Quick Tricks

We all have our favourite bits of kitchen equipment and tools. One that I find essential is a food processor. Some people buy one when they’ve seen a television chef whizz up some amazing recipe but sadly put it away and neglect it afterwards. Yes, you can manage without one but a creative cook can find so many ways to use one. Not only can you save money but you can use your imagination to combine ingredients to make interesting dishes. Here are some of my own uses.

If you don’t eat the crusts from a loaf don’t throw them away. Whizz them in your food processor to make marvelous breadcrumbs. I freeze them in small amounts, 50 or 100g so that I always have some for so many things. They make wonderful toppings especially mixed with grated cheese, baked or toasted under the grill. You can add them to leftover meat and an egg to make delicious little fried patties. They make lovely stuffed mushrooms combined with cheese and the scooped out mushroom flesh then baked. They can be added to fruit pies to soak up any excess juice, to puddings or vegetarian meals like nut roast.

I always mix sponge cakes in the processor. Just put in all the main ingredients and blend them together for a minute or two. Perfect results. No need for all that creaming, or adding this and that in stages. Easy peasy. You can knock them up in no time and freeze them so you always have some in.

I have used my processor to make pastry for years. I developed my own recipe using cup measures. 1 cup of plain flour, 1 third of a cup of sunflower oil and almost one quarter of a cup of cold water. Whizz to combine. This makes enough for one pastry case for a flan. No need to roll. Just press into the flan dish with clean fingers and trim, making sure the base is evenly covered. If you like the base to be firm after cooking, before adding the filling prick the base all over with a fork and bake for 9 minutes, at 190C/170C fan oven, to crisp it up. Then add filling and put back into the oven.

A food processor helps you to be resourceful and use up leftovers. A little amount of leftover cooked meat can go a long way. You can whizz it up into bits and put it into some tasty gravy and serve with mashed potatoes. Or you can add the bits to a pasta dish with a dash of cream or creme fraiche. Cooked fish can be used in the same way. Also good for making a delicious sandwich filling by adding a spoonful of mayonnaise, salt and pepper, then blending. For beef add a tiny amount of made-up English mustard to the mix.

A simple but really good pate can be made by combining smoked salmon or mackerel with cream or cream cheese and a dash of lemon juice. Served with toast it makes a great starter for a special meal with little effort.

I love using nuts in my recipes but find them easier to eat when they’re ground. Easy in the processor. Some have a little mill for grinding nuts. I find mine really useful. I often add cashews to make a creamy sauce or finely chopped pecans for my pecan pie. Also very good for vegetarian meals which often include nuts for protein.

I hope I have inspired you to use your food processor often and experiment with your own ideas. It really is a most useful gadget.

More about favourite tools and their uses another time.

Sweeping leaves again today. The garden is covered and as soon as we rake them up more come drifting down. One side effect of having fruit trees but I really don’t mind. It’s so worth the effort when we have all that delicious fruit to eat. The leaves don’t go to waste either. We store them to make lovely, crumbly, brown leafmould to use around the garden and for seed compost.

We store cooking apples for the winter but sadly mice have found their way into the shed and are having a great time feasting on them. Hopefully we can save enough so we all have our share. I wouldn’t begrudge a little mouse a bit of food.

The blackbirds are having their share of fallen fruit which were too high in the tree to pick. It’s good to know the wildlife find food and refuge in our garden.

Enjoy the last days of autumn. More recipes to follow for Christmas baking as the weeks go on. Bye for now. Please leave comments. I would love to hear from you.