Chorizo fat as a flavour enhancer!

Today I bring you another trick to make use of a product that we usually throw away and, in many cases, demonize for being an element full of fat. We’re talking about chorizo’s fat. It is obvious that in large quantities, as most things, fat is harmful to our health but, as always, I totally encourage you to make use of it and not to abuse it.

As for the chorizo ​​fat, I never throw it away (if you do, please recycle it at the cooking oil collecting points placed all around the villages/cities).

At home, we do not eat a great lot of chorizo ​​but, sometimes, I cut a few slices to sauté on a dish. Once the chorizo ​​is cooked and that natural fat that fully released, I let the fat cool in a glass jar and then place it directly in the fridge. This way, I will have on hand a new flavour enhancer for other dishes in which I do not want to use chorizo ​​(or meat) but I want to have a special touch: sautéed, creams, soups, stews and so on. As long as we keep it in the fridge, the chorizo fat will be perfectly preserved for several months and a small amount (a teaspoon) will fill your recipes with loads of smokey flavour.

Give it a try and you’ll see that you’ll be adding a new condiment full of umami to your pantry.

How to Make the Most of Leftover Boiled Potatoes

One of the first zero-waste tricks I learned, when I was a kid, was to make the most of theleftover boiled potatoes to prepare French fries and make a fab dinner. Once again, we are pulling out something super tasty from something as simple as a boiled potato.⁣
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In my childhood, these french fries were always served with a fried egg. For me, it was better than any seafood dish. It smelled like home. These are the kind of memories that, every time you think about it, you feel the taste again.
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If you are attracted to the idea pf cooking this but you would prefer a healthier option, you can always bake the potatoes in the oven and exchange the fried egg for a poached one. It will be just as tasty.

How to make use of cheese wedges?

As a fan of the zero-waste policy in the kitchen, I am always looking for new uses for leftovers or those pieces of food that, at first, seem to be doomed to end up in the trash.

In this case I wanted to share with you the incredible properties of parmesan and pecorino cheese as flavour enhancers. These cheeses, typical of the Italian culinary tradition, are full of umami and have a touch that improves the taste of any dish (risotto, pasta, meat …) but we always end up throwing the final part of each wedge, thinking it is worthless. This mistake, despite being very common, is easy to fix. All you have to do is store these pieces in the fridge and use them to increase the flavour of your stews and casseroles.

I guess you are already thinking: “but is thing edible?”. Well, it actually is but its texture is not for everybody. There are those who remove the wedge before serving (sometimes it even disappears while cooking) and those who leave it as an element of the dish. Personally, I will say it doesn’t taste bad at all. It has a somewhat gelatinous texture as it softens while cooking but in a matter of taste it is so good.

I encourage you to give it a try, you’ll see that you do not regret it.

Kiwi & Nectarine Marmalade

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Hey there!

Today I bring you a sweet recipe to give a new life to those fruits going to waste on particularly warm days. One of my culinary obsessions is to find a second use to those products that are about to go to waste: Leftovers, products about to rot or even the orphan foodstuff left alone on your fridge. I always try to follow a zero–waste policy.

On this occasion I decided to share the recipe I use to put into practice when my fruit basket is about to say “GAME OVER”; kiwi & nectarine marmalade. This sweet is a quite versatile product as you can use it for breakfast (on a good old toast) or as a complement for a decadent dessert. The fruit of use is completely random, choose the ones you love. I tend to use acid–ish fruits as I’m not a big fan of too–sweet goodies.

Ingredients

• 1 kg of fruit.
• 400 gr of refined sugar.
• The juice of ½ lemon.

Instructions

• Put the pealed fruit on a bowl and mash it until smooth. If you like it chunkier, be my guest. The world is your oyster!
• Once the purée is ready, mix it up with the sugar and let rest for 3 hours in the fridge.
• Once the refrigeration period is over, put the mix on a saucepan (medium–low heat) and stir in short intervals, for at least 45 minutes. The cooking time will depend on the thickness you want to obtain.

Note: If you want to control the thickness of the marmalade you can use gelling sugar or agar. Besides, if you have a baking machine and you want to optimize your time, most of these devices have a marmalade program.