Cuisine – From one meal to the next

Leftovers are an inevitable part of cooking – sometimes we can accidentally cook too much while other times our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. A savvy cook can use the leftovers from one meal as the starting point for the next. This way of cooking not only ensures that any leftover food doesn’t go to waste, but it can also save time and money.
When cooking, consider what options there may be for using the leftovers.  Sometimes, it may even be worthwhile deliberately cooking a little extra to make tomorrow’s meal easier. If mashed potatoes are on the menu, throw a couple more in the pot, which you can turn into potato salad or fish cakes the following day.

Roast vegetables are a very versatile leftover to have – use them to make a salad, put them in a frittata or make hummus.

Pumpkin hummus

Ingredients
150g roasted pumpkin (or another leftover roasted vegetable such as kumara or capsicum)
400g can chickpeas, drained
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons tahini
1 garlic clove, crushed
juice of 1 lemon
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
olive oil for drizzling
paprika, to sprinkle

Method:
Put the pumpkin, chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, garlic and half the lemon juice into a food processor and blend until it forms a smooth mixture. If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a hand blender instead.

If the mixture is too thick, add more lemon juice. Taste and season with cumin, salt and pepper. Put the hummus into a bowl, drizzle it with a little more olive oil and sprinkle with paprika.

Serve with crackers, toasted bread or pita chips. Serves 4