Wednesday 22 June 2011

My Mafalda moment

I 20 years ago would have laughed out loud at myself now.

I got annoyed with three half eaten baguettes a few days ago. Gosh, there must be a zillion of things in this world which are more worth of my attention and energy. I can't believe that I get frustrated with day-old bread.

I don't like to waste food. Oddly enough, I can toss away clothes or shoes without any guilt but it kills me to see food being wasted. Since there is usually just one person in the house who eats bread regularly, I appreciate the fact that it can be hard to finish a whole baguette at its peak. Thanks to all these frugal people out there (and the internet), I have learned ways to use up down-the-hill bread.

Here are a few ways to feel virtuous about old bread:

- Thickening agent in stew or soup. Just cook the soup/stew with some leftover bread. The bread becomes totally disintegrated and invisible in the pot after 1 hour. This is my favorite way to use up extra burger buns.

- Panzanella (Italian bread salad). If I am fortunate enough to have a sweltering day or two, this is what I go for. Locatelli's version is pretty good.

- Sweet bread pudding. I am very fond of Delia Smith's version with Marmalade. I usually make it with milk only. It still tastes divine.

- Savoury bread pudding. Why not? Ham and cheese are always friends. And guess what? They go well with leftover bread too!

Happy recycling.

ps. The title of this post came from a comic strip I once read as a little girl, Mafalda. This little girl who always has quirky thoughts said to her mother one day: You must have better things to worry about in this world, when she saw her mom tearing over chopped onion.

No comments:

Post a Comment