Sticking with the hot trend toward all consuming kitchens, here are a few tips for making the most of leftover lemons, wine, cider, yogurt, marshmallows, even avocado skin and tea bags.
Lemons that got lost in the back of the crisper and stayed too long can have a brilliant afterlife. Cut the skin into tiny pieces and dry them out in a toaster oven. Then save them on your spice rack in a jar or plastic bag. Now, like the Persians who are renown for mellifluous dishes, you can toss some into your pots of chicken whatever or a lamb stew or risotto or vegetable braise where they will up the flavor ante with a definitive taste of lemon.
Even better, the juice of a rotting lemon works just as well as the juice of a fresh one or any of those chemically comprised polishes you can buy to make your brass objects sparkle. I follow monastery tradition and use lemon juice to make my Buddhist altar statues shine brightly. I use it on antique candle sticks too.
And finally, once you've squeezed a piece of lemon or lime, don't rush to trash it. Stick it in a glass of water, or toss one at a time and soak the lot in a pitcher of plain or bubbly water to make a delightfully light lemonade. You can keep the pitcher in the fridge and keep throwing lemon/lime pieces in it.
Moving on to wine...did you know French housewives make their own vinegar simply by pouring into a corked bottle all the red wine leftover in glasses or the bottle at the end of the day? Well, you can too-- without much effort. And it will be better than any you buy.
All you need is patience, a wide-mouth bottle or earthenware crock, some cheesecloth and wine. You will end up with useable vinegar much faster if you start with what's called "the mother", a gelatinous blob of acid that launches the necessary ferment. You can buy one in a beer/wine making store, get one from someone already making their own vinegar (many restaurants do) or wait around for your own "mother" to be born (three weeks to two months). To get your own mother starter, pour a bottle of red wine--sulfite free is best, into a wide mouth glass or ceramic container, add 1 cup water and cover with cheese cloth. Put it in a warm, dark place and forget about it for a few weeks. You should then start to see something forming on top. Once it literally gels, it will fall to the bottom. You have vinegar! Now all you do is pour out vinegar when you need it and pour in leftover wine you don't need.
If you get a starter, put it in with a bottle of wine and cup of water, cover with cheesecloth and wait about two weeks. Think of this as Chemistry 101, historical traditional 102 or just an excellent science project for your kids.
If your apple cider has "turned", it's heading toward vinegar-- the apple cider vinegar much touted for its medicinal wonders. Just leave it topless with a towel to keep dirt out and it will eventually morph. You can also make yogurt from milk that's soured but only if that milk hasn't been pasteurized.
While we're on liquids, you do know, right?, that you can juice all those ugly vegetables that stayed too long just as I said in the first post on this topic, you can boil them and puree them into a lovely French potage.
Last week someone thrust a container of leftover bean and corn salad at me and said: "Now what? I don't want to eat this anymore." I pureed it with olive oil and cilantro into a spread that I smeared on slices of garlic bread, topped with shredded cheddar and stuck into a hot oven to turn that bean salad into what proved to be very popular party bruschettas.
Last night's rice can be warmed for breakfast and served with poached or soft boiled eggs on top--a treat without toast! With herbs, spice and a few leftover veggies, it can be turned into fried rice for dinner --also served with eggs on top. Or you can put it back in a pot, cover with water and cook it into porridge--traditional Chinese congee or jook. Jook often has pieces of chicken and scallions thrown in--very very tasty.
Want to get rid of marshmallows? They work great as packing peanuts! Send them on. Too much trail mix? Stir it into yogurt or put it atop oatmeal for breakfast. Did the tortilla or potato chips go stale? Put them in a plastic bag, crush them to bits by passing a rolling pin back and forth over the bag, then use them as breading to make very tasty oven fried chicken or fish.
And although this won't make the garbage disappear, it will give it a second chance to do some good for you--as a beauty enhancer! Yogurt past its due date makes marvelous face cream because its bacteria eat away blotches and red streaks while its milkiness soothes dryness. You can leave it on so it sinks into your skin, disappearing that way.
Used tea bags and the peel of your avocado won't totally vanish like that but before you trash them, rub that avocado skin on your face: the oil is a perfect astringent and remedy for dryness. Leave it on about 10 minutes, then rinse it off. The tannin in used teabags will brighten your sore eyes if you close your eyes and put a damp teabag on each lid for 10 minutes. Not longer. This removes any redness.
And finally, those coffee grounds. Think "grounds." If you have a garden and it has acid loving plants feed 'em your grounds. That'll wake 'em right up.
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