December 2, 2010

Leftovers

Baking anything more complex than chocolate chip cookies always seems to leave me with something left over: either the peel of a lemon, two egg whites, or a half-naked orange. It pains me to throw them away, knowing that at another time I'll need some lemon zest, orange juice or another cup of pumpkin puree.

Generally, the freezer is my friend here, along with some half-cup and quarter cup plastic containers. Everything is labeled with what it is, and when it was frozen. The memory of turning my father-in-law's spaghetti sauce into chili haunts me still.

• egg whites: Four will fit into a half-cup container, and my husband found some teeny, square containers for our son's lunches that I appropriated for my own use. They last a long time and whip well.
• egg yolks: They don't freeze well; bake something like Ausstecherle.
• lemon peel, orange peel: Into the big freezer bag to be turned into candied peel. Or, zest and make scones.
• "naked" (zested) lemons and oranges: Juice and freeze. Be aware that frozen lemon juice closely resembles frozen egg white, but the two cannot be substituted for each other.
• ganache: Freeze with a piece of plastic wrap on top. Makes a great, fast chocolate fondue. Use to glue two haselnussbroetchen together too.
• pumpkin puree: Freeze in one-cup containers. Every recipe seems to call for a cup, and a large can has about three cups of puree. It will separate after defrosting.
• buttermilk: Why the heck isn't buttermilk sold in one-pint containers? I've yet to see a recipe calling for a quart of buttermilk. Sure, people drink it, but every other dairy product is sold in multiple sizes. Don't freeze. Make biscuits or pancakes.