On this occasion the French do have a word for it, les restes being the leftovers, those little bits and pieces in the fridge which are too good to discard and yet too small to be of much use.
For me with my present life style they are a godsend.
Every lunch time has me having a poke about in the fridge and inevitably finding something to heat up, mix with eggs, put in a sandwich or just gnaw.
(This is partly because I still find it difficult to cook small enough quantities for two.)
That yesterdays Restes became today’s breakfast is partly Sile’s fault.
With our dinner last night we had eaten some baby spinach leaves. These were so small and tender that I hadn’t the heart to put them near water.
I had just chopped a couple of cloves of garlic, softened these in a covered pan in a knob of butter and then cooked the spinach in this until it was soft.
It was delicious.
But we didn’t get to finish it.
This was because we had some other restes to finish first.
There was a little cabbage cooked with bacon from Tuesday and
another bit of spinach from Monday.
The potatoes we were eating were the remains of the boiled potatoes from both of those days now diced and crisped in hot olive oil, these were a great favourite in our house as a child and officially known as fried poppies, that they frequently grace the dinner menu chez Dwyer is no accident.
But I have digressed.
As a result of the existing restes to finish we never got to eat all of the delicious buttery garlicky baby spinach leaves.
As I was carefully stashing this in the fridge Sile said ;
“ I suppose you will make these into an Eggs Florentine for your breakfast”
“Nonsense” said I, “ I couldn’t eat Garlic for breakfast”
But I did.
And it was delicious!

Here’s how I did it.

Leftover Egg Florentine.

Ingredients.

1 large tablespoonful of Cooked Buttery Garlicky Baby Spinach.
1 Hazelnut of Butter.
I cubic inch of strange Parmesan type cheese which has been lurking in your fridge for several months.
Salt and Pepper.

Method

Melt the butter in a small heat proof bowl or ramekin.
Swilly it about to coat the inside of the bowl.
Put the table spoon of Spinach in the bowl, press it down with a spoon and make a hollow in the centre.
Into this break a fresh free range egg and season with a little salt and lots of fresh black pepper.
Grate the cheese finely and sprinkle over.
Put this bowl into a pot with an inch of water and simmer until the whites are just setting.
Now put this under the grill and grill until the cheese is melting browned and bubbling.
Eat with a teaspoon and some soldiers to dip.
(I bet you will be sorry there wasn’t enough spinach for two, I was!)