Normally, I’m not a big fan of leftovers. Once I’ve planned it, shopped for it, ‘meezed’ it and cooked it, eating it once is enough. I don’t want to see it again for a while. And since I tend to cook for hordes, we end up with lots of them. Luckily, Mr. Kim LOVES leftovers (or just hates waste, I haven’t figured out which in almost 30 years), so he takes everything to work for lunches.
There are a few things that I enjoy as leftovers; the remains of Ronald Johnson’s Italian Pot Roast make such good soup that I routinely double the portions of all the ingredients (except the meat) when I make it. The next night, I shred the meat, add silky egg noodles and we have a feast. Cold fried chicken is, of course, THE leftover of choice. And I actually prefer baked spaghetti over its parent dish.
But last night’s dinner made perhaps my favorite leftover ever. Dinner was the simple comfort of country fried steak, cream gravy, mashed potatoes and butterbeans:
An excellent meal for a chilly November night. Easy, cheap and fast (except for the butterbeans which simmer for a couple of hours to get the requisite creaminess). We even had some of Mr. Kim’s mom’s award-winning yeast rolls from Thanksgiving dinner.
This was breakfast this morning:
Country fried steak SLIDERS and potato cakes. I just whomped open some biscuits, slapped potato cakes into patties, fried them in butter and heated up the steak and gravy. Sunday morning perfection.
Now I’m off to do some decorating. Mr. Kim is in an all-day meeting, The Child is cat-sitting and I’m free to make a giant mess of my already muddled home. In a couple of hours there will be a jumble of Christmas decorations, half-empty boxes and packing paper festooning my entire house. I may take a picture or two to post to prove that I am not exaggerating!
What word goes beyond YUMMMMM?
ReplyDeleteThese are so gorgeous, and I can just smell the scent of that kitchen.
Caro's been in the throes of a work frenzy all day, has decorated the upstairs tree, put swags and swoops and wreaths and all sorts of pretties on everything in sight, and in between times, has been sending up the scent of baking pecan bars, seven-layer bars, and has made the most enticingly elegant, excruciatingly scrumptious chocolate orange truffles. Oh. Man.
Well, thank goodness we only had a 12 pound turkey! The last of the flesh disappeared Sunday in a turkey divan. Saturday we had turkey melts. I always make enough dressing (sausage, apple, raisins, walnut, onion, garlic, celery) that I can freeze some to go with the Christmas bone-in pork roast.
ReplyDeleteThe desserts left us a couple of leftover portions, but thankfully not much more. (Paula Deen's pumpkin pie uses cream cheese and half-and-half!) The cranberry sorbet got finished the next day. Shockingly, the cranberry relish (a new recipe this year) got finished right at the Thanksgiving table.
My favorite leftover is any kind of well prepared beef or pork roast. They can always become a sandwich ingredient the next day.
I also love reheated gratins. They're almost like braises in that they are even tastier when they're warmed up the next day.
I also use a lot of leftover root veggies and add them to stock, purée it all and have an often really fine thick soup.
The household favorite is when I bake brioche, challah, or Swiss egg bread, there is bound to be French toast in the next day or two.
Left over pasta is often augmented with a cup or more of grated cheeses, maybe some chopped meat, bacon, sausage, etc., all mixed together and then baked in its second life. Because of this dish I seldom crave lasagna or mac 'n' cheese.
In mentally going through all this here, Kim, I realize that leftover salad is about the only thing that gets thrown out with any regularity in our household.
Rachel - I have been following Caro's doin's on Lawn Tea and wish I had that much energy! Gorgeous house, gorgeous food. You all make a good team, my friend. I don't know if I'll find the courage to post some pictures of what my house is looking like these days!
ReplyDeleteAnon - you reminded me - I do love leftover bread. Like you said, it makes great French bread and I also like to make croutons with it. Especially if I have bits and pieces of leftover rye and pumpernickel. And your dressing ingredients sound fantastic! RE: leftover salad - I've been told (but I've never actually tried it) that you can whirl it up in a blender and use it to make the base of a salsa or gazpacho. It makes sense, I guess.
Sounds like a perfectly normal household to me...including the feeling be being self indulgent when you blog yourself into oblivion. The food looks good. Anything with gravy...works for me.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
Mona