 Found in the fridge: tomatoes about to turn, basil. Found in the pantry: Pasta, white beans. I remembered that I had seen this recipe in Ellie Krieger's cookbook, The Food You Crave. Ingredients:
3 large tomatoes, cut into wedges 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 teaspoon salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 (15 oz) can cannellini beans 1/2 pound penne pasta 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan Instructions: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Slice each tomato into 8 wedges and discard the seeds. Put the tomato wedges and garlic into a 9 by 13-inch roasting pan. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and a few turns of pepper. Roast in the oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes. Drain the beans into a large colander in the sink. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain the pasta into the colander containing the beans, so the hot pasta water will warm the beans. Return drained pasta and beans to the pasta pot. When the tomatoes are done, pick out the garlic cloves, squeeze the garlic out of the skin into a small bowl and mash with a fork. Pour the roasted tomatoes into the pasta pot, add the garlic, the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the basil and additional salt and pepper, to taste. Toss to combine. Serve topped with the Parmesan.
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 Well, it's not Friday yet, but I found these items in the fridge and didn't want them to go to waste: 1/2 pint of heavy whipping cream and 1/2 pint of blackberries. Whip the heavy cream until it has the consistency of whipped butter. Add rinsed blackberries and beat until incorporated. You can put in molds, or freeze in a log for later use.
HONEY BBQ SAUCE 1 cup ketchup 1 cup white vinegar 1/2 cup molasses 1/2 cup honey 1 teaspoon liquid smoke 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon onion powder Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium/high heat. Whisk until smooth. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes or until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and serve with your favorite meat or seafood.  To celebrate my best friend's move into her summer digs, we decided to cook together and challenge ourselves to use whatever we found in the just-unpacked pantry and refrigerator. We found: eggs, chicken breasts, cashews, chicken stock, dried herbs, frozen vegetables, and rice. We had fun collaborating on this
lighter version of cashew chicken, and it came out GREAT! So light and fresh for summer! Ingredients: 2 egg whites (see ideas for the extra egg yolks here!) 1/4 cup chicken stock 1 tsp celery powder 1 ½ tsp powdered ginger 1 skinless, boneless whole chicken breast (2 breast portions), cut into small strips for stir-frying 1 c. cashews, chopped Olive oil 1 bag frozen vegetables Salt and pepper to taste 2 cups cooked rice Instructions: Mix the egg whites and chicken stock together until well-combined, add the celery and ginger powders, and then marinate the chicken in the mixture while you cook the cashews. Heat olive oil over medium heat, and gently toast the cashews. They should not turn very brown– just enough to bring out the best of them. Drain on paper towel. Prepare vegetables as directed. Heat wok over high heat with 1 T. olive oil. When a drop of water sizzles and pops in the oil, you know you’re ready to stir-fry. Add the chicken and marinade to the wok, and stir-fry for about 2 minutes, just until the chicken is done, and then add in the vegetables and cashews. Cook another 30 seconds or so, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rice. 
You know how we love Z'Tejas here in Ausitn (and have made some of the recipes from their website). We had some yummy leftover mac and cheese and some grilled chicken from our dinner there.
For some freezer treats for Zoe, I combined cut these leftovers to make mini mac and cheese bites. Ingredients: 2 1/2 c. leftover mac and cheese 3/4 c. grilled chicken, cut into small cubes Bread crumbs Cooking spray Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini muffin tray with cooking spray. Combine mac and cheese with chicken. Fill muffin tray, then top with bread crumbs. Cook for about 15 minutes, then cool for 15 minutes. Put in freezer bag for future use, or enjoy immediately!  Found in fridge and pantry: 1 avocado, leftover sour cream, 1/2 can of San Pellegrino Aranciata soda, wilting cilantro, flat iron steak, 5 tortillas, maple syrup, little bit of parsley flakes, and a bit of Gouda cheese.  I mixed equal portions of soy sauce with the soda, then added garlic, parsley and maple syrup to taste. Marinated the flat iron steak for a few hours, then threw on the Forman grill for 3 minutes.
The quesadillas were also made on the Forman grill with the steak, gouda cheese and cilantro. I mixed equal parts avocado and sour cream for a great garnish. Enjoy! It's clean-out-the-fridge Friday, and I woke up hungry today, after days of no appetite due to cold and seasonal allergies. In my fridge and freezer I found eggs, 1/4 container of heavy cream, bit of bacon, basil on its last legs, shaved parmesan, and bit of chopped parseley. Thanks to my friend, Melissa Stewart, I have a new cookbook which showed me how to make real butter. And speaking of real butter, the baked eggs recipe is adapted from the recipe on a great site called Use Real Butter. Finally, strawberries are in the stores but NOT in season -- I've created a basil honey sauce to enliven them a bit. 
Baked Eggs
Ingredients: 1 tsp. unsalted butter, softened Parmesan cheese, grated 1/2 tsp. fresh parsley, minced 2 eggs 2 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled salt and pepper to taste Instructions: Heat oven to 375°F. Butter one large or two small ramekins. Combine the cheese and herbs in a small bowl. Crack eggs into a bowl or cup, taking care not to break the yolks. Pour the two eggs into a large ramekin, then sprinkle bacon, cheese and parseley over the top. Finish with a dash of salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake the eggs for 10-15 minutes until the eggs have achieved desired doneness. Homemade Butter Put heavy cream into a mixer and whip on high until the butter starts to separate from the liquid. Remove liquid, then take butter in your hands and pat it dry. You can put back in mixer if you want to make flavored butters -- I added a bit of preserves to my batch. Honey Basil Syrup Ingredients: 3 T honey 1/4 cup water 2 basil leaves, chiffonade Instructions: Place the honey, water and basil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring to combine. Bring mixture to a low boil and then reduce heat to simmer gently. Strain syrup through a sieve to remove basil leaves.  I am really pushing it this week with the leftovers, as I haven’t had time to get to the store mid-week as usual. This Fridge Friday, I found 1 egg, some cooked broccoli, 2 chicken breasts, and one packet each of two types of snack cheese. These were a big hit, and surprisingly low in fat and calories! Ingredients: 2 chicken breast halves 1 egg 2 tsp water 1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs 2 cups cooked broccoli, chopped small 2 oz. cheese (I had cheddar and Laughing Cow on hand) Salt and pepper Olive oil Toothpicks Parchment paper  Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350. Mix water and egg to make an egg wash. Fill second bowl with breadcrumbs. Cut the chicken breasts into 2 thin cutlets, so you’ll have 4 cutlets total. Put a fourth of the cheese and broccoli on each cutlet, and secure with toothpicks. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into egg wash, followed by breadcrumbs. Place chicken breasts on parchment paper covered cookie sheet, and drizzle with olive oil. Bake about 25 minutes. 
So you know I made that brisket recipe on Wednesday, and we ended up with a bit left over. I'm a little bored with my usual fallbacks for using leftovers, but when I spotted the half bag of broccoli & cabbage mix, unused spring roll wrappers in the pantry (these keep forever), and a bit of Zoe’s homemade popcorn chicken in the fridge, my cooking muse enlightened me. Eggrolls! I made a big batch of these, individually wrapped them in plastic wrap, and then put in freezer. You can take them right out of the freezer and fry. And here’s a trick I’ve learned the hard way in the past: Your egg roll filling ingredients must be drained of excess moisture and cooled before rolling. Soggy, hot filling makes soggy egg rolls. Ingredients: 2 T. oil 1 shallot Minced garlic to taste 2 ½ cups broccoli and cabbage mix (if long strands, give it a rough chop) 1 T. rice or cider vinegar 2 T. soy sauce 1 T. brown sugar 1 cup cooked leftover vegetables 2 cups leftover brisket, shredded fine 1 cup cooked chicken, chopped fine 15 spring roll or egg roll wrappers  Instructions: In a wok or heavy pan, heat the oil on medium-high. Stir fry the onion, garlic and broccoli mix until soft, about 1 minute. Add the vinegar, soy sauce and brown sugar and stir-fry another minute. Turn off the heat, and then add the cooked leftover vegetables, brisket and chicken. Mix thoroughly. Scoop out the filling to a baking sheet and spread out to cool. Prop up one end of the baking sheet so that it tilts and will allow all the moisture to drain to one end. Let cool for 15 minutes. Discard all of the accumulated juices. Use paper towels to blot the filling to rid of extra oil or juice. Now, you're ready to wrap. Only use 1 heaping tablespoon of filling for each egg roll. Keep the rolled egg rolls in neat, single layer and covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying. If you want to stack the egg rolls, make sure you have layer of parchment paper in between the layers to prevent sticking. Keep wrappers also covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Refrigerate up to 4 hours until ready to fry or freeze. To fry the egg rolls, fill a wok or pot with 2 inches of high-heat cooking oil. Heat the oil to 350°F or until a cube of bread will fry to golden brown within 10 seconds. Lower the egg rolls, frying 4 to 6 at a time, turning occasionally until golden brown, 1-2 minutes. Place on wire rack to drain and cool. NOTE: To fry frozen egg rolls, do not defrost the egg rolls – just add them to the oil frozen, frying 4 to 6 at a time. Add an additional 1½ minutes to the frying time since they are frozen. You won't mind, dear reader, that I actually cleaned out the fridge on Tuesday instead of Friday? It's a great habit I've tried to start, but yesterday I found 2 halves of baguettes, strawberries, 1/2 tub of cream cheese, English peas, marinated tomatoes, basil, parmesan cheese...This sounds like a bruschetta feast to me, just in time for my staff working lunch!  Marinated Tomato Bruschetta
See earlier blog posting on marinated tomatoes. Strawberry Bruschetta Ingredients: 4 thick slices bread 6 tablespoons light brown sugar 3 cups sliced or diced hulled strawberries 4 tablespoons mascarpone, (Italian cream cheese) I used cream cheese Instructions: Prepare the toasted bread. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over high heat. Add sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice and cook, stirring, until the sugar melts and the mixture begins to bubble, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add strawberries and stir until juices begin to exude and the berries are heated through, 30 seconds to 1 minute more. Spread 1 tablespoon mascarpone on each piece of toast. Top with the warm berries. Pea and Parmesan Bruschetta Ingredients: 6 slices of baguette bread 1 garlic clove 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas, thawed Kosher salt 1 T. extra-virgin olive oil Shaved Parmesan Torn mint A few drops of balsamic vinegar Instructions: Grill bread and rub with garlic clove. Blanch peas in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender, about 2 minutes for fresh peas and 1 minute for frozen. Drain peas; transfer to a bowl. Season with kosher salt and extra-virgin olive oil and mash with the back of a fork. Spread about 1 tablespoon mixture over each toast. Garnish with shaved Parmesan, torn mint, and a few drops of balsamic vinegar. |
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