Burned your toast again? Don’t bin it – use it

Next time you make an extra round of toast that you don’t get time to eat, or you slightly burn a piece that you’d rather not eat, don’t chuck it in the food waste bin. Instead, blend it up into a morning shake, or turn it into a comforting soup or a burnt-toast sorbet. (To make the soup, simply blend it with a handful of cooked chestnuts and enough stock until creamy in consistency, then season with a little extra-virgin olive oil, miso, mustard, salt and pepper.)

Of course, if your toast is black as night, it might be beyond salvaging, but if it’s just a little charred, scrape or cut off and discard anything that is properly burned and leave it on a plate to dry out. You can then keep it indefinitely to use like stale bread, or to thicken sauces and stews, to which it will impart just a hint of that nostalgic, toast-y flavour.

Today’s recipe is an oat-based sorbet, but the approach works equally well with a traditional ice-cream base. Serve sandwiched between two other slices of cold toast spread with honey or anything else sweet you fancy.

To serve four, soak 100g oats and a piece of toast in 600ml boiling water for 30 minutes. Blend for one to two minutes with a tablespoon of olive oil, 100g honey and a pinch of salt. Churn in an ice-cream machine, if you have one; otherwise, put the mixture in a container in the freezer and fork through thoroughly every 30 minutes for five or six repetitions. For best results, serve the same day, once the mixture is firm enough to shape into a ball.

Burnt toast sorbet

The flavour of this sorbet is surprisingly nostalgic. To maintain a good creamy texture, it’s best made and eaten on the same day. Serves four.

100g oats
1 thick slice leftover toast (about 60g)
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive olive oil
100g honey or other sweetener
1 pinch salt

Soak the oats and toast in 600ml boiling water for 30 minutes. Blend at high speed the olive oil, honey and a pinch of salt for one to two minutes, until very smooth.

Leave the mixture to cool down and, once it’s cold, churn in an ice-cream machine and serve. Otherwise, transfer the mix to a container, then freeze, forking through it every 30 minutes or so for five or six repetitions, mixing thoroughly to break up the ice crystals. Serve once it’s firm enough to shape into a ball.