I’m not one to throw much away, unless forced to by mould (and then not always) or circumstance, so when I have not quite one serving of a really good dish, I want to make it into something equally as satisfying, and maybe have enough to freeze some.

I’d made a Lamb, Leek and Chickpea stew, and wanted to eke out the last bit of it. There was a good just over half portion left, so I bulked it out with more vegetables, and lots of fresh, green herbs.

1 medium aubergine, cut into 2cm cubes

200g slim green beans, topped and tailed and cut into 3 (or 2 if they are small)

2 tbs tomato puree

salt

small bunch of fresh mint

small bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley

zest of 1 lime

1 tsp chicken or veg stock powder to add depth

2 tbs olive oil to add richness

Put the cubed aubergine into a dry frying pan. Start to toast it adding a little olive oil here and there to help the browning process along.

Add about a cup of water to the leftover stew, then pop in the beans while the aubergine is browning. 

Add the tomato puree and mix it in well.

When the aubergines are browned and starting to collapse, add them in too, and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp salt. 

Chop all the herbs together finely, and stir them in as well along with the lime zest.

I let that cook down for about 30 minutes, tasted it and thought the liquid was a bit thin, so added 1 tsp of stock powder for depth, one spoons of ajvar (more tomato puree will do), 2 tablespoons of olive oil for richness and a touch more salt.

Cooked it for another 30 minutes on low, and there it was, done.

Note: I would imagine that the basic lamb and leek stew can be turned #vegetarian or #vegan just by using Quorn mince or soya mince. Add in some nutritional yeast to get a bit more depth of flavour, and a little smoked paprika, and cook off the mince with the yeast, paprika and tomato puree first to get a good caramelisation on it. There are very good kosher stock powders out there that mimic meat flavours and richness, but aren’t meat based.