It's great to cut down on food waste but many foods don't handle the trip to leftover land very well. Save pasta, rice, and other cooked grains from a clumpy, bland fate by giving them a quick sauté to firm them up.
Photo by Paul Downey.
News site Salon shares a list of seven ways you can cut down on food waste, including how to get more life and flavor out of your cooked grains when a day in the fridge has made them clumpy and unappetizing:
I used to not bother saving pasta because I'm an al dente snob, and leftover pasta doesn't tend to keep its texture well. That is, until I learned that you can get some of its chewiness back — and with some brown, toasty flavor — by sautéing it. Get a pan wide enough to take almost all of the pasta in one layer, set it over medium-high heat with some olive oil. When the oil is shimmering, add the pasta and spread it out, letting it cook until it colors slightly. Toss and cook, until it's hot and re-tastified. You can do the same thing with rice and other cooked grains (and of course, if it's just plain, you can make fried rice).
Check out the full article for other tricks getting more mileage out of stale bread, combining eggs and leftovers, and other food saving techniques. For more ideas on cutting down on food waste and getting the most from your leftovers make sure to check out how to Iron Chef your leftovers and how to reuse nine types of leftovers.
Seven Tasty Ways to Stop Wasting Food [Salon via The Kitchn]