Gourmet Leftovers

Last weekend I took the entire family for a much needed getaway on the coast.  Opted to rent a house vs. staying in a hotel – best decision I made.  Chose this particular house because of this kitchen…

Going to be difficult to go back to the cramped quarters in my own little kitchen after being spoiled with so much counter space!

On our final morning, I was trying to clear out as much stuff in the fridge as I could.  The night before I had made a tequila pineapple chicken (which I will share at some point), and as a side, I made the potato tacos that the girls love so much.  I had quite a few left over, so for breakfast, I decided to reheat them and top them with bacon, some sautéed onion and jalapenos, a fried egg, and whatever toppings we had left from the night before. 

I think I’ve mentioned that I’m not really much of a breakfast person, but this was a pretty spectacular use of leftovers, if I may say so.  Would make for a great hangover cure, too, with just enough spice and richness to help cope with the ‘day after’ blues.  But even without the need for a ‘cure’, we still enjoyed the heck out of these, and it was one of the best meals of the weekend.

Kind of took some of the sting out of having to come home.

Frugal Fridays - Frugality and Flexibility

So, you may have noticed that I’m posting last week’s Frugal Fridays on Monday.  What can I tell you?  It was a busy weekend.

This is actually a continuation of the last post.  As I mentioned, my college roommate was in town, and I prepared dinner for her.  During the course of our catching up, I found out that she was neither a fan of shrimp or olives - both of which I had intended to use for dinner.  But no matter, I left the olives out of the primavera and made a chicken bisque instead of the planned shrimp bisque.

So, obviously, that left me with two items that needed to be used in addition to a few odds and ends left over from the previous dinner, mainly:

Lettuce

Heirloom and grape tomatoes

Parmesan cheese

The remainder of the parmesan biscotti

So, I decided to round up a quick meal using what I had on hand and ended up with this:

One of the things I really love to do with Kalamata olives is to roast them, which is what I did here.  Roasting them concentrates their brininess, and you get the added bonus of the occasional crunchy bit, which happens to be MY personal favorite.

Anyway, here’s what I did:

Shrimp and Rotini Salad with Roasted Kalamata Olives

¼ lb rotini pasta, cooked according to package directions

½ cup balsamic vinaigrette (mine happened to be store-bought), divided

½ cup Kalamata olives, or a mixture of various

1 medium heirloom tomato, cut into large chunks

½ cup grape tomatoes

¼ cup roasted garlic (whole cloves)

Olive oil

¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil**

½ lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

Salt & pepper to taste

Shaved Parmesan cheese

Red-leaf lettuce (or whatever kind suits your fancy)

Heat oven to 400º.  Combine olives, tomatoes and roasted garlic on a small baking pan. Drizzle with a small amount of olive oil (just enough to coat).  Sprinkle with a couple of pinches of salt and freshly grated black pepper.  Place in oven and cook about 10 - 15 minutes, or just until fragrant.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Combine shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes and ¼ cup balsamic vinaigrette.  Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.  When pan in hot, add the shrimp mixture.  Allow to cook about 3 minutes, then stir and continue to cook another couple of minutes just until the shrimp is cooked through (don’t overcook).  Set aside and allow to cool.

Combine the cooked pasta, the roasted tomato mixture, and the shrimp mixture in a medium mixing bowl along with the remaining ¼ cup of vinaigrette.  Stir to combine.  Serve over lettuce with shaved Parmesan.

**  My sun-dried tomatoes were actually a ‘tapenade’ and had spices.  If you’re using plain sun-dried tomatoes, consider adding some basil to this for extra flavor.

* * *

I don't really have a breakdown of the cost here because I was just using up what was left from another meal.  To me, frugality is not just about saving money, but making the most of what is on hand.

I can tell you that the shrimp was $3 a pound, so I used about $1.50 worth.  Using a fourth of a box of pasta amounts to about 15 or 16 cents, since I usually buy it when it's no more than 50 cents a box.  The olive and roasted garlic mix was the biggest 'splurge' at about $2 for the amount I got.  Just as a rough guesstimate, I imagine I spent a grand total of around $5 on this meal, feeding two of us.

Leftovers with a South of the Border Twist

I feel like I’ve neglected my blog dreadfully as of late. Part of the blame lies in the fact that there have been more evenings than not lately where I’ve just flown home and quickly put something on the table. And most of the time when that happens, it’s either something I’ve already talked about here, or something I don’t find interesting enough to talk about here.

The other hitch in my usual cooking schedule has to do with warm weather. After a somewhat dreary Spring, Summer decided to make an appearance fairly recently. And I have a very low tolerance of hot weather. I did my ‘time’ in the South where the heat and humidity completely saps you of your strength and just don’t feel like I need to apologize for the fact that I’m a complete wimp now when the temperature tops 85º. I’m sure someone would find that a very endearing quality in me…

ANYWAY… Suffice it to say that standing over a hot stove and keeping an eye on 3 different pots of various brews just isn’t high on my list of things to do in warm weather.

But as I was wondering what to do with some leftover mashed potatoes I had on hand, O1 and O2 began to wax eloquent about the various times they had eaten what they referred to as ‘potato tacos’. I’m sure there’s a much more exciting name for these out there, but for now, we’ll just leave them at that. The great thing about these is that they cook up quickly and are very soul-satisfying without being overly heavy. I mean, unless you eat 6 of them, of course. Up to you.

I also put together a very quick, fresh salsa, because O1 is quite frankly, a salsa snob. Won’t eat store bought. And while there’s nothing fancy here, I’ll share what I did, if only to give her a recipe to look at when she’s off on her own again.

Basic Salsa

4 Roma tomatoes, seeded and cut into a very fine dice
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
½ small red onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp cumin
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley (or you could obviously use cilantro)
Juice from ½ of a lime
2 Tbs olive oil

Place chopped tomatoes, pepper and onion in a medium sized bowl. On a cutting board, roughly chop the garlic and then pour the salt over the top of it. Using the sides of a large knife, create a paste by mashing the garlic and salt together. Add to bowl along with the rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine. Allow to sit about 15 minutes to let the flavors marry.

* * If I happen to be grilling, I will sometimes grill my pepper, onion and garlic, allow them to cool, and then proceed with the recipe. This mellows out the flavor of the garlic and onions.

Papa Tacos

2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1 package corn tortillas
Vegetable oil

Suggested toppings:

Mashed avocado mixed with lime juice
Salsa
Sour cream
Queso fresco, crumbled (or use Feta)

Add shredded cheese to leftover potatoes and stir to combine.

In a heavy skillet, heat enough vegetable oil to just coat the bottom of the pan. While pan is heating, spread about ¼ cup of the mashed potatoes between two corn tortillas (or, if they’re fresh enough not to break, you can spread a couple of tablespoons over one tortilla and fold it in half). When oil is hot, add tortillas and cook on each side until browned. Drain on paper towels.

Accessorize as desired.

Tax Day Leftovers

Yes, I procrastinated, kept my head in the sand, hoped for the best… and then proceeded to have a nervous breakdown when I saw how much I was going to owe on my taxes this year. Turns out the tax credit for O2 went away when she turned 17 last year. Didn’t matter that she didn’t turn 17 until the END of the year. Uncle Sam doesn’t care about stuff like that.

My jaw hit the keyboard when I saw the final number.

And I vowed to give up everything I needed to to pay the tax man.

Like… groceries.

Luckily, some friends had taken me out for my birthday to one of my favorite restaurants, Sybaris. The chef/owner there does some really amazing things and sources locally. My entrée had a Cajun flare to it and included tasso creamed potatoes, crispy kale and some amazing sausages made (in-house) with crawfish and turkey.

Given the amount of food we ordered (which included a sinfully rich and delicious parsnip soup), it wasn’t surprising that I had leftovers. So after my heart stopped palpitating thanks to the IRS, I decided to make myself a little nosh using stuff I had hanging around, which included:

Onions
Yukon potatoes
Garlic
One lonely Anaheim chile pepper
That really incredible sausage

No recipe. I chopped everything up, sautéed the potatoes and then the onions, tossed in the chile and garlic, seasoned with a little celery salt, pepper, and paprika, then added the sausages and just heated them through. Even had a few stray bits of kale that I threw in.

Guess it’s time to wend my way through the freezer and see what I can come up with from there.

Using Up All the Bits and Pieces

How many times do you find yourself with odd amounts of ingredients from a meal that aren’t enough to make a whole new dish with but more than you feel comfortable throwing out? I think this accounts for the largest portion of waste in my kitchen. And in this economy, waste just isn’t something I’m willing to accept.

I found myself with a few odds and ends from my catered lunch and not a lot of motivation to cook. I had also received a free sample of Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cooking Cream, which had been sitting in the fridge for about a week. Thus my plan was hatched.

Using a package of gnocchi I had on hand (This is a staple in my house. If it isn’t in yours, a cheese ravioli, or even just some plain Jane pasta would work), I threw together this yummy little dish in about 15 minutes, which amounted to the time it took to bring the water to a boil and cook the gnocchi.

I put together a recipe here for you, but just understand that this was truly a trip around the kitchen to see what was around and could be used. I just wanted you to get an idea of how you can go about using up all of those bits and pieces.

Mish Mash Pasta

1 package gnocchi (or other pasta), cooked according to package directions
½ shallot (left over from my catering job), finely diced
2 Tbs olive oil (pantry staple)
1 small zucchini (found in produce drawer in the fridge), cubed
¼ cup white wine (pantry staple)
1 cup cherry tomatoes (left over from my catering job), halved
¼ cup fresh basil (left over from my catering job), cut into chiffonade
1 cup cooked chicken (left over from my catering job), diced
1 container Italian herb Philly ‘cooking cream’
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (left over from my catering job)
¼ cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped (left over from my catering job)

While water is coming to a boil for the pasta, heat a skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and shallot. Sauté until shallot begins to soften. Increase heat to medium-high and add zucchini. Cook, stirring frequently, until zucchini begins to brown. Deglaze pan with white wine and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Add cherry tomatoes, basil and chicken to the pan. Reduce heat to medium-low (your water’s probably boiling about now and the pasta can be added). Spoon in cooking cream and slowly combine the ingredients. When pasta finishes cooking, add to the pan (Don’t bother draining all the pasta water. Just use a slotted spoon to fish out your pasta and add to the sauce - a little bit of water won’t hurt).

Stir until pasta is fully incorporated into the sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Top with toasted nuts and serve immediately.

My Comfort

There are all sorts of foods out there that I love.  And I've had some pretty amazing meals that all but made my eyes roll back into my head.  I also love challenging myself in the kitchen and trying out new recipes.

But sometimes you just want something that's the food equivalent of a warm blanket.  This is my favorite comfort food.  Don't know why.  It just is.

The night before I'd made meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  It was really more of a setup for the next night's leftovers:  a grilled meatloaf panini with Gouda and bacon and mashed potato pancakes.

Don't mock me.

The potato pancakes have no particular recipe.  I throw a beaten egg (or 2 - depending on the amount of leftovers) into the mashed potatoes, add a bit more salt and pepper, toss in some chopped chives and add a little flour to bind it together, then fry them in a bit of butter and olive oil.  Sometimes I put cheese in them.  Usually I top them with sour cream.  Tonight I wanted dressing (had Caesar in the fridge - not the actual person, BTW).

Don't mock me!

I opted for a paper plate.  Almost no dishes.  Nice...