My friends and I joke about a phrase, Chinese-it, to describe frugality or cheapness.

French cooking has been known to utilize every bit of ingredient, down to the last piece of chicken bone. Recently, I have tried to imitate the great French culinary tradition by using “unwanted parts” of any food (I call it “frenching”), such as the bottom part of asparagus, which is always chewy and hard.

I made a asparagus pesto over the weekend. I ground the bottom part of all the asparagus that I have consumed last week and added toasted pine nuts and extra virgin olive oil. I seasoned the pesto with black pepper, salt, and paprika. The result was astonishing; the pesto tasted very creamy and light for the stomach, and I used it in every meal. I dipped raw asparagus (yes, raw! fresh Jersey asparagus is crunchy and tastes a little sweet) into the pesto in last night’s dinner.

So, please guinea-pig some recipes with unwanted goods. “Frenching” leftover ingredients is a challenge to your creativity and you can truly eat the most out of the dollar spent!