Don’t throw away these valuable liquids

For years, I poured two valuable substances down the drain because I didn’t know what else to do with them. I don’t mean that time I put a colander in the sink but forgot to put a bowl underneath it and poured an entire batch of chicken stock through it before I realized my error, I am talking about the water left after cooking dried pasta, which as Food & Wine explains, can be useful for enriching sauces and more, and leftover pickle brine, which Chowhound reminds us is also a versatile ingredient.

The first and foremost use for pasta water is in whatever sauce you will be serving with the pasta. The starchy, salty liquid helps bind any sauce to the noodles and adds a bit of flavor as well. Some recipes, like carbonara and cacio de pepe, rely on the starch to make the sauce smooth and creamy, but almost any sauce will benefit. Even if you are just making boxed macaroni and cheese, you can use the pasta cooking water in place of the milk to make the sauce creamier.

Another use for the leftover water is in bread making. The added starch helps the bread rise and also acts as a modest tenderizer. Be sure to check the salt levels of the liquid before adding it to your bread dough – if it is very salty, adjust the amount of salt in the recipe. There are additional suggestions in the article, including using the pasta water to cook beans.

Moving on to pickle brine, the most obvious use is to make more pickles! Just pop your favorite vegetables into the liquid, stick it in the refrigerator for a day or two and taste. Once it is pickled to your desired strength, use the pickles as part of a relish tray or add them to salads. The use I found most interesting was to make a pickle juice salad dressing. Swap out the brine for the vinegar in any dressing recipe to add a bit of pizzazz. Other uses including adding the brine to potato salad, making a pickle brine bread, using it in a keto fried chicken recipe, and even making a cocktail from it. If you are intrigued and want to find more ideas, the EYB Library has over 60 online recipes that utilize pickle brine, including the Chicken-dill pickle soup from Food Network Magazine pictured above.