Thursday 15 January 2015

Gathering Up The Fragments

Over at Frugal In Suffolk, Sue was talking about the Amish & Mennonite lifestyles, and I discovered that she too has a copy of the ‘More with less’ Mennonite cookbook. Every chapter in that ends with “Gathering up the Fragments” - creative ideas for leftovers. At the weekend, Liz came down and was a great help with packing. On Saturday evening, she volunteered to make a meal, using whatever she could find in the fridge and cupboard.

She took onions, courgettes, potatoes and tomatoes – plus a pepper and some garlic and a few eggs. Liz produced Shakshuka – Moroccan baked eggs, accompanied by some fabulous “home-fried potatoes” [we were running low on bread- another time, I think that would possibly be a better carb accompaniment]

moroccan-eggs

We ate it up before I found the camera, but here is the picture from the BBC Website [and their recipe here]

My egg was beaten before being poured into it’s “well” [I don’t like the taste of egg white on its own]

It was utterly delicious – and such a creative use of the contents of the fridge. Most of my herbs and spices had already been packed into a box- but Liz found some smoked paprika and Italian herbs which I’d somehow overlooked and put them in. She was going to add a tin of chickpeas, but it looked like there was plenty of veg in the pan already, so they were left for another time. There’s another variation of the recipe, and more information about this here.

Once we get settled in Dorset, I shall definitely be repeating this one – I’ll use my big, shallow, orange cast iron pan. So simple to make, and really filling on a cold winter’s evening. I have eaten it once before - Jon cooked it when I was visiting them in London last year. I’m grateful to the pair of them for introducing me to this superb dish.

8 comments:

  1. What a wonderful friend to come and help to pack and make dinner too.
    Carolx

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    1. I should have said, Liz is my eldest daughter [but she is a wonderful friend too]

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  2. I make a similar dish (known in our house as "Kamchatka") with a pepper-and-tomato mixture, sometimes addig chorizo to the mix as well. Then crack the eggs into little wells and bake it. Similarly delicious - and adaptable to whatever is in the fridge. I need to get better with either using up or freezing leftovers - too often at the moment I have found odd bits of stuff going unpleasantly yucky in the fridge.

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  3. That dish sounds perfect for this time of year!

    xofrances

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  4. I must find the recipe... it looks delicious. Best Wishes with your move, Jx

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  5. I used to have the "More with Less" cookbook as well as another that had little stories about and recipes from Amish people. That one was called "Food that really Shmecks". Can't remember wrote it because years ago I got rid of most of my cookbooks. I found I was using the same old favourites and that's what the family wanted.

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  6. I have that book! I have to confess that I have made very little from it - I just find the book inspiring.

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  7. My favourite cookbooks are the one that inspire me! I am quite capable of spending an hour reading Rachel Allen or Nigel Slater, and then serving beans on toast for tea!

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