Using Leftovers challenges the cook with remarkable results
Leftovers often get a bad name, thanks to foods that don't reheat well (looking at you, soggy sandwiches). However, there are many dishes that actually taste better after sitting in the fridge for a day or two. I love to make my curry two days ahead so those beautiful spices keep developing their intense flavours over time.
And there's a scientific reason why. Flavours can be enhanced overnight due to chemical reactions, which continue to take place after cooking and produce more and/or new flavour molecules in a variety of ingredients, which is why leftovers can taste so good.
We have no problems with leftovers and will happily eat bowls of chilli or creamy pasta for three lunches in a row. If you’re not into leftovers, think of ways you can creatively repurpose and reuse leftover food, such as creating a recipe free dinner bowl with leftover roast beef in potpie, crumbling fish over a salad, or shoving chilli into a taco with salsa and guac.
I love making new dishes from the old. One dish I always seem to have leftovers is roasts, it is hard to do a good roast for 2 and not have leftovers. So …… Last nights leftover Lamb Roast became tonights Moroccan Lamb Salad.. Below are some of my go to’s when it comes to using up leftovers. Enjoy!
Moroccan Lamb Quinoa Warm Salad.
Ingredients
3 tbs Berbers Spice Blend
2 tbs Olive Oil + 2 tbs
1 1/2 cups Quinoa
1 1/2 boiling water
1 Onion finely diced
2 Garlic Cloves smashed
1 Carrot finely diced
1/4 head Cauliflower cut into small pieces
1 can of Chickpeas rinsed
Cooked cold Lamb roast Aprox 500 grams
Any other vegetables
Handful of Raisins
6 Dates diced finely
Spinach leaves
Yogurt
1 Tomato diced.
Let’s get Cooking
Blending 3 tablespoons of your favourite Moroccan Spice blend (find Berbers Spice Blend on Our Galley Blog) with 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil in a saucepan,
add the Quinoa 1 1/2 cups and stir well now add you boiling water 1 1/2 cups and cook the Quinoa as per the packet directions.
In a large skillet with lid add 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil, 1 finely diced Onion, 2 smashed Garlic cloves, one diced Carrot, 1/4 small head of Cauliflower, cook until the Onion is clear and the other vegetables have colour Aprox 8 minutes.
Add your chopped roast Lamb meat and any other vegetables from the previous nights dinner.
Add a handful of Raisins and 6 Dates finely diced.
Add Chickpeas, stir. Warm through with the lid on.
Stir occasionally so all ingredients are benefiting from the pan heat, scrap away any lovely bits on the bottom of the pan, so your flavours develop.
When the Quinoa has absorbed all water and is cooked add it to your Lamb and Vegetables, stir through.
On tray lay a bed of baby Spinach now some of the Moroccan Lamb Quinoa Salad, more Spinach and some Greek (unsweetened) Yoghurt, add more of the salad and top with more Spinach, Yoghurt and a diced Tomato.
There you have it the Aussie Sunday night Roast transformed into a sensational flavour bomb from North Africa!
http://dreamtimesailourgalley.blogspot.com/p/spice-blend-recipes.html
Quick and easy Chicken Pad Thai
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 packet Pad Thai noodles precooked and rinsed.
1 1/2 tbs sesame oil
350g precooked chicken thigh fillets, thinly sliced (or leftover roasted chicken is ideal)
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
2 tbs of brown sugar
1 1/2 tbs of fish sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 egg, lightly whisked
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup roasted unsalted cashews or Salted Peanuts (Rob is allergic to salted peanuts that’s why I use cashews, even though we have epi-pens onboard I don’t want to use them).
Optional
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves
Let’s get Cooking
Have all of your ingredients measured out as this is a fast dish to cook.
Add oil to medium/hot wok. Add garlic and shallot cook till clear (approx 2 minutes). Add, fish sauce, lemon juice and sugar stir to combine.
Add, all other ingredients except .... egg and bean sprouts.
Stir to combine.
Turn heat up to high.
Add, egg in little amounts at time, you want to stir the egg and cook it quickly.
Now add the bean sprouts and fork through. Add coriander if using
Enjoy!
Sweet and Sour Pork
500 g roast pork leftovers cut into 2cm cubes
Batter
1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 cup cornflour
1/2 cup cold water
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 L Sunflower oil
1/2 red capsicum
1/2 onion, sliced into wedges
1 carrot cooked sliced, I use my pickled carrots. Nigella Lawson Recipe.
Sauce
300 g canned pineapple
2 tbs pineapple juice reserve liquid
3 tbs oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs white vinegar
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 tbs cornflour
1 cup water
This makes a lot of Sauce, I cryovac the extra sauce and freeze.
Let’s get Cooking
Sauce: Heat oil and sauté chopped vegetables for 5 minutes. Set aside.
Mix sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, vinegar and tomato sauce together then add to the vegetables. Add the pineapple pieces and bring to the boil.
Once the sauce is boiling, add the cornflour which has been blended with the water.
Continue stirring until mixture boils and thickens.
Keep hot while preparing pork. Heat oil for deep-frying pork.
Whisk batter ingredients together until smooth. Add pork and stir to coat well.
Fry pork in batches until cooked, about 4 - 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels and keep warm while cooking the rest of the pork.
Once all the pork is cooked, add vegetables and top with sauce, serve with the sauce and some plain or fried rice.
Rice Cakes
Crispy rice has a revered place in many cultures. These rice cakes are cooked with leftover Japanese steamed rice. It's simple but makes a great snack or a delicious side dish to meat or fish. You can add vegetables and herbs, or use it as a backdrop to a fried egg. Consider serving them as a main dish on top of bacon, Napa cabbage, and scallions.
This recipe uses these pan-fried rice cakes and tops them with chipotle mayonnaise and raw scallop. You then paint them with a thin glaze of a soy-honey mixture not exactly Japanese, but out of this world.
Ingredients
For the Rice Cake
2 cups Japanese rice (leftover, steamed)
2 tbs flour
1 tbs vegetable oil
For Dipping Sauce
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs soy sauce
Let’s Get Cooking
Put left over rice in a bowl, sprinkle flour over the rice, and knead the rice by hand well. Shape the rice into small, round, and flat pieces.
Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet.
Fry rice cakes on low heat for a few minutes.
Turn them over and fry for a few more minutes, or until cooked through.
Turn up the heat to medium and fry until crispy on both sides.
Serve a mixture of sugar and soy sauce on the side.
Two-Ingredient Pizza Dough
This Pizza also utilised leftover roast lamb
One of my favourite ways to use up my yogurt that is really ready to ditch is to make Pizza Bases. I feel the extra fermentation in the yogurt creates a better dough. If you want to make a good pizza that's fast and easy, this is it.
Cooking at a higher temperature 260 degrees C is the key to making this the perfect pizza. It doesn't get any easier than this folks. Brush dough with olive oil and add your favourite toppings. Enjoy!
Ingredients
½ cups self-rising flour, plus more for kneading
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
cooking spray
Let’s get Cooking
Mix flour and Greek yogurt together in a bowl; transfer to a work surface floured with self-rising flour. Knead dough, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from being too sticky, for 8 to 10 minutes.
Roll out your desired size base, brush with olive oil and top with your favourite toppings. Or you can bake them plain and keep for a couple of days in an airtight container.
Make sure to cook at 260 degrees C, otherwise your crust will not brown on the bottom nicely and will be soft.
Do you have any great recipes for leftovers share them with us in comments. If I use the onboard we will feature them on Dreamtime Sail YouTube Our Galley segment and credit YOU 👍
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