Aug. 12, 2020
How to cook
with leftover food (the comprehensive post)
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| So much leftover food but these can be all repackaged! photo courtesy of Markus Winkler |
Hello
World! What do you do with leftover food
in your fridge? Are leftover dishes
becoming a source of stress for you because your children don’t want to eat
leftover food? I’ve been facing the same
issue for years and have been thinking about how best use them.
I hope you can benefit from my leftover food ideas that I’m going to talk
about in this comprehensive post!
Knowing how
to repackage leftover food is important because it saves you lots of food from going
to waste and equally important, it allows to prepare meals more quickly. It should be easier to cook a meal from a
leftover dish because cooking is almost done!
Furthermore, leftovers can be frozen in portions for future consumption! Knowing now what to do with leftovers, I am
encouraged to cook more in larger amounts, which has resulted in less cooking
for me! 😊
Here are the
five leftover cooking methods (ideas) that you should try!
Leftover
idea #1: the salad method
Use leftover
meat as a main protein in a salad. Turning
leftover meat into a salad is an easy, yet very effective way of using up
leftover food! When you have cooked meat
on hand, all you need is some fresh veggies and a nice salad dressing! Here are three different salad dressing
recipes that can be whipped up in no time!
Korean
rice vinegar sesame oil dressing:
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| 2 ingredient salad dressing made with seasoned rice vinegar and sesame oil |
This easy but very delicious Korean inspired dressing is featured in my “Easy Korean Fusion Cooking Class” so please click the link if you are interested in learning more about it! 😊
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| Korean salad with rice vinegar and sesame oil |
This is an
extremely simple oil vinegar dressing (vinaigrette). All you need is a seasoned rice vinegar and
some drops of sesame oil. Just drizzle
each of these on the salad directly (use sparingly because they are very
potent: little goes a long way!) You are ready to enjoy a salad that is
nutritious and satisfying as a lunch on the go or as a light meal.
Classic
extra virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar dressing (vinaigrette):
This is a
classic vinaigrette. I love it because versatile
and can be served as a base for many other salad dressings. I use 1 part oil and 1 part vinegar. You can use any oil and vinegar in lieu of extra
virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar.
Ingredients: extra virgin olive oil (100 ml), apple cider
vinegar (100 ml), poultry seasoning (1/8 tsp, optional), sweetener of your
choice (sugar, agave, stevia, etc.), salt and pepper
How:
Place all
ingredients in a mason jar and shake up until it forms a nice smooth
emulsion. Taste to season with salt and
pepper.
*I like to
use poultry seasoning because it contains herbs and salt, so it really adds nice
flavors to the salad dressing!
*You can
change the ratio of oil to vinegar as you see fit.
Thai
inspired nut dressing:
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| Kale salad with nut butter dressing |
I love nuts,
and therefore, nut dressing is a logical choice of salad dressing for me when I
want my salad to be packed with flavor and good nutrition. 😊
A simple way
of making a nut dressing would be to use a nut butter of your choice (peanut
butter, almond butter, etc.) and thin it out with milk of your choice and with
an existing salad dressing e.g., the classic oil and vinegar dressing mentioned
above.
Ingredients:
nut butter (1 TB), oil and vinegar salad dressing (1 TB), milk (1/4 C), Thai
fish sauce (about 3 drops, optional), soy sauce (if you want a stronger Asian
flavor), sugar (optional, to sweeten to your taste, start with 1 TB and adjust)
How:
Place all
ingredients in a mason jar and stir with a spoon until well mixed and forms a
smooth thick liquid. Season to taste
with sugar and salt, if needed
So, there
you have it! Using leftover meat (beef,
pork, chicken or even tofu and eggs) in a salad is a time and money saving
cooking idea that you can employ any time of the day and week!!
Leftover
idea #2: the skillet method (cook
leftover food in a skillet on the stove top
The second
method of repackaging leftover food is the stove top method. This cooking method works well with any type
of leftovers whether they be meat (chicken, pork, beef), veggies, tofu or even
eggs. The key to reheat or re-cook
leftover food in a skillet is to maintain the moisture content of the already
cooked food. The goal would be to
preserve or even enhance the original texture and flavor. This would be true especially of protein
ingredients as they will turn very dry and rubbery when they are over
cooked.
My secret to
preserve the texture and flavor of the leftover meat or veggies is to sauté
onions or other aromatic veggies first and then add the leftover food
items. I love to caramelize onions in
extra virgin olive oil and combine cooked meat with them. Caramelize onions will infuse extra flavors
to the meat and the smooth silky texture will add moisture to the meat. Peppers and cabbage would aslo work very well
for this purpose.
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| sauteed onions build an excellent foundation for repackaging leftover meat. |
To add a
nice Asian touch to the repackaged dish, I like to add some teriyaki style
sauce at the end with a few drops of sesame oil! Alternatively, you can also reserve some liquid
portion of a stew type of dish and use it as an additional flavoring agent
for the newly created version of the leftover food.
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| In this dish, leftover meatballs and Italian sausages were added to the skillet after red cabbage was sauteed and finished with teriyaki sauce and garnished with green onion, gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes) and sesame seeds |
When we
reheat leftover food, should we cover or uncover the lid? If the food needs to be juicy and tender, you
want to put the lid on when cooking. If
the food needs to be crispy such as fried chicken you always want to cook
without the lid, obviously. To further
crisp up a fried dish, you can put it in the oven preheated to 350 degrees for
a about 5 to 10 min.
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Rotisserie chicken will be best re-cooked uncovered in the skillet on a bed of sauteed onions. |
Leftover idea #3: the
soup/stew method: remake leftover meat (with bones) into a stew
What do you
do with the bones after carving out the meat after the Christmas dinner or
Thanksgiving dinner or whichever the celebratory occasion may have had! Typically, these leftover bones still have
lot of meat on them, so they will serve as a fantastic main ingredient for a
soup or stew type of dish in a pressure cooker or slow cooker. (You can use the
stove top or oven but will take longer and may consume more energy.) These bones being such a good source of
flavor and nutrients, I freeze bones left over from our regular meals! The key is to label them, so you don’t lose
track of them! 😊
The third
leftover cooking idea is to use leftover meat with bones as the main ingredient
for a soup or stew. The two recipes I am
going to show you are leftover prime rib stew and hambone soup.
Recipe #1
Prime rib bone stew:
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| Leftover prime rib bone stew |
Ingredients: leftover prime rib bones (or any beef bones),
onions (2 medium size, roughly chopped, leeks (2 bunches, washed and chopped
roughly), potatoes (1 medium size, cubed, optional), white wine (1/4 cup),
tomato paste (2TB), chicken stock (1 to 1.5 cups, or water), gochujang,
doyenjang (Korean miso paste), garlic (1 TB, chopped), sesame oil (3 drops), salt
and pepper
How:
1. Brown bones in oil (I use a cast iron skillet
for this.) until nice and golden. Remove bones from the pan.
2. Add onion and pour wine to deglaze the bottom
bits of the pan. Stir the bottom of the
pan with a wooden spatula to lift off the sucs (food particles stuck on the
bottom) and incorporate them with the onions.
3. Add tomato paste and stir well.
4. Once onions are translucent, smelling nice
and fragrant, add leeks. You can add
potatoes, if using, at the same time as leeks.
Cook for about 3 to 5 min until leeks cook down.
5. While leeks cook down, make the sauce for
the cooking liquid by mixing into a paste the gochujang, doyenjang, garlic and
sesame oil. Add the paste in chicken stock and mix well.
6. Now put all the ingredients in the pressure
cooker in the following order: the bones, onion leek mixture, and the cooking
liquid.
7. Cook for about 60 min. until the meet falls of the bone! 😊
Recipe 2:
Leftover Ham bone soup with leeks and cabbage:
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| The ingredients: Prime rib bones, leeks, potatoes, onions |
Ingredients: Ham bone, leeks (2 bunches, washed and roughly chopped), onions (1 med, roughly chopped), cabbage (roughly chopped, about 5 cups), white wine (1/4 cup), tomato sauce (48 oz), soy sauce (1/4 cup, I like to use my homemade teriyaki sauce: please click to get the recipe, if interested! 😊), mustard (yellow mustard or Dijon style mustard 2 TB), kosher salt and pepper
How:
1. Brown ham bone in hot oil in a pan (I use a
cast iron skillet for browning meat.).
Remove when all sides are nice and golden.
2. Add in the same pan the onions with a pinch
of salt and pour white wine. Scrape the
bottom bits with a wooden spatula. Add
tomato paste and stir well.
3. Add leeks and cabbage with about 1 tsp of
kosher salt. Cook until they cook down
for about 5 min.
4. While veggies cook down, make the cooking
liquid by combing tomato sauce, soy sauce and mustard.
5. Place all the ingredients in the pressure
cooker in the order of: browned ham
bone, vegetables, and the cooking liquid.
Cook for about 1 hour until the meat on the bone falls off the
bone. Cooking times may vary so you may
have to adjust these times according to your cooker.
So, there
you have it! Using leftover meat bones
is a time saving and nutrition packed cooking idea that you can employ any time
of the year!!
Leftover
idea #4: the pie / quiche method (lower carb method)
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| Tofu quiche featuring leftover bok choy and ham served with hard boiled egg and fresh salad |
The fourth
leftover cooking method is to repackage leftover ingredients (can be meat or
veggies) into a pie or a quiche type of dish!
I love pies and quiches. I love
pies and quiches because they contain many different layers of flavor and
textures in one dish! Typically, a pie
or a quiche has a crust bottom made of flour and butter and an egg-based
custard filling. The recipes I am going
to share use leftover veggies with a twist to the traditional versions of a
typical pie or quiche. So please stay tuned!! 😊
Recipe
#1:
Tofu
quiche with leftover bok choy, ham and onion with sunflower crust:
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| Tofu quiche showing textural detail of vegetables, ham and the crust |
Ingredients:
Leftover bok
choy (you can use any cooked veggies, ½ cup), leftover ham (1/2 cup), onions (2
med size, chopped roughly), sunflower seeds (3/4 cup), saltine cracker (5
pieces, optional), eggs (3), tofu (1 lb., well drained of water), cream of
mushroom soup (300 g, optional), ground pepper, kosher salt, garlic
powder.
How:
*Preheat
oven to 350 degrees.
1. Take out cooked bok choy and leftover ham.
2. Sautee
onions in oil until fragrant and caramelized.
Add bok choy (or any cooked veggies) and ham with the onions. Season to taste with ground pepper, salt and
garlic powder, if desired.
3. While
onions are cooking, make the crust by processing the sunflower seeds and the
crackers in the food processor (process just enough to break up the seeds and
crackers).
4. Process the eggs and tofu until smooth and
mix it with the soup. (you can divide
the soup so that half goes into the vegetable filling and the other half goes
into the egg tofu mixture). Season to
taste with salt and ground pepper
5. Now assemble the quiche in the order of: the
crust, onion mix from step 2.
6. Pour the
egg tofu soup mixture on top.
7. Bake quiche at 350 degrees for about 60 min.
until the top layer is cooked and set with golden brown color. Cooking times will vary depending on the
moisture content of the filling and the tofu egg soup mixture. Adding cream of soup adds more moisture will
require more baking time but will generate more flavor. If I am in a hurry, I would not add
soup.
Recipe #2
Tofu
chard pie with sunflower seed and saltine crackers crust:
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| Swiss chard tofu pie served with fresh greens and sauteed dino kale |
This recipe
is also featured in my recent CSA cooking post. So please click to find
the recipe. 😊
Leftover
idea #5: the casserole method
The fifth and the final method of leftover
cooking idea is to turn leftover meat or veggies into a casserole dish! I love casserole dishes because they are famously
featured in all important family dinners such Christmas and Thanksgiving here
in many North American families.
Casseroles are delicious and can be easily put together if you have
leftover meat or veggies! My method of
casserole is very easy and healthful. So
please stay with me. 😊
Recipe:
Leftover
turkey casserole with frozen broccoli and cream of mushroom soup:
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| Leftover turkey casserole with frozen broccoli and cream of mushroom soup |
Ingredients:
Leftover
turkey (1 cup, cubed), frozen broccoli (1 lb., you can also use any cooked,
leftover veggies), onion (1 med size, chopped roughly), cream of mushroom soup
(2 cups), bread crumb (1cup), butter (1
TB), kosher salt, garlic powder (optional) and pepper.
How:
*Preheat
oven to 350 degrees.
1. Cook onion in a skillet with a little of oil,
until fragrant.
*Note: I would normally add a pinch of kosher salt
to the onion to bring out the flavor but in this dish I don’t because it will
be combined with cream of soup which is quite salty.
2. Add leftover turkey to the skillet until
heated through and nicely combined with onion.
Add some pepper and garlic powder to bring out the flavor of the turkey
and onion.
3. Add one
cup of cream of mushroom soup to the turkey onion mixture.
4. While
preparing the turkey onion mixture, prepare frozen broccoli by immersing
briefly, about 30 secs, it in a pot of boiling water. Drain broccoli well.
5. Mix broccoli with the remaining 1 cup of
cream of soup.
6. Now it’s time to assemble all the components
in a casserole dish in the order of:
half of broccoli mixture, turkey onion mixture, remaining half of
broccoli mixture. Sprinkle bread crumb
on top with knobs of butter.
7. Bake casserole until bread crumb turns golden
brown and all ingredients come together nice and fragrant and bubbly for about
20-30 min.
So there you
have it! Leftover turkey casserole! Hope you enjoy your new creations using this
as a template!
Thanks for
visiting msfusionkorea.com and please share your thoughts and suggestions in
the comments! Happy cooking!! 😊