Leftovers: Creamy Orecchiette with Roasted Vegetables, Chicken, and Leafy Greens

Whenever I manage to create a beautiful dish out of leftovers, I think about my grandmothers. Strong, hard working, stubborn and resourceful women (I got those genes), they can cook something great out of anything (and those genes too). Back in the old days there was no such thing as throwing food away, right?!

I think my cooking style is a bit old-fashioned in that way. As much as I enjoy a gourmet this or that, mid-high end food and restaurants, and following top chefs’ cookbooks and magazines, my way of cooking is a “no-nonsense cooking” – as I like to call it – using the resources of ingredients and time wisely and carefully. And the most important thing above and all is, of course, having a family meal at the end of the day with my husband and my kids.

I felt very proud of myself with the result of this pasta dish. Orecchiette is my favorite shape of pasta because it has a fun & funny shape and a soft but chewy texture, it is like having plenty of little cups on your plate, each one has a bit of the filling and sauce that surrounds it. It works so well with a mish-mash or mix and match kind of dish just like this one.

I had so many different leftovers at home and I didn’t feel like reheating any of them and eating them again as is, and then I thought: “of course, Orecchiette!”

You can really do whatever you want with it and throw in any kind of leftovers you have and it’ll work. I think. I hope. Because I really don’t know what kind of leftovers you got at home. I added some crème fraiche to it which I hesitated about, not being sure if it will match with all the different flavors. But it worked like magic, binding and bringing everything together. So this is how it went:



Leftover:
½ onion, small chopped
1/3 roasted whole chicken, pulled/cut to large bite-size pieces
3 breakfast sausages, diced
3-4 cups roasted vegetables (potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, rutabagas), diced if not already
Blanched kale and chard, chopped to large pieces
½ cup crème fraiche from the lovely onion tart in this post (substitute with heavy cream. Sour cream might work too)
1/3 cup grated cheese

Pantry items:
Olive oil
1 clove garlic
½ box of orecchiette or other kind of short pasta



Bring water and salt to a boil and cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box.
Meanwhile, in a big big skillet sauté onion in olive oil until it softens. Add the garlic clove. Move to the side of the skillet and add the leftovers. Warm it all up good.
When pasta is ready, drain and add to the leftovers, add salt, ground black pepper, and crème fraiche. Mix and toss it all together. Serve with grated cheese.
That’s it!

Makes 6 servings



Tell me about your winner leftover & pasta recipes and I will post them here. E mail me at nurit AT familyfriendlyfood DOT com, or in a comment below.

More leftovers, please:

Leftover bread turned into Bread pudding with spiced rum sauce for dessert
Mashed Potatoes with Cheesy Crunchy Topping
Mashed potatoes turned into Light-as-a-feather potato pancakes
Black Forest Chocolate Roulade, using Leftovers Egg whites
Roasted Chicken

Mashed Potatoes with Cheesy Crunchy Topping

Creamy mashed potatoes with tanned and crunchy and cheesy topping. A combination of all good things together in one dish. Doesn’t this make it the ultimate comfort side dish? I assume that you don’t really need a recipe for mashed potatoes, do you?! But I will share a few tips for making an even better one.

* If you have time, cook the potatoes whole and unpeeled. I find that it gives the potatoes maximum flavors because they absorb less water while they get cooked.
* When the water boils, lower heat to low. It should simmer gently so the potatoes don’t break.
* After the potatoes are cooked, drain, let cool a little (but not get cold), peel and continue from there.
* If you do peel and cut them, drain them after they are cooked, and return to the hot pot, uncovered, to release their steam. This will result in mashed potatoes that don’t taste so watery and with a diluted texture.
* I like to make them with butter and milk/cream/half and half. First I add the butter and mash the potatoes, and continue from there with the rest of the ingredients.
* For a variation, try to add sour cream.

OK, for the crunchy cheesy topping:

In this recipe I used leftover mashed potatoes, but of course you can use a fresh batch.

Place your mashed potatoes in a baking dish.
Mix together:
Seasoned fresh breadcrumbs (recipe here)
Good soft cheese/s, like goat, feta, Bruson
Good yellow hard cheese/s, like parmesan, pecorino

Spread on top and bake at 350 degrees until potatoes are heated through and the top is lightly browned, about 20-30 minutes.

More leftover recipes:

Mashed potatoes turned into Light-as-a-feather potato pancakes
Black Forest Chocolate Roulade using Leftovers: Egg whites
Leftovers: Roasted Chicken

Leftovers: Mashed potatoes turned into Light-as-a-feather potato pancakes

I really don’t have anything to write about this recipe. Maybe except for – you can reheat leftover mashed potatoes in the microwave, or if you have an extra 20-30 minutes make these pancakes?

Light-as-a-feather potato pancakes

Makes about 10 pancakes

2 cups mashed potatoes
1 cup onion, small diced
2-4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Salt, pepper
Extra virgin olive oil (evoo) and/or canola oil for frying*
1 cup sour cream for serving
Chives, chopped, for serving

Variations: play with adding paprika, cumin, fresh chopped herbs, corn, peas…

Heat oil/s in a 10-12-inch skillet over medium heat. (Oil/s should be about half the height of the pancakes, or about ½ cup oil.)
In a bowl, mix mashed potatoes, onion, garlic, flour, eggs, salt, and ground black pepper with a fork.
Fry about 2 tablespoons of batter at a time (that’s 3-4 pancakes for each batch). Flatten with the back of the spoon. Fry about 4-5 minutes, or until nicely browned. Using spatula, flip gently to other side and fry 4-5 minutes more.
Drain on a plate lined with (at least 3) paper towels.
Serve hot with sour cream and chives.

* Tips for pan-frying:

I use both canola and extra virgin olive oil when frying. Canola oil for the higher cooking temperature (Burnt oil is not a good thing) and evoo for the flavor and health.

Also, when frying, the food needs only to visit the oil, not move in together. You don’t want the food to stay too long in the oil because then it soaks too much oil and you end up with oily food (not a good thing either). If you see that the pancakes take forever to fry, turn the heat up a bit and see how it goes. Adjust heat as you go along.

Also, don’t overcrowd the pan with batter since it lowers the temperature too much which will end up with the pancakes taking forever to fry, and we have already covered up that point.

If you don’t want the pancakes to stick to the pan, make sure the oil is hot enough (by placing a little batter in the oil. It should sizzle), or use a Teflon coated skillet, or use stainless steel but don’t be tempted to turn them over before they are done/browned.

... and, enjoy.

Nurit

More Mashed Potatoes with Cheesy Crunchy Topping

More leftovers...

Leftovers: Roasted Chicken

Leftover bread turned into Bread pudding with spiced rum sauce for dessert

Cake for the weekend: Black Forest Chocolate Roulade, and Leftovers: Egg whites

Cake for the weekend: Black Forest Chocolate Roulade, and Leftovers: Egg whites

Do you have recipes that call for egg yolks only? Sometimes for 6-8 egg yolks (like Crème Brulee)? So what do you do with all those egg white leftovers?
I’ll tell you. You freeze them. Freeze in a container and write the date.
Not sure how long you can freeze them (I searched but couldn’t find a definite answer). I freeze them for a month at most. Thaw in the fridge overnight, or place the container with the egg whites in a bowl with lukewarm water.

And now to the cake.

I made this cake so many times, that finally I felt it needs a spin, some new twists. So I turned it into a Black Forest type of cake. And boy, oh, boy, those few little changes turned it into an almost new cake. And a very delicious one too.
It is so good. You must try to make it.

The good news: it bakes in no time at all! 10 minutes to bake and 20 minutes to make! Can you believe it?!
The bad news: you need some practice in rolling the cake over the filling. But hey, that’s OK, I wasn’t born rolling cakes either, you know... so you can do it too!
Good news again: I took some photos to show you how to do it AND there is a trick if you mess up – just cover it up with cacao powder or powdered sugar to hide the messy parts. And then again, this cake tasted soooo good, your people will forgive you if it doesn’t look so pretty.

My recipe is based on a recipe from 2 legendary chefs, Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. The original recipe – Julia's and Jacques' Chocolate Roulade appears on Martha Stewart’s web site.

Black Forest Chocolate Roulade
Serves 10 to 12

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for buttering the baking sheet
2 cups heavy cream, divided
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or use chocolate chips)
7 egg whites, room temperature
3 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 tablespoon cocoa powder, plus more for garnish
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cherry brandy (or use any berry flavored liqueur you have, or cognac )
Confectioners' sugar, for garnish, optional
1 cup raspberries*, sliced

* OK, I know, I know, Black forest cake has cherries, but you don’t really care. Do you? Well, if you do, use cherries.

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees with the rack in center of the oven.
Butter a large baking sheet (an 11-by-17-inch or a 12-by-17 1/2-inch sheet pan), and line with parchment paper.

Heat 1 cup heavy cream and the chocolate in the microwave. Do this in 1-2 minutes intervals and mix each time, continue this until the chocolate melts into the cream. As soon as mixture is a uniform dark color, remove and let cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl and using a (hand) mixer, whip egg whites and 2 tablespoons sugar to stiff, glossy peaks, about 1 1/2 minutes. Use a timer, if you have it. (I turned my back on the mixer for a minute to wash some dishes and overbeat the egg white! Oh no, you think? Well, it turned out just fine, so relax. You can do it even if you have never ever whisked or beat eggs before.)

Next, whisk one-quarter of the egg-white mixture into the chocolate mixture. Gently fold chocolate mixture back into the original egg-white mixture, and mix until smooth and well combined.

Pour batter into the prepared pan, and spread it in an even layer with a spatula. Bake until cake is set and puffy, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and cool to room temperature.

Make the cream filling:
Whip the remaining 1 cup cream with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, the vanilla, and liqueur. Spread evenly over entire surface of cake. Using a fine-mesh sieve, lightly dust cake with cocoa powder. Then spread the raspberries.

Rolling the cake:
Lift the parchment paper to roll the cake lengthwise, pressing against parchment paper to make a tight spiral. Gently peel parchment paper off as cake layer rolls away. Complete the roll with seam on bottom.
Serve or refrigerate for up to 4 hours. (it’s good after 3 days too).



rolling...
rolling...



rolling...

By the way, I took all these photos by myself. Yes, including the ones when I am rolling the cake with 2 hands! I am a wonder-woman.

...and there you have it. Ta-da!



To transfer roulade to serving platter:
The cake is long, so I have a trick. I cut in 2. Then transfer each half to a serving platter. You can dust it with cacao powder or powdered sugar to hide the cut and throw some raspberries on top.
No one will notice, and hey, you are going to slice it anyway…

Julia and Jacques have a trick too: If roll has slumped or twisted, lay a piece of plastic over top and sides, and reshape with hands. I guess they messed up too ;-)

Have fun and enjoy.
Nurit

More cakes:

Orange Hazelnut Honey Cake
Cocoa-Marzipan Pound Cake
Rose-orange cheesecake
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Crostata with Summer Fruit
Blueberry crumb cake

Leftover bread turned into Bread pudding with spiced rum sauce for dessert

I love bread, especially artisanal bread. And they can be quite costly ranging $3-$5 each! So, when I have leftovers, which doesn’t happen often (because I like my bread toasted so it taste fresh and crunchy even after 4 days), it will break my heart to throw it in the trash (it’ll break my grandma’s heart too and she we roll in her grave, but more about her some other time).

So here are few ideas for using your __X__-days old bread. If you are not going to do any of them right away, cube your bread, without the crust, and freeze it in a Ziploc bag. Write the date on the bag. Keep frozen until needed.

1. Home-made fresh breadcrumbs


Thaw the bread a bit, if it is frozen. Process it in the food processor until you get fine crumbs.
Use this for breaded food like pan-fried breaded chicken breasts, or pork schnitzel, or to make a crunchy top for baked savory dishes like quiches, Mac and cheese, casseroles.

Even better, if you have leftover herbs like parsley, cilantro, oregano, thyme, add those to the bread and process all together. What the heck, while you're at it, throw in a garlic clove or two, and season with salt and black pepper to make your own home-made seasoned breadcrumbs to be used in other home-made yummy dishes.

2. Sweet bread pudding


A few years ago, while on a trip to Oregon’s beautiful sea side, we went to an English pub where we ate bread pudding for the first time (I wish I’d remembered its name).
The concept was new to me. I was somewhat shocked by the idea of “bread pudding????” But oh my my, it was oh so good, warm and sweet and soft, and fluffy, and I think it had a splash of alcohol in it. Heavenly.

Here is my favorite recipe for bread pudding from Epicurious Magazine which everyone who ate it in my home just loved. Give it a try.
And, if want to be able to say “I’m in heaven” while living on this planet, I encourage you to make the rum sauce as well.

This is the easiest recipe on earth to make. To make a smaller pudding with less servings, you can reduce all the ingredients by half and the baking time to 45-50 minutes. Use an 8 * 8-inch, or 9 * 9-inch pan.

Bread pudding with spiced rum sauce
Bon Appétit
October 2001
The Seafood Buffet at Grand Casino, Biloxi, MS
Makes 12 servings.

8 large eggs
3 1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1-pound loaf cinnamon challah or cinnamon-swirl bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (or white plain bread – N.)
1 cup golden raisins

Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Whisk eggs in large bowl to blend. Add milk, sugar, cream, and vanilla; whisk to blend well. Stir in bread and raisins. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake pudding uncovered until puffed and golden, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool slightly (pudding will fall). Serve warm with Spiced Rum Sauce.

Spiced rum sauce

1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons spiced rum or dark rum
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Stir brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add cream, rum, and cinnamon and bring to simmer. Simmer until sauce thickens and is reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 5 minutes. Serve warm. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before serving.)

3. Savory bread pudding with cheese


If your leftover bread is a savory one, make a savory bread pudding. Makes sense, right?! It is a good opportunity to use your leftover cheese as well.
This is a wonderful and sophisticated side dish to serve with steak, lamb chops, roast, pork, chicken, etc.
It is based on the sweet bread pudding recipe, but I have changed it a bit. Well, more than a bit, so I call it my own.

Nurit’s savory bread pudding with cheese
Makes 6-9 servings.

4 large eggs2 ½ cups whole or 2% milk
1 – ½* loaf bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (*depending on the size of your bread)
1 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper
About 1 – 1 ½ cups cheese, crumbled/grated (like Brouson, Parmesan, Feta, Goat, Gruyere, Ricotta, Gouda… whatever you have in the fridge)

Butter 9x9x2-inch glass baking dish.
Whisk eggs in large bowl. Add milk, salt, pepper, and cheeses. Whisk to blend well. Add the bread and mix well.
Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours. (But if you need to make it NOW, like I did, just make sure all the bread cubes have soaked the liquid).
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake pudding uncovered until puffed and golden, about 45-60 minutes. Cool slightly (pudding will fall).

I’m sure you’ll love these.
I think my grandma will be pleased.

Check out this post: Leftovers: Roasted Chicken

Nurit

Beef Goulash

Rosh Ha-Shana (a Jewish holiday) is coming soon and people are looking for good recipes. Naturally, some are asking me, but regardless, I feel pressured to post something, and it must be good, and easy, of course. So here is a winner recipe for beef goulash by one of my favorite top chefs, Wolfgang Puck (you will find more recipes on his web site, click the link).

I make this Goulash very often.

Wolfgang's Beef Goulash
Serves 6

*see my comments in ( ). I hope you won’t find it confusing. This is just to show you that cooking is no science. It is magic ;-)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or canola oil)

4 cups onion, thinly sliced (2 onions)

1 tablespoon sugar3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon caraway seeds, toasted and ground (I use 1 teaspoon ground cumin, no toasting)

1 1/2 – 3 tablespoons sweet paprika (3 tablespoons in the book)

1 teaspoon hot paprika (or regular paprika/Spanish)

1-2 tablespoons minced fresh marjoram leaves (I use oregano)

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves (I just put the whole thing with the stem)

1 bay leaf

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

4 cups chicken stock (or 3 cups + ½ cup water)

2 1/2 pounds beef shank, cut into 2-inch cubes (I use beef chuck)

1-2 teaspoon kosher salt (2 in the book)

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions and sugar until caramelized. Add the garlic and caraway seed. Cook another minute.

2. Add the sweet and hot paprika, marjoram, thyme and bay leaf. Sauté another minute, until fragrant (1 minute).

3. (add all the other ingredients at the same time…) Add the tomato paste. Deglaze with the vinegar and the stock and add the pieces of beef shank, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook until very tender, about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

4. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

If there are any leftovers, I add them to soup. I’ll post a recipe for lentil soup where I use even just the sauce of the Goulash without the beef soon.

I highly recommend this book. It is one of my most favorite cookbooks. Many very easy recipes, and quick, perfect for a weekday cooking when we don’t have a lot of time to fix something good.

Other recipes I have cooked from this book:

Chinese five-spice spare ribs
Wine braised brisket of beef with caramelized pearl onions and dried apricots
Honey marinated beef satay
Pan-seared steaks with port-Dijon-cream sauce
Eggs en cocotte with smoked salmon and horseradish cream (it is much easier than it sounds)
Buttermilk-marinated chicken breasts
Whole roasted garlic chicken
Marjolaine cake
White and dark chocolate chunk cookies
Linzer cookies
Pizza
Minestrone soup
The list goes on and on…

Click to read more about the book: Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy by Wolfgang Puck.

You might be interested to read other reviews:

Jewish Cooking For Dummies cookbook

jamie’s dinners by Jamie Oliver
Thanksgiving-y chicken dinner

Happy Holiday and happy New Year!

Nurit

Leftovers: Roasted Chicken

(Yes, that's purple potato.)

(And, yes, I know it’s a scary photo. My husband says to remove the photo from the post, but I think this is the whole idea - it is a leftover picture and that's what leftovers look like, right?!).

People sometimes ask me for ideas on what to do with leftovers. Some have asked me to post the ideas on the blog. So here is the first post in a series to come. This one will focus on chicken.

An important point is: if you want to have dinner at home with your family every night without working too hard and driving yourself nuts, leftovers is the key word. For me too. As much as love to cook, bake, and food in general, when I have to cook everyday sometimes it feels like a chore and then I don’t enjoy it as much. It feels more like a burden. So, leftovers, here we go…

The point of start is with a roasted chicken, potatoes (from the farm), and carrots we had on Friday.
See recipe here Roasted chicken with potatoes and carrots
So here are a few options:

Chicken wrap
This is more a list of ingredients than a recipe and you can mix and match ingredients to make your favorite wrap:

Leftover chicken, shredded, reheated
Pita/flatbread, warmed
Sour cream/Tzaziki /thick yogurt (like Greek yogurt)
Cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, red onion – diced/sliced/chopped
Avocado – sliced/mashed
Cilantro, or any fresh herb that you like and have available
Leftover grated cheese


Another way to go is make a soup. A-ha!

Leftover chicken soup

First, look in your fridge for other leftovers you can use.

For example, in addition to the chicken and its roasted vegetables, I had:
½ onion, 2 celery sticks, ½ bag baby carrots, and 1 sweet potato in the pantry. Put all in a big pot, add salt and black pepper, use the chicken carcass too! and the cold gelatin-y jus as well for more flavor.
Cover with water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook for 20-30 minutes (gentle simmer), or longer if you added any fresh vegetables that need to be cooked more.
Towards the end of the cooking, add parsley if you have any.

Other ingredients you can add:
Pasta, beans, leafy greens, cauliflower, root vegetables, the list is endless…
Serve with some leftover grated cheese on top and cubes of leftover bread (or even better, toast the bread before to make crunchy croutons)

A third option can be Thai style salad.
OK, I had soba noodles and a jarred Peanut Satay sauce. I usually don’t like prepared jarred condiments and other pantry items and sauces of that sort, but from time to time I think “let’s give it a try”. I always end up with the same conclusion – anything home-made will taste better than any of the canned or jarred stuff.

Here’s a recipe I tried and like from the Food Network by Tyler Florence (good looking, ha?!). If you don’t have all these ingredients, a few tablespoons of peanut butter will be nice too. It will sure taste better then the jarred sauce.

Cold Sesame Noodles

1 pound Chinese egg noodles or spaghetti

Kosher salt

1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

3 cloves garlic, smashed

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon red chili sauce (recommended: Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce)

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

6 tablespoons water

2 scallions, sliced thin

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Cook the noodles in large pot of boiling salted water over medium heat until barely tender and still firm. Drain immediately and rinse with cold water until cool. Drain the noodles well and transfer to a wide bowl.

In a blender, add the ginger, garlic, sugar, peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, chili sauce, sesame oil, and water. Process until the mixture is smooth. Put the blender jar into the refrigerator and let it chill for about 1/2 hour. Pour the peanut sauce over the noodles and toss until well coated. Serve garnished with the scallions, sesame seeds, and cilantro.

And of course, add your chicken to it.

Now, doesn’t this make cooking life easier?!

Check out this post: A cake for the weekend & Leftovers: Bread

Have fun.
Nurit