Save Your Gravy

Real food is too precious for me to throw away so I make sure I use up everything before it goes bad, rarely letting any go to waste and I make use of leftovers. With leftover rice I use it the next day to fry with an egg yolk for Olivia; and I use leftover oatmeal to make fried mush from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook or my own savory version of fried mush, omitting the maple syrup and adding grated cheese instead. I use the end pieces of a loaf of bread to make breadcrumbs and I cut up leftover roasted chicken to make chicken salad with mayonnaise. Leftover bones become stock and I skim off the fat to use again for frying.

One very precious leftover is gravy. It is a concentrated form of all of the nutrients from the pastured meat and contains a lot of gelatin. After my family Thanksgiving I saved the gravy left in the pan from the White Oak Pastures chicken my mother roasted which she wanted to throw away. Today I sauteed finely chopped potatoes in the gravy and its fat to make deliciously nutritious hash browns. Here’s how:

1. Cut potatoes finely.

2. Using a medium sized sauce pan fry the potatoes uncovered on a medium to high heat in leftover gravy, including the fat, till it boils.

3. Keep boiling uncovered on a medium to high heat until the potatoes are soft and all of the gravy evaporates leaving just the fat.

4. Using a fork to allow the fat to drip off, remove the potatoes from the pan and serve.