Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Leftovers

More than once I've had people tell me they don't eat leftovers or someone they love and cook for refuses to eat leftovers. This is mind boggling to me. I grew up in an era when it was unconscionable to let good food go to waste. My  efficient lifestyle is such that I use every scrap of food. In many cases I purposely cook too much so that I have leftovers to store in the fridge for future reference (to be eaten!)

I am talking about homemade leftovers, not restaurant leftovers. That's a whole different subject for another day.

Homemade leftovers don't have to be consumed at the very next meal, you can wait a day or two, just cook and eat something else in the interim to change things up. Most leftovers will happily keep three to five days  if they have been properly stored in air tight containers and the fridge is kept at an icy cold temperature around 34-40F degrees.

I used to cook exotic meals on yachts for charter guests and in spectacular vacation villas in the Caribbean. I never served leftovers on charter yachts or in the vacation villas. People were paying for fine dining. Besides, any leftovers were happily consumed by the crew or hired help.

Those were some fun days, but now life is very different for me.  Now my cooking is very simple and easy, but I must admit, my past gives me a craving for a huge variety of foods.

Many times I remake leftovers into something new. I thought maybe I should start collecting photographs of leftovers I remake as an inspiration for other cooks.

Rummaging around my fridge, I found the following leftovers:
Half of a baked acorn squash
Lima beans (dried beans slow cooked in the crockpot)
Rice pilaf (made with herbs, onions, garlic and peppers)
Chopped chives

I split the acorn half, divided up the leftover beans into the well of the squash, topped that with the rice, then garnished with chives.  A few minutes in the microwave brought this dish to life.



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4 comments:

  1. That meal looks delicious.

    I cook on the weekends and we eat leftovers for the rest of the week. Oftentimes, the meal is better the next day as the flavors have had time to meld.

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  2. i was bachelor for 25 years. i used just make food and eat it until it was gone. as for supper, breakfast, lunch until it was gone. then start over. ahhhh the same with restaurant food. i was a bachelor. no adult super vision.

    old bay is starting to appear in the supermarkets around here. or maybe i just see it now that i know what it is. whatever it's a plus.

    ice cream raz

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  3. I started cooking enough food to last the week when I worked and I still cook that way. Sure makes life easier.

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  4. I am so glad to hear from like minded chefs. :) Thank you so much for commenting.

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