We are working on having less food waste and one of the best ways we have found is to reinvent leftovers, not only does this decrease our food waste but also we use less energy cooking.

Our current favourite is cooking a gammon joint to be used for a few meals. We’ve found it incredibly versatile. With Vincent working nights, the meals we have during the week need to be easy to eat/reheat as Vincent eats his a lot later than we do.

My pressure cooker has become one of my favourite kitchen gadgets, it saves so much time and energy.

Pulled Gammon

± 750gr Gammon Joint

1200ml Water

Place joint and water in the pressure cooker, set the dial to 2, and allow to build up pressure. As the pressure builds the pressure regulator will come up.

When it reaches pressure you will see two lines.

Keep the temperature steady and cook for 35 minutes. Release the pressure, drain the meat and shred using 2 forks. 

There are 2 methods to release the pressure at the end of the cooking time. 

Method 1: Turn off the heat, then slowly turn the pressure regulator, a lot of steam will be released, the first buy synthroid medication time I did it I turned it too fast and made a big mess!

Method 2: Turn off the heat and allow the pressure cooker to release the pressure slowly. 

They both have there pros and cons but I prefer method 2 unless I am in a rush. 

Pasta Salad with Pulled Gammon 

For the first meal, I made a pasta salad using the shredded pork and combined with salad veg that we had in fridge(grated carrot, tomatoes, cabbage, corn, lettuce, cucumber), grated cheese and some peppers.

I cooked some pasta in the pressure cooker(it takes just 4 minutes when its reached pressure and I find it cooks the pasta shells evenly and leaves them al dente). Once the pasta was cooled I combined all the ingredients with some mayonnaise.

Shredded pork wraps

Day 2, I spread some cream cheese on a wrap and topped with lettuce, cucumber, cheese, corn and shredded pork.

Fusilli Alfredo

Make a basic cheese sauce, add mushrooms, then serve with fusilli and shredded gammon.

I love how versatile the above “recipes” are, I just make a vague meal plan and it all comes together and adapts to whats in the fridge/whats in season.

See my other blogs: http://www.catchingupwiththeclarkes.co.uk and http://www.playasyoulearn.com