Leftover Remake: Risotto cake recipe & bento lunches

Because I’m not my son’s personal short-order cook, I love to use dinner leftovers in our bento lunches to minimize prep time. But eating the exact same thing for multiple meals can get boring pretty quickly, so finding new ways to quickly transform leftovers into different dishes is always welcome. Today I’ve got a simple Leftover Remake recipe for pan-fried risotto cakes.

With these lunches, I took cold zucchini risotto left over from dinner the night before, and made it into little pan-fried risotto cakes that my five-year-old ate as finger food. They’re reminiscent of Sicilian arancini (deep-fried rice balls stuffed with cheese, meat, or vegetables), but I improvised as I didn’t have a good melting cheese on hand.

Contents of kindergartener bento lunch: Pan-fried zucchini (courgette) risotto cakes (recipe below), teriyaki & pineapple chicken meatballs (my favorite, Aidells brand), red grapes, and steamed broccoli with onion-based salad dressing. For dinner, I’d made the zucchini risotto from a recipe in Marcella Hazan’s classic cookbook Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

Morning prep time: 22 minutes for the two bentos, including cooling time for the risotto cakes, meatballs and broccoli. In the morning I formed and pan-fried the risotto cakes from leftover risotto, microwaved the frozen meatballs, and steamed the broccoli in my microwave mini-steamer. (Click for full lunch details, an adult variation on this lunch with additional fruit & veggies, and a basic recipe for the risotto cakes.)

Packing: You know that I’m not one for spending a lot of time making elaborate food art, opting instead for food picks and little lunch accessories to give a bento a quick shot of cute. A while back I stumbled on a package of new colorful hugging food picks shaped like Usahana at a local thrift store for US$1, so I used them with the meatballs to make easy eating for little hands. I used all silicone lunch accessories in this bento, with a baran separator and food cup for the broccoli — keeping foods from touching (more of an issue for Bug than it would be for me).

Thorough cooling of the lunch contents before packing up the box is important to prevent condensation that would: 1) make the risotto cakes soften up, 2) create a vacuum inside of the box that would make it hard to open, and 3) increase the odds of food spoilage as bacteria thrive on moisture, protein and warmth. The lunch is packed in a 450ml Disney Cars bento box with movable subdivider, the right size box for a 5-year-old according to the bento box size guidelines.

Verdict: Mostly thumbs up with everything gone except the grapes. Bug said he only ate half of a grape because he was trying to get the seeds out and peel the skin off with his fingers as he didn’t like the taste of the skin. He protested when I went to throw the remaining grapes out, though, saying he still wanted to eat them, it just took him too much time at school. So these big red grapes are off the bento list because they’re too time-consuming, but still in the kitchen at home for when we’re not in a hurry.

I added tangerine slices and smoked mushroom salad to our homestay Japanese teacher’s bento to round it out and make it different from the child’s version above.

Contents of adult bento lunch: Pan-fried zucchini risotto cakes, tangerines, smoked mushrooms dressed with homemade balsamic vinaigrette, red grapes, steamed broccoli with onion-based salad dressing, and teriyaki & pineapple chicken meatballs. I adapted a recipe for smoked mushroom salad in the terrific barbecue cookbook Smoke & Spice: Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue , and my husband smoked them in a vegetable grill basket on his Big Green Egg ceramic cooker. (You know, men love their grills!)

Morning prep time: 22 minutes for the two bento variations, including cooling time for the risotto cakes. The mushroom salad was leftover from a previous dinner, and I quickly sliced up half of a tangerine.

Packing: I didn’t worry about separating the different foods as much for A-sensei, so I put only the drained mushrooms into a silicone food cup to keep the vinaigrette away from the grapes. The lunch is packed in a 600ml two-tier Hakoya bento box that I picked up at Soko Hardware in San Francisco’s Japantown last year.

Verdict: A-sensei ate everything, with a thumbs up on the risotto cakes. When I probed more deeply about what they were like at room temperature (as I ate mine at home when they were still warm), she finally said that she thought Bug might like them better with ketchup or some other dipping sauce. Bug disagreed and said they were good as is, but it’s an interesting suggestion.

* * * * *

Recipe for Pan-fried Risotto Cakes

leftover cold risotto (How much have you got? Try a basic risotto recipe is you’re starting from scratch.)1/4 cup flour (or breadcrumbs)dash of salt & pepper1 Tb vegetable oil (or vegetable oil spray) for pan-fryingkosher salt to tasteIn a shallow bowl or pie plate, mix together the flour, salt and pepper for breading the risotto cakes.Use a small disher or tablespoons to scoop up 2-3 tablespoons of cold risotto. Use your hands to shape the risotto into small rounds about 1/2 inch thick. (This is for small risotto cakes to fit in a bento box; feel free to make larger cakes if you like.)Place the risotto round into the flour mixture and lightly dust. Tap off excess flour and set aside.Heat the vegetable oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Place the floured risotto cakes in the hot pan without crowding, and fry until golden brown on the bottom (a couple minutes per side). Don’t mess with the cakes too much when you first put them in — you want them to develop a nice crust that’ll hold everything together when flipping.Flip the cakes and fry until brown on both sides. Remove from the pan with a small spatula, and cool on a cooling rack lined underneath with paper towels.  Blot off any excess oil off with paper towels.Sprinkle with kosher salt to taste while still warm.If not packing in a lunch, serve right away while warm. If packing in a bento, let these cool as completely as you have time for before closing up in a bento box. This’ll help prevent condensation inside the box that would soften the nice crust you’ve developed on the risotto cakes.

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BBQ Turkey Pizza with Your Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey

We’ve been there, done that, eaten it and cooked it. Post Thankgiving always included a lunch of leftover turkey-something.

Sandwiches, spring rolls, quesedillas and turkey soup were our automatic go-to-gotta-eat-up-all-this-turkey dishes. This year, we’re committed to making something different that didn’t involve the turkey to be sandwiched in between something or simmered in broth.

We’ve broken all tradition and are making bbq turkey pizza. Why not? Everyone loves a bbq chicken pizza, so it seems perfect to do one with turkey. Let’s get rid of some of this turkey, ok? Let’s do this.

BBQ turkey pizza loaded with melted cheese will knock your socks off. Try it and trust us.

Regardless of how much turkey there is left over, you still make this pizza with a small batch of turkey. The flavor comes from the bbq sauce base, the oven roasted turkey and melted cheese. Consider it an open faced bbq turkey sandwich and you’ll be happy to be eating something other than a regular ol’ turkey sandwich post-Thankgiving.

This same idea and ingredient combination can also carry over to other dishes such as french baguette pizza and flatbreads. If you have any leftover french bread, simply slice them lengthwise and add these same toppings. If we had extra stomach room, we’d probably experiment with some bbq turkey quesedillas. Add a few glasses of cold beer and we’re set. Leftovers can be so fun when you get a little creative. 

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. When it comes to connecting with folks who are obsessed with food, there’s never a dull story to share. Everyone has a dish or family moment was talked about. That’s the fun of Thanksgiving. Enjoying all the food, the family drama and the talk about how exhausted we all are and how we can’t wait till next year.

 Hugs,

Diane and todd

Yield: Makes two 10" Pizza

Total Time: 4 hours

The pizza dough is from our cookbook, Bountiful. The dough and topping can easily be made the day before and then assembled and baked as needed. The crust comes out best if baked on a pizza stone in the oven which has been preheated for at least 20 minutes, however you can always bake the pizzas on a baking sheetpan in the oven if you don't have a stone. Just sprinkle a bit of cornmeal on the sheetpan before laying down the stretched out pizza dough.

Here's a bit of the headnote from the book talking about handling the dough, "We’ve learned a lot from listening to great bakers and watching them bake their doughs. One thing they all seem to have in common is that they don’t overhandle the dough. The more you work it, the tougher it gets. With most of the great pizzas we’ve had, the bakers are not kneading their dough, but just mixing it and letting the yeast go to work. And when they handle their dough to make pizzas, it isn’t with a heavy, forceful hand, but rather by gently letting gravity stretch and form the dough. It is graceful and gentle. The amount of flour in the recipe should yield a dough that will be easy to handle with just a touch of extra flour for dusting when you are stretching it. If you are comfortable with handling the dough, experiment with putting a bit less flour in it. This will make for a lighter crust, but because the dough is wetter, it will be a bit more challenging to work with."

If your oven doesn't go as high as 550°F, the pizzas will still come out great, it just may take a little more time and the crust might not get the char that we personally love so much. You can also use a liberal dusting of flour instead of the cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking to the pizza peel.

1 1/4 cups (300ml) warm water1 teaspoon active dry yeast1 teaspoon honey1 1/2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt3 1/3 cups (415g) flour1 cup BBQ sauce, or amount to preferenceabout 1 cup cooked turkey pieces1 cup grated smoked gouda cheese (or other preferred cheese)kosher or sea salt, to tastefresh cracked black pepper, to tastecornmeal for dusting peelextra-virgin olive oil, for brushing the crustMake ahead (Dough):In a large bowl or resealable container, stir together the water, yeast, honey, and salt. Stir in the flour until no dry streaks of flour remain.Cover the dough and set aside in a warm area to proof for 1 to 2 hours, or until doubled in volume. Set aside in the refrigerator until chilled, or for up to 1 week
(see Note 1).When you are ready to make pizzas, preheat the oven to 550°F with a baking stone on the middle rack for at least 30 minutes. Have cornmeal and a pizza peel handy nearby for when you stretch the dough.Divide the dough in half and place the dough balls on a well-floured surface. Allow the dough to come to room temperature for about 30 minutes. The dough should feel soft and pillowy.While the dough comes to room temperature and starts to come alive, prep the topping ingredients so they will be handy nearby after you stretch the dough. Liberally sprinkle corn meal on the pizza peel. Set nearby while you stretch the dough.When the dough feels soft and pillowy, with floured hands, lightly flour the first dough ball. Using your fingertips, make indentations just inside the outer edge to form the outer crust rim (see photo in post). Using your hands, rotate and gently press out the dough, working from the center outward to flatten it, leaving the outer rim as untouched as possible. Gently push out to a circle 6 - 8 inches in diameter.Resting the dough on the tops of your hands,  rotate and circle the dough over the tops of your hands, gently stretching the dough to about 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter. Make sure to keep the rim thicker than the center. (If the dough starts to toughen and spring back too much while you work on it, allow it to rest for a few minutes so it will relax and soften.) Lightly re-flour your hands, the work surface, and the dough as needed to keep the dough from sticking.Lay the stretched out dough on the prepared pizza peel. Give it a little shake to make sure the dough isn't sticking to the peel. Gently brush oil on the outer crust. Shake the peel again to make sure nothing is sticking.Gently ladle and spread 1/2 of the sauce on the dough. Spread 1/2 of the turkey on the pizza, spread 1/2 of the cheese, and season with additional salt and pepper if desired.Bake for 10-13 minutes or until the crust is golden or even slightly charred if you like. While the first pizza is baking, repeat the stretching and topping instructions with the second pizza.Allow each pizza to cool for a few minutes, then slice and serve.

Over time in the fridge, the dough will gradually begin to change in texture when it gets baked, and will also develop a sourdough flavor. We prefer the texture and flavor of the dough after 24 to 36 hours of refrigeration, but it is still quite good when chilled up to 1 week.

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Leftover Bonanza: Beef with Miso, Mustard, and Wine Sauce

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February 15, 2012Leftover Bonanza: Beef with Miso, Mustard, and Wine Sauce

 

This is what we just had for dinner. It’s not a great photo but tells the story of how last Sunday’s tri-tip and potatoes got turned into something “new.” My husband and I don’t eat a ton of meat so what we cook actually gets used up in many other meals during the course of a week.

Tonight it was a matter of eating up the roast, which we’d simply rubbed with lots of kosher salt, pepper, and dried summer savory, seared it stove top and popped it in the oven at 425 for 15 minutes per pound for medium or medium-rare (aim for 125-135F and rest for 10 minutes). You can also rub soy sauce or fish sauce on the roast along with pepper and garlic to marvelous effect. As we were getting things ready for dinner, Rory said, “I wish there was some gravy.”

That’s how this little impromptu sauce started. I remembered a conversation I’d had with chef Douglas Keane of Cyrus in Healdsburg about the virtues of combining miso and mustard – something he’d picked up from a renowned chef in Kyoto. Years ago, I made a simple red wine sauce with lots of shallot and whole grain mustard from a Martha Stewart recipe. There was a tub of dashi stock in the fridge to serve as my stealth umami infusion. With all of that in mind, I made a quick savory-sweet-tart sauce for the beef. As with past posts on repurposing leftovers, this one is also about how I cook on the fly.

These are the ingredients I used for the sauce: 

ButterShallotRed (aka) misoDry red wineMirinSour cream Dashi  

My approach was the following:

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat.Add 1 sliced medium shallot (1/4 cup) and cook it until the shallot is soft, fragrant, and picking up some golden brown edges.Rummage in the fridge for red (aka) miso, which has a stronger salty flavor profile than mellow yellow miso; red miso is sold at health food stores and Asian markets. Add a small walnut size amount to the skillet. (If you use yellow miso, you may want to try a dry white wine to match the flavor well.)Add roughly the same amount of whole grain mustard (we used Trader Joe’s brand) as miso to the skillet, then stir to combine. Cook to heat things up.Pour in enough dry red wine (we used a cabernet sauvignon that was somewhat leathery; the bottle was open) to allow the mixture to totally pool and bubble in the skillet. My estimate is about 3 to 4 tablespoons.Simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute, then add mirin (Japanese sweetened rice wine) to soften the tart and tannic edges. I add mirin in stages, counting 1 to 2 beats each time. I added mirin 4 times total to the skillet.Taste. My sauce was somewhat jam-like and dark purple – very pretty but it needed to further round out its flavors. To that end, I plopped a small walnut size amount of sour cream; Greek yogurt would work too or cream.Let things bubble and cook down for about 1 minute. Taste and keep adjusting things. I found that the sauce needed a little umami so I poured in the residual roast beef juices from the storage container and dashi by the tablespoon; you can use water or another kind of stock.What was interesting was that the sauce developed a wonderful savory-sweet-tart balance. I was afraid that the sour cream would dull the color of the sauce but it returned to a jewel tone, which must have been due to the miso and mirin.  Once you arrive at a pleasant flavor finish, turn off the heat and serve. If you have to hold the sauce, it will quickly thicken so dilute it with a touch of dashi and reheat it. It turned out to be rather elastic.

To reheat the beef, I sliced it a good 1/4 inch thick and seared it just on one side to avoid drying out the slices. The tri-tip we got wasn’t overly marbled so I was concerned about accidentally making it chewy.

You could this little impromptu sauce with a beef steak or pork steak, or even a grilled chicken thigh. The flavor isn’t like a traditional western style wine reduction. It’s lighter but flavorful due to the use of  miso, mirin, and dashi.

I’m sure that the next time I make this sauce, it’ll turn out different because of the circumstances. However, I’d apply the same cooking principles.

P.S. If you wonder about those potatoes, they are super easy and low-cal “Baker’s Wife Potatoes” from Essential Pepin, a stupendous new cookbook by a true master of food. I’d baked them in a large gratin dish and reheated them in small gratin dishes.  

More ideas on leftovers:

Corn cakes and chile saucePanfried NoodlesBun rice noodle bowlsDumplings on the Fly: How to Create Your own FillingsPosted | Permalink

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Comments Leftover Bonanza: Beef with Miso, Mustard, and Wine Sauce

 

This is what we just had for dinner. It’s not a great photo but tells the story of how last Sunday’s tri-tip and potatoes got turned into something “new.” My husband and I don’t eat a ton of meat so what we cook actually gets used up in many other meals during the course of a week.

Tonight it was a matter of eating up the roast, which we’d simply rubbed with lots of kosher salt, pepper, and dried summer savory, seared it stove top and popped it in the oven at 425 for 15 minutes per pound for medium or medium-rare (aim for 125-135F and rest for 10 minutes). You can also rub soy sauce or fish sauce on the roast along with pepper and garlic to marvelous effect. As we were getting things ready for dinner, Rory said, “I wish there was some gravy.”

That’s how this little impromptu sauce started. I remembered a conversation I’d had with chef Douglas Keane of Cyrus in Healdsburg about the virtues of combining miso and mustard – something he’d picked up from a renowned chef in Kyoto. Years ago, I made a simple red wine sauce with lots of shallot and whole grain mustard from a Martha Stewart recipe. There was a tub of dashi stock in the fridge to serve as my stealth umami infusion. With all of that in mind, I made a quick savory-sweet-tart sauce for the beef. As with past posts on repurposing leftovers, this one is also about how I cook on the fly.

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Refrigerator Gold: Leftover Corn Cakes and Chile Sauce

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September 15, 2011Refrigerator Gold: Leftover Corn Cakes and Chile Sauce

I once knew a couple who, after every meal, dumped all of their leftover food down the drain. They’d pile up the dishes by the sink and use whatever handy utensil nearby to cast off the food. It didn’t matter what it was, how much it cost, how much time it took to make. Then, without blinking an eye, one of them turned on the garbage disposal. Away their meals went down the drain.

It always made me uncomfortable, if not somewhat angry, that they wasted so much food – especially when I’d made it. I was raised in a family where we saved every scrap to enjoy at the next meal. My mother’s approach to cooking was to prepare more than we could all eat because to her, leftovers were a bankable asset. They saved her time as there would be one less dish or meal to prepare in the future. After all, she is the woman who loves to cook industrial quantities of food and keeps two freezers in her home. (See "My Mother's Kitchen Quirks" for details!)

The other day, I realized that the food-wasting couple probably just didn’t know the potential of leftovers. They were not good cooks so they didn’t see the value of saving something for the next meal. They didn’t know what to do with the stuff and may not have even known how to reheat it well. 

When I am cooking, I often think of how I’ll use it for another meal. That is, I’m already planning how I can repurpose leftovers.

A case in point is these corn cakes that I made for lunch the other day. Daniel Tran, whom I wrote about recently, gifted me a box of organic produce that included 4 large ears of corn. My husband and I boiled off the corn to grill and cut off kernels for a salad. We still had a good cup of corn.

While I was making that salad, I thought of Vietnamese corn and coconut fritters that I used to make. The recipe is in Into the Vietnamese Kitchen and calls for uncooked corn and deep frying. But what if I just combined the cooked kernels with other leftover bits in the fridge – a couple slices of steak and wedges of grilled zucchini – to create a mixture that I’d panfry as little corn cakes?

From making the corn and coconut fritters, I knew that the mixture had to bind (stick together) so I applied the same kind of techniques: Pulse the kernels in the mini food processor and then mix in some flour, cornstarch, and egg. I needed some bright green zip and chopped up dill and cilantro. Then I added salt and pepper to taste.

Finally, I used two tablespoons to shape the mixture into little patties and panfried them in a skillet. I usually ate the Viet corn fritters with Sriracha hot sauce but decided to pair these with Thai sweet chile sauce for a change.

The result is what you see at the top of the page. While these corn cakes are not like the fritters of my past, they were totally tasty. All it takes to cook on the fly is applying some foundational food know-how. And you get that know-how from lots of cooking and eating.

RECIPE

Panfried Corn Cakes and Chile Sauce

This is a very flexible recipe. For example, if you are on a gluten-free diet, try substituting rice flour for the all-purpose flour. It should be fine. Vegetarians can just used leftover vegetables with the corn. 

Makes 8 corn cakes to serve 2 as a light meal, 4 as a snack

1 brimming to heaping cup cooked corn kernels
1/3 to 1/2 cup of chopped cooked meat, poultry, seafood, or vegetables
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped herbs or green onion
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons canola oil
Thai sweet chile sauce or Sriracha chile sauce

1. Put about 3/4 of the corn in a small food processor and pulse to create a coarse texture. Transfer to a bowl or container and add the remaining corn kernels.

2. Add the chopped protein or vegetables and herbs. Stir in the flour and cornstarch to coat, then add stir in the egg. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Use two tablespoons to scoop, shape and scoot off mounds of the corn mixture. Flatten them out a bit into disks that are about 1/2 inch thick. Fry gently, until browned on the underside, about 2 minutes. Don’t check till you can push the corn cake around on the skillet.

Use two spatulas to turn each corn cake. Fry the other side for about 2 minutes, adding extra oil, as needed, until browned.

4. Transfer to a serving plate and offer one of the chile sauces on the side.

Related posts:

My Mother's Kitchen Quirks Mom's obsessions with ice cream scoops and industrial cookingLeftover Panfried Noodles recipePosted in Cooking Tips & Tools, Recipes: All, Recipes: Appetizer and Snack, Recipes: Gluten-Free , Recipes: Vegetable Sides and Pickles, Recipes: Vegetarian | Permalink

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Mmmmm, these look so tasty, especially with the added freshness of the dill & coriander.

I love leftovers, couldn't imagine throwing any good food away. In the unlikely event that we humans of the household didn't get to eat them, our dog, cat or hens would quickly polish them off.

In a semi-related story of waste, I remember being surprised when an American relation told me that her daughter and family didn't eat from normal plates with normal cutlery – they used disposable table clothes, paper plates, plastic cups and plastic cutlery. Then when dinner was over, they gathered everything up in the table cloth and threw it in the bin! Et voila, dinner clean-up done! The mind boggles O_o

P.S Used your Asian Market Shopper app only yesterday to identify Thai basil and Gochu garu/Korean hot pepper powder. So handy to whip my phone out and compare pictures and original names. :)

Posted by:Lisa |September 16, 2011 at 12:05 AM

I have a friend who does that with leftover food, and it makes me panicky. I'm the queen of repurposing.

One of my favorite things to do is to make "hand pies" - whatever's leftover stuffed in some pizza/calzone dough or a short crust dough. Maybe add some parm cheese to it. Bake. Eat. Also do a lot of Thai fried rice - leftover meat/veg/rice, rice, garlic, chiles, fish sauce, maybe an egg. Mmmmm.....

Posted by:Diane |September 16, 2011 at 06:39 AM

call me lazy or efficient, i've always cooked to have leftovers .. pot roast on sunday, open-face beef sandwiches on tuesday, pasta with beef ragu on thursday - reseasoning each time.

i have friends like yours but i've screamed WAIT! before the crime .. then a brief lesson on what to do with, e.g., a platter of grilled veggies.

quite related:
one nite i was cooking pork chops for a small party at a clean-freak friend's house .. i had just removed the last chop from the pan to the warming platter in the oven .. i turned back to the stove to make my beautiful pan sauce - but no pan there!! .. yes, it was in the sink under running hot water and my friend was happily scrubbing the precious fonde off it.

Posted by:maluE |September 16, 2011 at 08:37 AM

To me, everything that is fried is delicious to taste. Unfortunately, they are not healthy to our bodies. But occasionally we allow ourselves to eat fried or deep fried foods.

And this is one of the foods I want to eat because it looks so yummy. Or next time when I fry fish paste (ch? cá chiên), I will add corns and herbal. My thinking doesn't tell me if it is good combination or not until I try. How about yours?

Posted by:TU DOAN |September 16, 2011 at 10:53 AM

OMG -- these are precious stories!

Lisa -- I once did a story on a family of immigrant farmers with 10 kids. They had no dishwasher and ate every meal with disposables. It was a matter of efficiency for them.

Diane -- Love the pizza/calzone idea. Isn't amazing how a bit of leftover food when put on a pizza turns into a 'topping'? Same thing with sliding the bit of food into a tortilla to make a taco on the fly. It does not take much food for us to feed ourselves.

Posted by:Andrea Nguyen |September 16, 2011 at 11:08 AM

MaluE: Yep, I have those neat-freak friends too. You kind of feel them cringe when you're about to mess up their kitchen. On the other hand, they're very good at cleanup. In your story, the friend was TOO good at clearing away things. At times like those, I have another drink.

Tu Doan: Fried food is healthier when you make it yourself. Splurge!

Posted by:Andrea Nguyen |September 16, 2011 at 11:10 AM

I guess. I know a number of people who just won't eat leftovers. It just makes me want to shake them. How can anyone so callously waste food? This is what's wrong with first world countries.

Posted by:rtuko |September 16, 2011 at 01:39 PM

oh andrea, what could i do but reach for my glass of wine! ;-) .. my friend is the sweetest non-cook .. i managed to teach her later, when i was calmer, how sauces are made from what's left in the pan.

hey, how about lettuce wraps for leftovers!

Posted by:maluE |September 16, 2011 at 03:48 PM

When I was growing up, I did not like leftovers. I never wasted food, but I wouldn't eat much at a meal with leftovers. It wasn't until I was on my own that I discovered that leftovers are good, and make a quick meal when reheated in the microwave.

Posted by:Sandy |September 16, 2011 at 06:52 PM

I never throw anything away. I call myself the frugal french housewife. I repurpose everything. It's my job.

Posted by:Pamela Folse |September 16, 2011 at 09:55 PM

products kitchen good thank you

Posted by:soonda44 |September 17, 2011 at 01:11 AM

Yes! It bothers me when people throw out perfectly good leftovers, too. Or when people order much more than they can eat at restaurants or even buffets and don't think twice about tossing it.

Posted by:William |September 17, 2011 at 09:25 PM

hi andrea. first off, i love reading your blog.
leftovers: i have an uneasy relationship with it, simply because my mother saves them in the fridge for eternity until someone finally eats them or it spoils. she is buddhist so she does not like the idea of waste.
as much as i hate to agree with her, my mother's has somehow rubbed off on me. i now try to eat most, if not all of everything i make. it is harder when you only cook for yourself and one recycles the same dish for the entire week. and i also understand that food costs money. my money as a consumer as well as the people who produced it for me i.e. farmer/fisherman/grocer etc. our appetites feed an industry.
i have trouble reconciling the fact that with every bowl of rice i don't eat or with every plate of takeway that goes rancid, someone else in the world goes hungry. i understand completely that perhaps my takeaway of fried noodles might not be their idea of the perfect meal but it still makes me feel guilty nonetheless.
i also realise that sometime, to use up leftovers, you end up expanding more energy (i.e. incorporating it into another meal) that you have to ask yourself is it worth it in the first place?
i don't admit to have a solution to this. i believe it boils down to personal preferences and common sense, each to his own. i used to cringe when my friends didn't even bother to take their pizzas away when they had only eaten a mere quarter of it. blasphemous but it continues to happen.
and i have lived in countries where you pay for every packet of ketchup that comes with your fish and chips.
i guess the moral of the story is: waste not want not?

Posted by:melissa tseu |September 19, 2011 at 03:21 AM

Looks so good, I will hve to give it a try. I never throw away left overs. I cook for one and I usally have left overs for a couple of meals. Thank you for sharing your recipes. I will have to come back and check for more.

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Leftover Remake: Risotto cake recipe & bento lunches

Because I’m not my son’s personal short-order cook, I love to use dinner leftovers in our bento lunches to minimize prep time. But eating the exact same thing for multiple meals can get boring pretty quickly, so finding new ways to quickly transform leftovers into different dishes is always welcome. Today I’ve got a simple Leftover Remake recipe for pan-fried risotto cakes.

With these lunches, I took cold zucchini risotto left over from dinner the night before, and made it into little pan-fried risotto cakes that my five-year-old ate as finger food. They’re reminiscent of Sicilian arancini (deep-fried rice balls stuffed with cheese, meat, or vegetables), but I improvised as I didn’t have a good melting cheese on hand.

Contents of kindergartener bento lunch: Pan-fried zucchini (courgette) risotto cakes (recipe below), teriyaki & pineapple chicken meatballs (my favorite, Aidells brand), red grapes, and steamed broccoli with onion-based salad dressing. For dinner, I’d made the zucchini risotto from a recipe in Marcella Hazan’s classic cookbook Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

Morning prep time: 22 minutes for the two bentos, including cooling time for the risotto cakes, meatballs and broccoli. In the morning I formed and pan-fried the risotto cakes from leftover risotto, microwaved the frozen meatballs, and steamed the broccoli in my microwave mini-steamer. (Click for full lunch details, an adult variation on this lunch with additional fruit & veggies, and a basic recipe for the risotto cakes.)

Packing: You know that I’m not one for spending a lot of time making elaborate food art, opting instead for food picks and little lunch accessories to give a bento a quick shot of cute. A while back I stumbled on a package of new colorful hugging food picks shaped like Usahana at a local thrift store for US$1, so I used them with the meatballs to make easy eating for little hands. I used all silicone lunch accessories in this bento, with a baran separator and food cup for the broccoli — keeping foods from touching (more of an issue for Bug than it would be for me).

Thorough cooling of the lunch contents before packing up the box is important to prevent condensation that would: 1) make the risotto cakes soften up, 2) create a vacuum inside of the box that would make it hard to open, and 3) increase the odds of food spoilage as bacteria thrive on moisture, protein and warmth. The lunch is packed in a 450ml Disney Cars bento box with movable subdivider, the right size box for a 5-year-old according to the bento box size guidelines.

Verdict: Mostly thumbs up with everything gone except the grapes. Bug said he only ate half of a grape because he was trying to get the seeds out and peel the skin off with his fingers as he didn’t like the taste of the skin. He protested when I went to throw the remaining grapes out, though, saying he still wanted to eat them, it just took him too much time at school. So these big red grapes are off the bento list because they’re too time-consuming, but still in the kitchen at home for when we’re not in a hurry.

I added tangerine slices and smoked mushroom salad to our homestay Japanese teacher’s bento to round it out and make it different from the child’s version above.

Contents of adult bento lunch: Pan-fried zucchini risotto cakes, tangerines, smoked mushrooms dressed with homemade balsamic vinaigrette, red grapes, steamed broccoli with onion-based salad dressing, and teriyaki & pineapple chicken meatballs. I adapted a recipe for smoked mushroom salad in the terrific barbecue cookbook Smoke & Spice: Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue, and my husband smoked them in a vegetable grill basket on his Big Green Egg ceramic cooker. (You know, men love their grills!)

Morning prep time: 22 minutes for the two bento variations, including cooling time for the risotto cakes. The mushroom salad was leftover from a previous dinner, and I quickly sliced up half of a tangerine.

Packing: I didn’t worry about separating the different foods as much for A-sensei, so I put only the drained mushrooms into a silicone food cup to keep the vinaigrette away from the grapes. The lunch is packed in a 600ml two-tier Hakoya bento box that I picked up at Soko Hardware in San Francisco’s Japantown last year.

Verdict: A-sensei ate everything, with a thumbs up on the risotto cakes. When I probed more deeply about what they were like at room temperature (as I ate mine at home when they were still warm), she finally said that she thought Bug might like them better with ketchup or some other dipping sauce. Bug disagreed and said they were good as is, but it’s an interesting suggestion.

* * * * *

Recipe for Pan-fried Risotto Cakes

leftover cold risotto (How much have you got? Try a basic risotto recipe is you’re starting from scratch.)1/4 cup flour (or breadcrumbs)dash of salt & pepper1 Tb vegetable oil (or vegetable oil spray) for pan-fryingkosher salt to tasteIn a shallow bowl or pie plate, mix together the flour, salt and pepper for breading the risotto cakes.Use a small disher or tablespoons to scoop up 2-3 tablespoons of cold risotto. Use your hands to shape the risotto into small rounds about 1/2 inch thick. (This is for small risotto cakes to fit in a bento box; feel free to make larger cakes if you like.)Place the risotto round into the flour mixture and lightly dust. Tap off excess flour and set aside.Heat the vegetable oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Place the floured risotto cakes in the hot pan without crowding, and fry until golden brown on the bottom (a couple minutes per side). Don’t mess with the cakes too much when you first put them in — you want them to develop a nice crust that’ll hold everything together when flipping.Flip the cakes and fry until brown on both sides. Remove from the pan with a small spatula, and cool on a cooling rack lined underneath with paper towels.  Blot off any excess oil off with paper towels.Sprinkle with kosher salt to taste while still warm.If not packing in a lunch, serve right away while warm. If packing in a bento, let these cool as completely as you have time for before closing up in a bento box. This’ll help prevent condensation inside the box that would soften the nice crust you’ve developed on the risotto cakes.

RELATED READING:

View the original article here

Leftover Remake: Risotto cake recipe & bento lunches

Because I’m not my son’s personal short-order cook, I love to use dinner leftovers in our bento lunches to minimize prep time. But eating the exact same thing for multiple meals can get boring pretty quickly, so finding new ways to quickly transform leftovers into different dishes is always welcome. Today I’ve got a simple Leftover Remake recipe for pan-fried risotto cakes.

With these lunches, I took cold zucchini risotto left over from dinner the night before, and made it into little pan-fried risotto cakes that my five-year-old ate as finger food. They’re reminiscent of Sicilian arancini (deep-fried rice balls stuffed with cheese, meat, or vegetables), but I improvised as I didn’t have a good melting cheese on hand.

Contents of kindergartener bento lunch: Pan-fried zucchini (courgette) risotto cakes (recipe below), teriyaki & pineapple chicken meatballs (my favorite, Aidells brand), red grapes, and steamed broccoli with onion-based salad dressing. For dinner, I’d made the zucchini risotto from a recipe in Marcella Hazan’s classic cookbook Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

Morning prep time: 22 minutes for the two bentos, including cooling time for the risotto cakes, meatballs and broccoli. In the morning I formed and pan-fried the risotto cakes from leftover risotto, microwaved the frozen meatballs, and steamed the broccoli in my microwave mini-steamer. (Click for full lunch details, an adult variation on this lunch with additional fruit & veggies, and a basic recipe for the risotto cakes.)

Packing: You know that I’m not one for spending a lot of time making elaborate food art, opting instead for food picks and little lunch accessories to give a bento a quick shot of cute. A while back I stumbled on a package of new colorful hugging food picks shaped like Usahana at a local thrift store for US$1, so I used them with the meatballs to make easy eating for little hands. I used all silicone lunch accessories in this bento, with a baran separator and food cup for the broccoli — keeping foods from touching (more of an issue for Bug than it would be for me).

Thorough cooling of the lunch contents before packing up the box is important to prevent condensation that would: 1) make the risotto cakes soften up, 2) create a vacuum inside of the box that would make it hard to open, and 3) increase the odds of food spoilage as bacteria thrive on moisture, protein and warmth. The lunch is packed in a 450ml Disney Cars bento box with movable sub divider, the right size box for a 5-year-old according to the bento box size guidelines.

Verdict: Mostly thumbs up with everything gone except the grapes. Bug said he only ate half of a grape because he was trying to get the seeds out and peel the skin off with his fingers as he didn’t like the taste of the skin. He protested when I went to throw the remaining grapes out, though, saying he still wanted to eat them, it just took him too much time at school. So these big red grapes are off the bento list because they’re too time-consuming, but still in the kitchen at home for when we’re not in a hurry.

I added tangerine slices and smoked mushroom salad to our homestay Japanese teacher’s bento to round it out and make it different from the child’s version above.

Contents of adult bento lunch: Pan-fried zucchini risotto cakes, tangerines, smoked mushrooms dressed with homemade balsamic vinaigrette, red grapes, steamed broccoli with onion-based salad dressing, and teriyaki & pineapple chicken meatballs. I adapted a recipe for smoked mushroom salad in the terrific barbecue cookbook Smoke & Spice: Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue, and my husband smoked them in a vegetable grill basket on his Big Green Egg ceramic cooker. (You know, men love their grills!)

Morning prep time: 22 minutes for the two bento variations, including cooling time for the risotto cakes. The mushroom salad was leftover from a previous dinner, and I quickly sliced up half of a tangerine.

Packing: I didn’t worry about separating the different foods as much for A-sensei, so I put only the drained mushrooms into a silicone food cup to keep the vinaigrette away from the grapes. The lunch is packed in a 600ml two-tier Hakoya bento box that I picked up at Soko Hardware in San Francisco’s Japantown last year.

Verdict: A-sensei ate everything, with a thumbs up on the risotto cakes. When I probed more deeply about what they were like at room temperature (as I ate mine at home when they were still warm), she finally said that she thought Bug might like them better with ketchup or some other dipping sauce. Bug disagreed and said they were good as is, but it’s an interesting suggestion.

* * * * *

Recipe for Pan-fried Risotto Cakes

leftover cold risotto (How much have you got? Try a basic risotto recipe is you’re starting from scratch.)1/4 cup flour (or breadcrumbs)dash of salt & pepper1 Tb vegetable oil (or vegetable oil spray) for pan-fryingkosher salt to tasteIn a shallow bowl or pie plate, mix together the flour, salt and pepper for breading the risotto cakes.Use a small disher or tablespoons to scoop up 2-3 tablespoons of cold risotto. Use your hands to shape the risotto into small rounds about 1/2 inch thick. (This is for small risotto cakes to fit in a bento box; feel free to make larger cakes if you like.)Place the risotto round into the flour mixture and lightly dust. Tap off excess flour and set aside.Heat the vegetable oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Place the floured risotto cakes in the hot pan without crowding, and fry until golden brown on the bottom (a couple minutes per side). Don’t mess with the cakes too much when you first put them in — you want them to develop a nice crust that’ll hold everything together when flipping.Flip the cakes and fry until brown on both sides. Remove from the pan with a small spatula, and cool on a cooling rack lined underneath with paper towels.  Blot off any excess oil off with paper towels.Sprinkle with kosher salt to taste while still warm.If not packing in a lunch, serve right away while warm. If packing in a bento, let these cool as completely as you have time for before closing up in a bento box. This’ll help prevent condensation inside the box that would soften the nice crust you’ve developed on the risotto cakes.

RELATED READING:

View the original article here