Leftovers

Periodically we like a good pork chop; typically bone-in for flavor.  Although a boneless loin chop works too as long as all your chops are cut thick so as to have a nice pink, juicy center.  Not like the thin chops of my youth which always seemed to be cooked to the consistency of army boots.  Anyway, grilling season is upon us and I found myself with a leftover loin chop recently along with enough leftover brown rice and frozen veggies to whip-up a batch of pork fried rice.

 

Easy directions if you follow the pics: 

 

Cooking with flame, a nonstick Calphalon wok, some olive oil and the pork along with sliced scallions (green tops reserved). 

 

Add the leftover rice and veggies and continue frying giving a stir and a flip every coupla minutes

  

When it's got some nice crispiness to it add in a couple of locally-sourced eggs and scramble

 

 

Finish with a couple splashes of Thai fish sauce for umami and serve-it-up in a bowl and garnish with sliced green scallions tops

 

Pretty good chow if you can get it

 

Pro Tip:  Since it is grilling season if you're smoking BBQ ribs now you have a way to repurpose any leftovers. 

Pizza, Pizza!

If you were to make a frozen pizza most people would conjure-up an image of a fully-assembled frozen pizza that they could pop in the oven. That’s how it’s done. 

In our household it means thawing-out a frozen ball of pizza dough, a half jar of leftover sauce and a single-serving pack of pizza sausage.  Olives, shrooms, whole-milk mozz and the rest are basically pantry items.  Which is because I’ve likely made (and ruined) more pizzas in my lifetime than any of my acquaintances; combined. 

 

Anyway, dinner tonight started with pre-heating the oven, and stone, to 550F, rolling-out a 300g sourdough really thin, topping it with leftover sauce, fresh cheese, mushrooms, black olives and a sprinkle of Penzey’s Italian seasoning. 

 

 

8-9 minutes later this crispy, cracker-crust-crunchy pizza is served. 

 

Anybody that lives on the peninsula is likely aware there’s a knockdown trademark war escalating between a couple of local pizzerias. Fortunately, I’m self-sufficient and can rise above the fray. 

Forno season is nigh and my pizzas are better anyway….

Eating Outside of Football Season

One of our favorite meals happens to be venison tacos.  Naturally, there will be leftovers.

 

 

Which are resurrected in the form of custom nachos.

 

Layer chips in a pan and top in this order: reheated frijoles and venison taco meat. Top with shredded cheddar and bake at 300F until cheese is melted.

 

Remove from oven and top with chopped onion, lettuce, tomato and queso cheese.

 

Serve.

 

Leftovers vamoosed.

 

And it's not even football season. 

What's For Dinner?

As a general rule I do the cooking around this joint.  And it's usually just the two of us. So it's not like I'm up to my elbows in pots and pans.  

I was chatting with someone on a private FB page last week about how our dietary choice fit (or didn't fit) with HHS's new inverted food pyramid.  We eat red meat with venison at the top of the list followed by chicken, pork and fish (typically salmon) as proteins.  Beef is at the very bottom and is usually a ground chuck burger sourced from our butcher.  We eat a  pile of veggies and this time of year I eat Irish porridge (with blueberries) nearly daily.  I also can and freeze produce from our garden, fresh-caught fish, venison in all forms and plenty of homemade soups. 

We drink milk, use butter and cheese and have incorporated duck fat in frying potatoes for as long as I can remember.  Having gotten air popper for making popcorn I picked-up some coconut oil to flavor the product with a little fat along with salt.  I'm told it's a movie theater hack.  I'll report on results later.  

This time of year the weather conditions can be so unpredictable or inhumane that grilling outdoors or firing-up the brick oven isn't worth the trouble.  Consequently, the new GE range with an expansive cook top, traditional oven/broiler and a second oven/broiler with convection and air frying settings allows for quite a bit of versatility. 

In any event here's a few dinners from the last month in case you're nosy.  And because we keep our own schedules for outside interests and activities we're not averse to leftovers in case someone needs to pack a meal or is eating alone.

It all works out in terms of variety and division of labor.

And for a couple of old farts our metabolic labs are in good working order.

You are what you eat.

Pork chop plate

Pan-seared salmon

Cheese and mushroom omelet - breakfast for dinner

Winner, winner, chicken dinner   

Repurpose

If you are on the receiving end of several inches of overnight snow and have a leftover stale baguette laying around; here's a tip for a snow day breakfast.  

 

Cut your baguette in half inch slices and soak in a batter of two beaten eggs, a splash of milk, and a couple dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg.

 

Fry in butter to make miniature French toasts.

 

 

I like mine with a drizzle of maple syrup and it occurred to me I should have added a dash of vanilla extract.  A FB friend suggested almond extract.  

 

If I hadn't done this that baguette might have gone to the birds. 

 

Either way it was repurposed..... 

Leftovers

 

We’ve been dining on what remains of a half wild turkey breast since our Thanksgiving feast.  All four pounds of it. 

Today I froze the remainder for a future day but not until I reserved some for fried rice this evening. 

Finished it with the last fresh egg in the fridge, scallions and imported Thai fish sauce.   (Smells like sweaty feet but adds incredible umami). 

That spring gobbler is the gift that keeps on giving. 

Pretty good chow if you can get it…..

Thankfulness Leftovers

One of the best outcomes of preparing a 19 pound turkey for the Thanksgiving Holiday are the leftovers.  As a contribution to the domestic food chain it is the gift that keeps on giving.  Another bonus of turkey leftovers are their contribution to the domestic tranquility.  Sliced turkey, stuffing, gravy and green bean casserole for a hot lunch or dinner. But I digress.

Cold turkey salad is terrific - solo or on toasted homemade bread.

Cut your bird into bite size chunks and mix with diced celery, shallot (or sweet onion), walnuts and dried Door County tart cherries with a dollop of Duke's Mayonnaise.  Season with fresh-cracked pepper, sea salt and celery seed.  

Make in small batches.

There is also turkey noodle soup.

Make an all-day-long stock of your turkey bones and parts.  Strain into another pot, add diced celery, carrots, shallot.  Cook until veggies are al dente.  Add cubed turkey and three fistfuls of Kluski-style egg noodles.  Simmer fifteen minutes.  Return the lid to the pot, turn-off the heat and allow to set another fifteen minutes.  Season with cracked sea salt to taste and top with diced celery tops and fresh Italian parsley.

Good chow if you can get it.  Moreover, there are two legs with a wing and an additional three cups of cubed bird in the freezer for a future batch of soup.