose the colour.

-Very peppery.

-Mm, lovely.

-Nice on a salad.

You can eat some mushrooms raw, but most, like this shitake,

show off their flavour best when cooked. Often the simpler, the better.

Mushrooms on toast sounds very boring, but actually, you use

mushrooms like this and it becomes a gourmet dish.

They have beautiful pom-poms, often they're known as Lion's Mane.

-But it's also known as Monkey Head.

-Inside they look like coral.

Chefs love it because it's very different and it has a very intense, savoury flavour.

-Mm.

-Oh, yes. Mm, quite chewy.

Meaty flavour and texture.

-Yeah, this is a vegetarian's dream.

-Yeah, I'd buy that, wouldn't you?

-Absolutely.

If you haven't eaten it first.

You don't have to have gourmet mushrooms to make a top notch dish.

Bog standard ones can be tasty, too.

The great news is they're often at their best, just when you think they're almost past it!

When a mushroom starts to feel a little bit tacky to the touch,

that's when they've mellowed and their flavour is really rich.

That's when so many people look at it and think, "Ooh, I'm not going to eat that."

I'm going to use it.

Mushrooms are like little sponges, so I don't wash them,

I just wipe them and cook them in plenty of butter and a drop of olive oil, to make them deliciously juicy.

They smell of autumn,

they smell of the woods. Now, as lovely as that is, that does not supper make.

But, with a few other ingredients, things I've got knocking around, this could be quite substantial.

I've got some spring onions hanging around, so they're going in, and rosemary, too.

Meaty mushrooms just seem to love robust flavours.

And then a clove of garlic.

Garlic and mushrooms are two of the happiest ingredients you could ever imagine.

I find it almost difficult to use mushrooms without garlic.

Now, the other thing I've always got left over is bread.

I just always somehow manage to have some left.

Any bread will do. I'm throwing some stale pitta in with my leftover ciabatta, just to use it up, really.

I want to toast these breadcrumbs in with the spring onions and rosemary and I don't want to add any extra

butter, and I've got some butter in here with the mushroom juices, so I'm going to use some of that.

Just going to let those gently colour.

Now, all these flavours are very...

They're very woodlandy and what I call dark flavours

and I want something bright in there.

A grating of lemon zest will freshen things nicely.

Smell the garlic coming up from these breadcrumbs.

Then a grinding of pepper and a good handful of parsley for a flash of instant colour.

So the mushrooms are velvety and very soft,

and the crumbs are crisp and golden.

Delicious, juicy mushrooms on the most lovely crunchy crust.

It's a much happier end for these ingredients than they might have had.

If you think your mushrooms look a bit sad and forlorn in the fridge, give them a break.

They'll just ooze flavour, but the lemon and fresh herbs are a must.

Hunting down the finest ingredients has got to be one of the best bits about shopping.

One thing that's tricky to get right, though, is fruit.

It just seems that one day, it's perfect, and the very next day, it's not quite so appealing.

But I never chuck it. There's always something tasty you can do.

One thing I can never get right is bananas and that's partly because

everybody likes their bananas ripened differently.

I can't stand the brown bits.

In fact, when I was a kid, I used to burst into tears if there was a really brown banana in my lunchbox.

Some like them almost crisp, when the skin is verging on green.

Then there's those who won't eat it unless you can smell it from the other side of the room.

My favourite way to use up black bananas is in this indulgent but easy cake.

My trick to getting a really soft and creamy cake mix is to use a combination

of caster sugar and light muscovado, which has a gorgeous caramel flavour that will work well with the bananas.

I'm using 175 grams of butter, along with the same quantity of sugar.

My sugar and butter mix just needs a couple of eggs and vanilla extract.

I'm going to put some hazelnuts in my cake.

Probably need about 75 grams.

You can add them from the packet, but toasting gives them an extra deep flavour.

These ground nuts will keep my cake really moist.

To bind the cake together, I need some flour and I just need the same weight as the butter and sugar.

Makes it really easy to remember.

So that's 175 grams, and it'll get mixed in with the nuts and added to the creamed butter and sugar.

The riper the banana, the richer the flavour.

You know that by the smell.

It smells like sort of old-fashioned banana sweets.

I like little chunks of banana in my cake, so I just break it up into tiny little bits,

and all these little bruised black bits are just incredibly sweet.

They're the very essence of banana.

Now, whenever I think of banana, I think of chocolate.

Beautiful, dark chocolate.

I could melt it and stir it in, but it'd be lost.

So I have proper little chips of chocolate.

You need about 100 grams of chocolate for this.

And now, we gently stir it together.

I like to line my tins, that way the cake always seems to slide out in one piece.

A sprinkling of Demerara sugar will give my cake a lovely, golden, crisp top.

And then that goes in the oven at about 170, for a good hour.

It's smelling really good.

It's those really sticky, black bananas.

You'd think with the chocolate in there, it would taste chocolate straight away, and it's not.

All cake's good, but this is the nicest I've ever made.

You know, that would be nice as a dessert.

Maybe with some creme fraiche.

On the side.

Maybe even a bit of cinnamon.

Cold creme fraiche.

The tiniest bit of cinnamon, because it works with bananas and it works with chocolate.

Those bananas were so close to being thrown out.

They've made the most glorious cake.

I'm so pleased with this.

If this doesn't make you want to rescue those squishy bananas, then nothing will!

Far too good for the bin and a scrumptious way to kick off the weekend.

I've shown how easy it is to transform your unwanted bits and bobs

into luscious meals that everyone will enjoy.

Next time, I'll be exploring my favourite unsung heroes in the kitchen and garden.

These ingredients might not be the trendiest, but treat them to a few

of my simple tricks and they'll give you a great tasting supper - perfect for any night of the week.

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