eatballs, fishcakes and so on are all, as our grandmothers well knew, a godsend for using up the ends of things. You don’t need a huge amount of leftovers, and they also freeze very successfully, providing some of the best leftover-leftovers. Unless you are up for careful, fine chopping, a food processor or small electric chopper will come in handy, using the pulse button to get a fine mince rather than a paste. Keeping your hands slightly wet when you’re rolling or shaping the cakes helps prevent the mixture sticking – professional chefs get best results by rolling balls on the work surface rather than between their hands. This is when a box of breadcrumbs ready and waiting in the freezer is handy.

f you’ve never tried gnocchi now’s the time to get started – and there are  amazingly yummy things to do with leftover risotto too – so delicious, in fact, that in Italy plenty of cooks make too much risotto on purpose.

Here are two variations on classic meatballs – there are literally tens more in the book:

Mashed potato, lemon and garlic
If you have a little mashed potato left over, use it instead of the milk-soaked bread and add a squeeze of lemon and some finely chopped garlic to the meat mixture. Shape into balls, roll in plain flour or breadcrumbs and cook as above.

Turkish meatballs with spinach and chickpeas
If you’d rather dispense with the tomato sauce, here’s an alternative adapted from one of Claudia Roden’s recipes. Make and fry the meatballs as above. Wash and chop about 500g spinach and cook over a medium heat in a large pan of boiling water for 3–4 minutes, until just tender. Drain and squeeze out the excess liquid. Cook a finely chopped onion and garlic clove in butteruntil soft, then add the spinach with a drained 400g can of chickpeas