Even and perhaps especially in times like this, our fridge is populated with small and large quantities of advanced food but also with foods that generate “leftovers” for the sole reason that to cook them, they are peeled. Have you ever thought that you can cook carrot peels or artichoke leaves and make delicious dishes?

The recovery kitchen is almost a science, made of anti-waste recipes to cook with leftovers. There is no need to bother any great chef, the popular tradition is full of recipes that ennoble the leftovers: from the most classic meatballs to the pasta omelette, from the rolls to the bread cakes; in just twenty minutes and at zero waste, an excellent minestrone soup prepared with advanced vegetables is quickly made.

But many of the “improvised” dishes are inspired by the research of the different ways to use stale bread. From bread soup to ribollita, from pappa al pomodoro (typical Tuscan dish with stale bread and tomatoes) to cabbage soup. In summer, the queen of the table of the past was what we Tuscans call “panzanella” and which elsewhere they call “pan molle”.

The bread must be from the countryside, baked in a brick oven, at least two days old. The freshest vegetables, the red and local onion. The extra virgin olive oil of Tuscany!

Eulogized by Bronzino, the great Florentine painter of the 16th century, who loved Panzanella so much that he sang it in rhyme:

A minced onion salad

Glue porcelain * and cucumbers

Every other pleasure of this life wins …

Consider a little

If you add basil and rocket.

(* purslane, wild grass)

Have you ever thought that you can cook carrot peels or artichoke leaves and make tasty delicacies? Seeing is believing. Read the many tips to make specialties with parts of food that you would otherwise have thrown away. Not only that: the kitchen of leftovers provides you with many easy recipes to recover the remains of the day before.

Too much chocolate during the holidays? Expiring eggs? Stale bread? Don’t even think about the rubbish bin, there are many tasty ideas for you without throwing anything away (or almost).

How do you use leftovers?

If something is never missing in the house, those are leftovers: from the too abundant dinner to what is left of the mega stock packages, perhaps too abundant, which after days of rest in our fridge, end up directly in the rubbish bin. Ingredients that we don’t know how to use and let us pass to a better life.

Especially when the time for shopping is reduced to a minimum, and you resort to the mega supply made once a week, it is easy that you can’t consume everything in time, but as our grandmothers said throwing food is really a shame. So here are some delicious emptying recovery recipes, prepared using leftovers that are absolutely good to eat and perfect for delicious delicacies. To save money in the kitchen, not to contribute to waste because these dishes are really good!

For starters, since eggs are one of the most versatile ingredients, why not indulge yourself with the delicious omelettes with a thousand flavors of our special? And while you have also tried it with rice and leftover bread, used in many delicious recipes.

Recycling leftovers also makes the wallet smile: in Italy it is estimated that 800 million euros can be saved, which corresponds to the mountain of food left on the festive table.

Among other things, there is no need to bother any chef because the popular culinary tradition is full of recipes that ennoble the leftovers: from the most classic meatballs to timbales, from rice balls to pasta omelettes, from rolls to bread cakes. The leftovers of fish and shellfish can then become a sauce for pasta or a sauce for risotto. Stale bread is ideal as a base for soups, to be used instead of flour to make soft cakes.

Five simple rules for good results:

1 ° keep all leftovers in the fridge and discard the most perishable parts (for example mayonnaise),

2 ° to mix and give new life to the ingredients, use eggs and fresh milk

3 ° also give value to the presentation, add parsley, seasonal fruit and vegetables

4 ° enhances the dish obtained by passing everything in the oven, for a gratinated effect,

5 ° do not overdo it with bechamel and cream, they serve as binders, but if you abuse them, you risk weighing down the result only.