CREATIVELY CONSCIOUS CHRISTMAS: ZERO-WASTE EXPERT CHEF REVEALS TIPS FOR REUSING LEFTOVERS THIS CHRISTMAS

Worried about food going to waste this festive season? This year food expert, writer, and sustainability advocate Elly Curshen (aka Elly Pear ) and Discarded Spirits Co have partnered to create inventive, zero-waste recipes and cocktails for the festive season. Read on for 3 of the recipes.

Festive waste is at staggering levels. There’s 30 per cent more waste generated during Christmas than at any other time of the year, and 270,000 tonnes of food discarded on Christmas Day. With Elly and Discarded Spirits exclusive collection of recipes, you too can creatively transform overlooked Christmas leftovers into standout dishes.

With growing interest in sustainability and “zero-waste hacks,” these inventive recipes inspire festive hosts to reduce their environmental impact without sacrificing indulgence. The scraps into showstoppers include:

Dirty Martini Dip using leftover olive brine and paired with Discarded Vodka Dirty Martini
Whipped Feta and Fig Jam Crostini made with cheeseboard leftovers and paired with Discarded Vermouth Negroni Sbagliato
Banana & Rum Sticky Toffee Pudding using overripe bananas and paired with a Discarded Rum Old Fashioned

Discarded Spirits Co is a brand that creatively repurposes waste from the coffee, wine, and whisky industries into award-winning spirits. Their mission is to redefine how waste is viewed in the spirits industry, transforming overlooked ingredients into premium spirits:

Banana Peel Rum (70cl – RRP £32) – Fruity, sweet Caribbean rum infused with banana peel.
Grape Skin Vodka (70cl – RRP £32) – A smooth vodka crafted from leftover Chardonnay grape skins.
Sweet Cascara Vermouth (50cl – RRP £22) – A unique vermouth made with cascara, the discarded fruit of the coffee berry.

Dirty Martini Dip

Uses Leftover Olive Brine

Ingredients:

75g pitted green, drained and quartered lengthwise (I used pitted Nocellara olives)
60ml olive brine (from the jar)
60ml Discarded Vodka
1 tablespoon dry vermouth
2 strips lemon peel
250g cream cheese
150g blue cheese (I used Saint Agur)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, for garnish
Crisps, for serving (plain, ridged crisps are perfect)

Method:

Place quartered olives, olive brine, vodka, vermouth, and lemon peel strips in a small jar. Seal the container and shake well to combine. Let marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.
In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat together cream cheese, blue cheese, pepper, and 5 tablespoons of the boozy brine mixture from the jar, until well blended and smooth, about 1 minute. Taste and stir in additional brine mixture, if desired.
Transfer to a small serving bowl. Drizzle some of your best olive oil into the centre. Spoon the marinated olives over top. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and sprinkle with flaky salt and pepper. Serve with crisps.

Whipped Feta and Fig & Vermouth Jam Crostini

Uses leftover bread, figs, and feta from the cheeseboard

Ingredients:

3 figs, finely chopped
50g sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
Day old baguette, cut into 1cm slices
25ml Discarded Vermouth
20ml water
1 sprig rosemary
125g (Preserved) feta (or straight from the packet if you haven’t made the preserved version), roughly chopped
50g Greek yogurt
2 tbsp Olive oil (plus a little more for the crostini)
Zest of half a lemon

Method:

In a bowl, combine the figs, sugar and lemon juice. Let the figs sit for about half an hour.
Meanwhile, make the crostini by spreading out the baguette slices on a baking tray, drizzling with olive oil and baking at 180C for 15-17 minutes. Leave to cool while you make everything else. After 30 mins marination, tip the fig mixture into a small pan over a medium heat. Add the vermouth, rosemary sprig and the water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer until the jam is thick, about 15 minutes. If the jam becomes very thick and sticky, you can add water, a little at a time, to thin it slightly.
Remove the rosemary and let the jam cool in a bowl at room temperature. The jam will keep well in the refrigerator for ages, but we are going to use it straight away!
Whisk the feta, yogurt and olive oil together in a mixing bowl. Season, add the lemon zest and chill in fridge. Top crostini with feta mixture and top with the fig, vermouth and rosemary jam. (Leftover whipped feta will keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days)

Banana and Rum Sticky Toffee Pudding
Uses leftover bananas

Ingredients:

For the sponge

200g pitted dates
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
100g salted butter, softened
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
150g soft light brown sugar
3 eggs
200g self-raising flour

For the sauce

50g salted butter
2 tbsp black treacle
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
75g soft light brown sugar
200ml double cream
3 tbsp Discarded Banana Peel Rum

Method:

Boil the kettle. Tip the dates into a heatproof bowl with the bicarb and vanilla, then pour over 200ml boiling water and leave to soak for 30 mins. Meanwhile, line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment (or make in a similar sized dish that can go from oven to table, then no need to line, just butter it).
Heat the oven to 190C. Tip the soaked and cooked dates, along with their soaking liquid, into a food processor and pulse to chop. Add all the other sponge ingredients and a pinch of salt into the food processor and pulse to make a batter. Scrape the batter into the tin and bake for 40-45 mins, or until the pudding is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
While the pudding is baking, make the sauce. Tip the butter, treacle, vanilla, sugar and cream into a saucepan and cook over a medium heat for 4–5 minutes, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to high and bubble for 3 minutes, then remove from the heat and whisk in the rum.
When the sponge comes out of the oven, poke it all over with a skewer or cocktail stick. Warm the sauce and pour a third of it over the sponge. Leave to soak in for 30 mins and then serve with ice cream, clotted cream or cold double cream, and the extra sticky rum sauce on the side.