We don’t do a lot of leftovers any more at our restaurant. The use of les restes is a thing of the past. Ekeing out has been replaced by eating out. It is not just that affluence has made us extravagant, although that is certainly the case. Affluence has also made us neurotically hygienic.

Our beautiful fitted kitchens with their multicompartmented fridges don’t encourage the saving of little bowls of leftover Bolognese sauce, a cupful of béchamel or a couple of lamb chops. In a mania to be tidy, we bin them. Of course, in our affluence, we are so busy that we are probably better off chucking out these bits and pieces because we don’t have the time or patience to potter around making rissoles, stews and soups out of these trifles.

I don’t miss the rissoles – a word that struck fear in a schoolboy heart. A lot of economy cooking was truly dire and our children don’t know how fortunate they are to be spared it. However, good cooks use their ingredients with care. It is not simply a question of using “cheap cuts” as is much vaunted at the moment. Ekeing out is more a case of working out how to make half a dozen sausages feed a family of six, or make two fillet steaks serve four (tagliata).

The cabbage cake is one of my favourite vehicles for this economical cooking. The first time I made a cabbage cake it was rather grand, being a variation on a chartreuse of partridge with game birds and sausages. I experimented with mozzarella, tomatoes and anchovies marbled through the ribs of cabbage. Another time I studded my cabbage with pheasant, sausage and slices of truffle but this drifts away from the economy theme – although ekeing out truffles is always fun.

Rowley Leigh is the chef at Le Café Anglais
rowley.leigh@ft.com
More columns at www.ft.com/leigh

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Cabbage and sausage cake

This is a very simple way of making, moulding and serving chou farci, a much loved but rarely seen piece of French peasant cookery. Quality of sausage meat is essential: a good Toulouse sausage or the Italian luganega will both do well, simply taken out of their skins. Chestnuts, or well-soaked dried ceps, can be added for extra depth of flavour. Serves six.

Ingredients
1 large Savoy cabbage
½ tsp fennel seed
500g very lean, well-seasoned sausage meat
25g unsalted butter
30ml olive oil

Method
● Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage and wash them well in cold water. Drop these leaves into a large pot of boiling water and simmer gently for two minutes. Lift out the leaves carefully and refresh them in cold water to fix the colour. Cut flat the central stalks and dry the leaves very well on kitchen paper. Cut the cabbage hearts in four and wash them carefully before cooking them in the same water for three to four minutes. The cabbage should be tender but the stalks still hard. Drain the hearts and refresh them in cold water. Cut away the stalks, discarding them, and gently squeeze the cabbage dry. Separate the leaves of the hearts in a bowl and sprinkle with sea salt, milled black pepper, the fennel seeds and dress with one tablespoon of olive oil.
● Take a round, flat-bottomed and ovenproof dish about 20cm in diameter and grease it well with half the butter. Put the most handsome leaf on the bottom. It should practically fill it. Overlapping bountifully, line the sides with the rest of the leaves so that they overhang the sides of the dish. Lay a third of the leaves on the bottom of the dish and cover with half the sausage meat. Repeat the process, finishing with a third layer of the cabbage hearts. Push well down into the mould to compact the cake and remove air pockets. Bring over the overhanging leaves to cover and dot the surface with the remainder of the butter.
● Bake in a medium oven (Mark 4, 350°F, 180°C) for one hour. Remove from the oven and let the cake stand for three to four minutes before inverting a plate over the top of the dish and then turning the cake out on to the plate. Serve with a simple tomato sauce.