The Last of the Leftovers

 

Saturday afternoon, June 3, 2012 – The Last of the Leftovers

When our celebration weekend came to a close, we were left with mountains of uneaten food.  While some was unopened, and could to be donated, the refrigerator was still stuffed with several pounds of grape tomatoes, olives that had garnished the sandwich platters, a bag of lemons, heaps of baby carrots and celery sticks, and mounds of cut-up broccoli and cauliflower.  I was determined not to let the food go to waste, so I had to come up with some ideas quickly to make use of the fresh produce.  One of our first post-celebration meals was angel hair pasta with a cold uncooked tomato “sauce.”  Basically, I threw a lot of grape tomatoes into the food processor, chopped them coarsely, and put them in a colander to drain for about an hour.  I also chopped up some of the kalamata olives and some fresh garlic, which I added to the drained tomatoes.  Then I seasoned the mixture with a few spoonsful of kalamata olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar (another night I used lemon juice), some sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.  The cool tomato mixture was zesty and refreshing on top of the steaming angel hair pasta, which cooked in just a few minutes – a good dinner for a hot night.  

Another night, I decided to make use of an abundance of fresh baby spinach by cooking up a spinach frittata for dinner.  It was like a crustless quiche.  First I sautéed some diced onion in olive oil until it was just transparent.  I added the spinach, which I had sliced coarsely into shreds, and sautéed it just a minute until it wilted.  I added some salt, pepper, and dill to the vegetables.  While that was cooking, I beat up half a dozen eggs in a bowl, then added the cooked spinach and onion mixture to the eggs.  I also crumbled up some feta cheese and added it to the eggs.  I made sure my Calphalon pan was well-oiled and poured in the egg mixture, turned the heat to very low, and covered the pan.  I let it cook about 20-25 minutes until the eggs were set.  Then I put it under the broiler for a minute or two, just to brown the top.  We cut the frittata into wedges, and since there was still some of that chilled tomato mixture in the refrigerator, I used it as a garnish on top. 

Finally, I turned to that old standby, vegetable soup, as a way of transforming the last of the leftover crudités.  Chopped carrots and celery, along with chopped onion, went into my big stockpot.  I sautéed them in olive oil until tender.  Then I added a few heaping tablespoons of one of favorite ingredients, Indian ginger-garlic paste.  For seasoning, I added turmeric, ground cumin, ground coriander, salt and a little cayenne pepper.  After a few more minutes of cooking, I added nearly all of the remaining grape tomatoes (chopped up in the food processor first) and cooked it a little longer.  Then I added 2 cups of red lentils, 1 cup of brown basmati rice, and 12 cups of water.  When the lentils and rice are done, I’ll stir in some lemon juice, garam masala, and chopped cilantro.  Maybe I’ll use the immersion blender to make the consistency smoother.  I’ll wait and see how it looks in an hour.  It’s simmering on the stove right now, and it smells delicious.  A dollop of plain yogurt, more chopped cilantro, and some diced tomatoes on top would be a good garnish.  

 

Thus, my exercise in culinary creativity is concluded, at least for a couple of days.