'Love Your Leftovers' - Cookbook Spotlight

by Alexa Weibel, Posted Nov 27th 2009 @ 2:00PM

Photo: CICO Books.

"Love Your Leftovers: Feed Your Friends & Family for Next to Nothing"
By various authors
Photography by CICO Books
CICO Books -- 2009
Buy it at Amazon

With Thanksgiving 2009 now over, many are already contemplating how to transform their leftovers. "Love Your Leftovers" offers welcome creations to use your leftovers in simple, delicious, unexpected ways -- provided your pantry is stocked with a few non-essentials.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Takeaway tips: The recipes in this cookbook are perfect for casual dinners at home, with straightforward recipes and simple directions. But there are plenty that still thrill -- get enticed by a satisfying bowl of Pappa al Pomodoro, using leftover tomatoes and hardened bread, a simple shepherd's pie-inspired Cheesy Mashed Potato Pie using up leftover mashed taters, a Spaghetti and Arugula Frittata transforming an old bowl of extra pasta.

Quality of pictures: The purpose of the book is not refined, time-consuming, artful entertaining -- it's a practical guide to breathing new life into tiresome leftovers. And the photos do just that: provide attractive visuals to high-flavor, low-fuss meals.

We tested: Calabaza Pumpkin Risotto

Delicate, this risotto is not -- but it is delicious. This recipe creates a pumpkin base to enhance the dish's flavor and texture once the grain is fully cooked. It follows all the traditional risotto steps (including, namely, "stir, stir, stir!"), but, interestingly, suggests cooks blend together the pumpkin before adding the silky-smooth sauce in the last round of cooking as the risotto thickens.

This produced an extra-velvety, hearty sauce -- but so much so that the risotto lost its typical melting qualities with liquid that simply thickened the entire risotto. A remotely gooey risotto is forgivable, but alas, the pumpkin's flavor was lost when it got tossed into the entire dish and dispersed. I would have enjoyed the addition of small cooked pumpkin cubes to up the seasonal flavor -- and the flavor would become divine, paired with fresh sage.

Worth the investment: If you're a thrifty cook who can't bear to let leftovers go to waste but is running out of fresh ideas, this is a book for you! However, those who don't cook on a regular basis or have a "leftover" issue would be best off picking out a cookbook catering to their particular food preferences, as this book's recipes are somewhat scattered.

Filed Under: Leftovers, Cookbook Spotlight, Books, Reviews
Tags: butternut squash risotto, cooking with leftovers, fall, leftovers, love your leftovers, pumpkin risotto, winter