With Easter celebrations come lots of yummy food and treats. Don’t let them go to waste! Here are some really easy and delicious recipes to help rescue your Easter food, courtesy of "VOICE" a member based Irish environmental charity that empowers individuals and
Easter Food Rescue
With Easter celebrations come lots of yummy food and treats. Don’t let them go to waste!
Here are some really easy and delicious recipes to help rescue your Easter food:
Leftover hot cross bun and butter pudding
• 6 leftover hot cross buns
• 25g butter
• 75g chocolate chips (make your own chocolate chips with leftover chocolate eggs)
• 2 large eggs
• 250ml milk
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
1. Heat the oven to 170C (150C fan)
2. Cut the hot cross buns in half and butter the cut sides, sprinkle with half of the chocolate chips, sandwich together again and place in a baking dish.
3. Beat the egg, milk and sugar together and pour over.
4. Scatter with the remaining chocolate chips and bake for 30 – 35 minutes until just set.
Leftover lamb and potato pie
• 200g – 300g leftover lamb
• 100g leftover gravy
• 250g leftover potatoes
• 50g cheese, grated
• 2 tbsp breadcrumbs (make breadcrumbs from stale bread), with mixed herbs
1. Heat oven to 200C (180C fan) or gas 6.
2. Carve all leftover lamb off the bone, roughly chop and place in an oven proof dish, or 2 individual pie dishes.
3. Pour over some gravy, or if there is none just some lamb stock to moisten.
4. Crumble over the leftover potatoes, and scatter with cheese and leftover herby breadcrumbs.
5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until golden on top and bubbling around the edge.
6. If you have any greens leftover, stir fry to reheat and serve along side.
Leftover lamb curry
• 2tbsp butter
• 2-3 cups cubed cooked lamb
• 1 onion
• 1 apple, peeled and cored
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 1?4 tsp dried thyme
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup chopped tinned tomatoes
1. Finely chop the onion, apple, celery and garlic.
2. Melt the butter in a pot and cook the vegetables until softened but not browned.
3. Stir in the curry powder and thyme. Cook for 1 minute while stirring.
4. Add in the chicken stock and tomatoes. Simmer for two minutes.
5. Season with salt and pepper and add more curry powder if desired.
6. Add the lamb to the pot. Cover and simmer until lamb is heated through, about 10 minutes, adding a little more stock if the sauce is too thick.
7. Serve over rice
Leftover lamb tagine
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 400g sweet potato, chopped roughly into 1in cubes
• 1in fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 575ml vegetable stock
• 300g leftover lamb, chopped into 1 in cubes
• 300g couscous
• 1 lemon, zested and squeezed
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion for 5 minutes until softened.
2. Stir in the garlic, sweet potato, ginger, cumin and coriander and cook for a further 5 minutes.
3. Pour over the chopped tomatoes, 200ml of the stock and season well.
4. Cover with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes, adding the lamb for the last 5 minutes.
5. Place the couscous into a bowl and pour over the remaining hot vegetable stock.
6. Cover with cling film and leave for 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork, seasoning and stirring through the lemon zest, juice and half the coriander.
7. When couscous is ready spoon into bowls and top with leftover lamb tagine.
Crunchy Chocolate Bars
• 150g chocolate
• 250g rice krispies, shredded wheat or cooked popcorn
• Small marshmallows or popping candy (optional)
1. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of water, and heat the water until chocolate melts.
2. Gently mix in the cereal or popcorn.
3. Put the chocolate crunch mix into a baking tray and top with marshmallows/popping candy, and allow to set for a couple of hours until the chocolate has hardened.
4. Cut into portion sizes and enjoy.
Leftover Easter egg brownies
• 250g butter
• 200g chocolate
• 150g soft brown sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 50g plain flour, sifted
• 40g cocoa, sifted
• ½ tsp of baking powder
1. Prepare a shallow baking (about 22cm by 22cm) by lining with lightly greased baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180C or gas 4.
2. Melt the butter, brown sugar and chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat. Stir constantly to create a soft chocolate sauce. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Beat the eggs together in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the slightly cooled melted chocolate sauce. (It needs to be cooled in order that it does not cook the eggs).
4. Sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Fold these dry ingredients into the chocolate and egg mixture. Ensure that it is well combined.
5. Tip the brownie batter into the prepared tin and bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes.
6. Leave to cool, before turning out of the tin and cutting into squares.
Fluffy leftover chocolate chip pancakes
• 200g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 300ml milk
• knob butter
• 150g chocolate Easter egg, chopped into chips
1. Mix together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl.
2. Beat the egg with the milk, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and whisk in the milk to make a thick smooth batter.
3. Beat in the melted butter, and gently stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Heat a teaspoon of oil or small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7.5cm across. Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden.
At Easter everyone enjoys decorating hard-boiled eggs! After you have had fun decorating, make sure you rescue the tasty eggs inside, and use in salads and sandwiches. You can then compost your Easter egg shells so there is no waste – which makes the Easter bunny very happy!
It’s not just food waste you can rescue: reuse the colourful tin foil chocolate Easter eggs come in, and don’t forget to recycle the cardboard and plastic containers too!