Recipes from Cornersmith

Introducing your FOGO Fridge Check!

We are partnering with Cornersmith to share tips, tricks and recipes that clean out the fridge, reduce waste, save money and still get something delicious on the table.

Keep your eyes peeled on our social media every Friday, as Alex and Jamie from Cornersmith will show you just how easy it is to make FOGO part of your sustainable kitchen.

Want to make one of the recipes featured? Check out the steps below.

"There's nothing wrong with that cream!" potatoes

Dairy can go into FOGO. What a revelation! Sometimes the neglect is real and the milk goes lumpy, the cheese waaay too whiffy and the cream off. For those times there is FOGO, but if your dairy is just sitting at, or one or two days after its use by date or is just on the edge of smelling less than fresh you can cook with it. It’s true, don’t waste it when you can add it too pasta sauces, or soups or bake with it, or make this potato dish that will put that ‘nearly time to go’ cream to work.

Ingredients

• 3-4 large potatoes
• 1 onion (optional)
• 1 cup cream
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven. Slice potatoes in rounds about 5 mm thick and if using slice the onion as thin as you can. In an ovenproof dish layer potato and onion slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and pour the cream over everything. Cover with foil and bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove foil to check if potatoes are tender – and if so bake, uncovered, for a further 15-20 minutes.

Roast chicken scrap stock

Before you toss those old bones from the Sunday roast into FOGO make a quick stock that you can use immediately to kick start dinner. We are delighted that meat and bones are no longer destined for landfill but before they go to be composted we want to extract all the flavour and nutrition we can. Make this quick stock and use it for rice dishes, soups, risottos, and stews.

Instructions

Place bones from a roasted chook in a medium saucepan and just cover with water. If you have ½ an onion chuck that in too, same goes for a bit of carrot or celery, or some herb stalks. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 30 min to 1 hour.

Strain.

You’ll have about 1 cup.

Tomato rice

This is a good recipe for when provisions are low. It uses ingredients that are probably already hanging around. It’s filling and nutritious and easy on the budget. Serve with a fried egg for an ultra easy dinner, or make it the side to grilled fish or chicken.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 tomatoes (or a can of tomatoes)
• 250 grams rice
• 1 small onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 cup vegetable
• 1/3 cup coriander
• 1 ¼ cup rice

Instructions

Preheat the oven 180 degrees. Roughly chop the tomatoes and onion, garlic and blitz in a food processor. All up you need 2 cups of liquid, so add another tomato if needs be.

Heat the olive oil in a casserole dish over a medium heat and add rice, salt, pepper, lemon zest and coriander. Lightly toast the rice until it starts to crackle, then add the tomato puree and 1 cup of stock and stir. Bring the mixture to a simmer then cover and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Taste to see if the rice is cooked through a adjust seasoning. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Bread ideas

One of the most wasted ingredients in households. We throw thousands of tonnes of bread into land fill each year. The problem is most of us don’t know what to do with stale bread. But there are generations of resourceful cooks who never threw a scrap away. Here are some of ideas and a recipe for a simple and satisfying bread and butter pudding to put that stale bread to good use. And for the mouldy and the really rock hard, there is FOGO. Thank you FOGO!!

Bread and butter pudding

Bread and butter pudding is not only the best thing since sliced bread, it’s a waste warrior’s dream, turning stale bread into a comforting dessert so it doesn’t end up in the bin. The possibilities for variations are endless – add marmalade to your buttered bread for a bitter edge or add raisins or whisky-soaked prunes. Make it with raisin bread, brioche, supermarket white or thinly sliced bagels. If you have cream that needs using, replace some of the milk with it.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 2 ½ cup cull cream milk
• 140 g caster sugar
• 4-5 slices of stale bread, well buttered on both sides
• 3 tbsp currents or sultanas

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Make custard by heating milk in a saucepan and bring to a low simmer. In a bowl whisk eggs and sugar, then slowly beat the milk in until everything is combined. Set aside. Cut stale bread slices into halves or quarters and arrange in an oven proof dish. Scatter currents or sultanas and pour the custard over. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon or nutmeg or raw sugar. Bake for 30 minutes until set and golden.

French toast

The secret to the perfect French Toast is stale bread! So this is exactly what you are making the kids for breakfast or a snack when you have extra chewy bread still taking up bench space.

Ingredients

• Slices of stale bread
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp full cream milk
• 1 tbsp butter

Instructions

Melt butter in a fry pan over a medium heat. In a bowl mix egg and milk until combined very well. Working one slice at a time, dip the bread in the egg and milk mixture and fry in the pan for 2 minutes each side.

Serve with honey, maple syrup or jam.

Quick stuffing for a roast chook

Stuff all the stale bread into a chicken and problem solved! The bread soaks up the juices and flavour and becomes a rustic, waste warrior stuffing that is a side dish itself.

Instructions

Tear about 3 or 4 slices of stale and place in a bowl, add 1 minced garlic, ½ tsp salt. 1 tsp. pepper, half a bunch of herbs and a splash of milk. Squish together to form a rough mix. Stuff into the chicken cavity.

The best vegetable slice

At the end of the week there is often half an onion a bit of broccoli, maybe some tired herbs. It feels like not much but this vegetable slice recipe, we call it the best because it really is, brings all the random veg together to make a meal that is cheap and yummy. The egg shells go into FOGO and everything else was saved from landfill!

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 140 g chopped veg: onion, leek, sliced fennel, thinly sliced capsicum
• 2-3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 500 g grated veg: cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini
• Potato, mushroom
• 1 cup chopped herb or leafy greens: parsley, dill, rocket, spinach
• 1 cup parmesan
• 160 g self-raising flour
• 6 eggs
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground black pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Brush a 20 x 25 cm baking dish with a little olive oil and line the base with baking paper.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the chopped or sliced vegetables and garlic and sauté for 5- 10 min, until soft. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

Squeeze out any excess liquid from the grated vegetables, then add to the sauteed vegetables along with the herbs and leafy greens. Stir through the parmesan and flout.

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs until fluffy, then add to the vegetable mixture. Season with salt and pepper and gently combine. Pour the mixture into a prepared tin and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until firm to the touch. Serve hot out of the oven, or at room temperature.

Fruit whip

Overripe fruit is often the collateral damage of the poor old fruit bowl. Yeah, yeah, there is always banana bread, but here is a recipe that’s far more fun! A fruit whip that is flexible enough to accommodate any neglected fruit! Start by freezing your fruit, remove peels and stones and pop those into your FOGO bin (remember NO STICKERS!) and freeze the fruit. Freezing is a great way to store fruit so you can get to it when you have the time – up to 3 months. And when you are ready make this simple whip for dessert!

Ingredients

• 4 frozen bananas (or 2 frozen mangos, or a few punnets of frozen strawberries, even kiwi fruit)
• 1-2 tbsp yogurt or cream
• 1-2 tbsp sugar (optional)
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• A pinch of cinnamon or a splash of vanilla extract

Instructions

Break up the frozen fruit and place in a food processor and add vanilla or cinnamon.

Add the lemon juice. Whiz until the banana forms a smooth paste – if the texture feels too crumbly, add the cream or yogurt, or the sugar if using, and whiz again. If it needs a little water for smoothness add a tablespoon or two and blitz again.

Serve immediately or keep in a container in the freezer.

Jaffles ideas

It's a relief that FOGO takes leftovers and there is finally a place for super stale pizza to go. But most leftovers can get a makeover when you last night's leftovers become tonight's jaffles! Often chucked away because there is an awkward amount of curry, or stew, pasta, or whatever remaining, leftovers seem like not enough of anything. But squish them between slices of buttered bread, add some cheese and you have something indulgently delicious. Jaffles are also a great way to use the last bits of condiments that you don't know what to do with: tomato paste, pickles, kraut, capers all can be used up for a deluxe toastie.

• Left over curry
• Left over roast vegetables
• Marmalade and cheddar
• Strawberry jam and brie

Or turn left over cooked spaghetti into...

Not tin spaghetti jaffle

Ingredients

• 1 cup of cooked spaghetti
• 2 slices of buttered bread
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan
• ½ garlic clove, finely chipped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Pinch of salt and sugar

Instructions

In a bowl combine tomato paste, Worcestershire, salt and sugar, garlic powder, garlic, oregano, and parmesan. Mix well with a fork and add cooked spaghetti and stir through, adding a little olive oil if you need to loosen things up. Lay the first slice of bread, butter side down, in a sandwich toaster, place the spaghetti mixture on top, finish with the second slice of bread, butter side up and close the lid. Cook until toasted.