Leftovers - - Page 3

by gansie

Hanukkah: A Celebration of Oil

Growing up I hated it when Hanukkah and Christmas didn’t overlap. It reminded me how different I was in such a Christian country. Sure, I received presents first, but by the time my Jesus-following friends ripped open their gifts of My Little Pony and bikes and, lets be honest, socks, I forgot about my equally as lame cool gear.

But as my brother and sister and I moved out of the house, and as we all maintained different schedules, it no longer mattered when Hanukkah (its date determined by the Hebrew calendar) landed. We knew we’d all be home over Christmas, so that is when we exchanged gifts. In fact, it became our ritual to exchange on Christmas night — we knew all of our friends would be busy with their families.

Last night was the first night of Hanukkah. And I’d never been so happy to have the Festival of Lights occur this far from Christmas and this close to Thanksgiving.

Cue the mashed potatoes.

by gansie

Last Chance for Turkey Leftovers

While it may not smell bad or display visible signs of deterioration, cooked turkey, according to US Department of Agriculture, should not be eaten after four days. And if you’re not eating the bird within that time frame, it should already be in the freezer for future usage.

Before you mentally calculate all of the different Tupperware containers stuffed with turkey that must be finished tonight, check out these ideas on how to devour your leftovers deliciously.

10 Low Fat Ways to Use Leftover Turkey [About.com]

6 Great Thanksgiving Leftover Ideas [The Orange County Register]

10 Tasty Ideas for Leftover Turkey [Wise Bread]

12 Recipes for Leftover Turkey [Delish]

10 Ideas for Leftover Turkey [Real Simple]

101 Ways to Use Leftover Turkey [Food.Fitness.Fun] (although it’s a lie – only 25 here)

Photo: Turkey Butter by Jack‘s Mom

in Fowl / Holiday 1 comments

by BS

Stuff This! Top 10 Most Creative Stuffing Recipes

As you may have gathered by now, we’re not exactly Thanksgiving traditionalists here at Endless Simmer. But stuffing is one thing we simply will not go without. (You gotta have something to soak up all those pumpkin martinis, right?) Of course, we’re not talkin’ bout plain old sausage-spiked bread stuffing. These 10 creative recipes get crazy with the size, shape and flavor of Thanksgiving stuffing.

10. Stuffing Muffins

We’ve seen this one quite a bit lately and think it is just cute as all hell. Bake your stuffing in a muffin tin and then serve it in place of rolls. Genius.
Recipe: Cooking on the Side

9. Mofongo Stuffing

It doesn’t get much tastier than mofongo — a Puerto Rican specialty of fried green plantains mashed up with bacon, sofrito and olive oil. Oh wait, it does get better. You can stuff that baby in a turkey. Yum.
Recipe: Always Order Dessert

8. “Meatloaf” Stuffing

Cranberry sauce isn’t the only thing that’s allowed to bring a weird pre-packaged shape to the T-day table. Bake your stuffing in a loaf pan and serve everyone a hearty slice of meatloaf stuffing.
Recipe: Bread et Butter

7. Fried Stuffing Croquettes

This one’s intended for leftover stuffing, but if you’re ambitious you can make it the day of. Rolled-up balls of stuffing are coated in panko (love that bread-on-bread action), then deep-fried. For a special surprise, toss your other leftovers (turkey, gravy) in the center so they ooze out when you take a bite.
Recipe: Menu in Progress

in Cheese / Fowl / Holiday / Lists / Recipe / Red Meat 18 comments

by tvff

¡Chilaquiles!

I know I’ve mentioned it once or twice before, but I seemingly fall in love with a new dish every time I go on vacation or take a business trip somewhere new. It’s only natural, then, that I want to come home and relive a little bit of the memories.

Sometimes, this leads me to an ambitious desire to create perfectly-crafted plates of spaghetti carbonara or a top-notch French press café au lait, knowing that it’s worth the effort if I can just recreate a bit of that greatness. And then, sometimes, I’m just willing to raid my pantry for a cheap imitation.

The gears started turning for me a few weeks back when gansie shared her experience pairing a fried egg and some potato chips (hat tip Monica Bhide). That took me back to my honeymoon in Mexico and my first exposure to chilaquiles. In case you’re not familiar with the dish, it’s the ultimate hangover breakfast food: leftover fried tortillas simmered in salsa and topped with whatever else you may have laying around. And if one of those things happens to be an egg, all the better.

It’s a wonderful dish because it’s filling, it’s fried and it’s scalable, meaning you can include as much or as little above and beyond the basic ingredients of tortillas and salsa. If you happen to have some pulled chicken or carnitas around, it’s a perfect way to take a snack or breakfast dish and turn it into a dinner entrée.

The preparation below is certainly geared to a non-Mexican kitchen, so please don’t trash me in the comments for being inauthentic. I’m sure your abuela’s version is vastly superior. I’m looking for something easy that I can assemble while nursing a pounding headache.

in Breakfast / Eggs / Featured / Recipe 5 comments

by gansie

The Second Life of Corn Chowder

I don’t know why I had such a limited view of corn usage. Corn = grilled corn on the cob. That’s all. But then I let it pop and brown in hot oil and butter and threw it in with kale and roasted tomatoes for a salad.

I bought another four ears but did not have a plan of attack. And then I saw a corn chowder recipe over at Macheesmo. I never made corn chowder before, and I’m pretty sure I hadn’t followed a recipe all summer, so as the unofficial end of warmth approached last week, I fell in line and replicated a proper summer soup.

With the leftovers, however, I refused to simply reheat. Instead, I recreated a hotter, fattier soup and a slightly soggy frittata.

Corn Chowder Frittata

I think I botched this up, as I rushed to the broiler instead of letting the egg cook longer in the oven. I whipped one egg with hot sauce, salt and pepper. Then poured that over corn chowder leftovers, stirred it together and put the entire mixture into a pre-heated, buttered cast iron pan. Then I added sliced tomato to the top, with more salt and pepper and then slid it under the broiler. And waited and waited and waited. The mixture browned nicely on the top, but remained slightly soggy in the middle. I think cooking this in the oven for 15-20 minutes and then finishing in the oven, with a late addition of crumbled feta on top, would have worked better.

in Veggie 4 comments

by gansie

Viva la Leftovers

When my brother moved out of my parents’ house after college he couldn’t wait to leave the land of Tupperware behind. To our amusement, my brother received Tupperware from every member of the family as a housewarming gift.

My dad keeps all plastic containers. Imagine portions of horseradish hummus in old Philadelphia cream cheese containers, half melons stored in old pre-made cookie dough containers and cucumbers being pickled in old plastic pretzel containers.

As much as I want to break the family habit of collecting vehicles for leftovers, I just can’t.

I’ve started saving glass though. Wide and short salsa jars, long and narrow caper jars, filling them with couscous and mysterious grains.

But then I was sent Cover Mate’s Stretch-to-Fit Food Covers. And while my addiction to Tupperware has not lessened I now have found a new, easier way to never throw out food: whatever bowl or dish or glassware I have baked or served or eaten something in I just cover it with this dishwasher safe swatch of plastic.

Viva la Leftovers.

in Rants & Raves 9 comments

by gansie

Jersey Shore: Converting Haters to Defenders

This past weekend I brought a few skeptics down the Jersey Shore. Many of my friends have only driven through New Jersey and bought into the crap spoken about this lovely state. Or believe what they saw from Snookie and crew on MTV.

But through our overwhelming intake of Jersey-style Italian food, I think I may have turned them into lifelong defenders of Jerz.

Speaking of food, with the pounds of pasta and side salads and creamy crab ravioli, we accumulated a ton of leftovers. Dedicating our fridge space to beer, I figured out a way to feed us all breakfast and get rid of the 4 rolls of garlic bread we still had from the night before.

Garlic Bread and Feta Egg Bake

Egg bakes are perfect for feeding a ton of people and anything can be thrown in, as demonstrated by my collection of baked egg dishes. [See here and here.] But this one was just straight awesome and didn’t need much additional seasoning because of the flavorful bread.

I cubed the garlic bread leftovers from Uncle Gino’s in Ventnor. Placed them in a buttered oven-proof dish and then poured over a mixture of eggs, crumbled feta, a few splashes of half and half (don’t make the coffee drinkers mad!) and salt and pepper. Let the bread soak in the liquid for 10-15 minutes before baking uncovered at 375 for about 30 minutes.

in Breakfast / Cheese / Eggs / Recipe 2 comments

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