Cooking with leftovers has become less of an arduous or overwhelming task. Running this blog helps me to build a repertoire of go-to recipes and methods. I believe I start to cook with leftover ingredients in a more creative and intuitive way. Hopefully my readers feel the same. Simplicity is key here. And that coming from me means a lot. I just loooove long ingredient lists. In fact I remember when I was around 9 years old we were asked to copy a recipe for a potato salad from a cookbook. I chose the one with the longest list of ingredients. That was decades before I discovered Ottolenghi and became a big fan. When cooking with leftovers I ideally like to include no more than 3-4 additional ingredients, ideally things that I have in my fridge or kitchen cupboard.

A couple of weeks ago I encouraged you to share a bunch of of herbs with a stranger. For the photo I bought a bunch of dill. It was actually no leftover. It was a full bunch of herbs and I did not share it. I have been very busy lately, so didn't have much time to cook and the bunch of dill was sitting in my fridge all the while. I was happy that it was still in perfect condition after over a week. I just put it in a food container and left the lid open. My fridge is very new and keeps things fresh for a long time. It was about time to make a decision, so I decided on something simple that requires minimum effort. In fact no more than popping out to the supermarket and buy a bottle of vodka. I decided to try infusing a bottle of vodka with the dill. This would be a good base for a cocktail comprising of the dill-infused vodka, mixed with cucumber lemonade and a dash of lime.

So there you go: take your leftover herb bunch and infuse a vodka or gin with it. Mix with different kinds of lemonade or soda and serve with lots of ice. I am think of using thyme to infuse vodka and mixing it with a tangy lemonade. Have you tried infusing alcohol with herbs and if so, have you tried creating cocktails with it? I would love to hear you share about your experiences.

dill-infused vodka

• one bottle of vodka (700 ml)

• 1 bunch of dill

Wash the dill and dry with kitchen paper. Put into a 1 litre jar and press down. Pour over the vodka. Ideally weigh down the dill with some pickling weights so it stays submerged. Put the lid on and store in a cool place away from sunlight. After 24-48 hours strain the vodka through a fine-meshed sieve and discard the dill (it can go into compost - if you have any other ideas what to do with a tipsy bunch of dill, let me know!). Enjoy ice cold on it’s own or as a cocktail with regular lemonade or cucumber lemonade garnished with some slices of cucumber.