Corned Beef Hash

I like corned beef and cabbage, but what I really like is the corned beef hash you get to make the next day. Lots of work for a plate of hash, but sometimes you just have to do it.
















Obtain your corned brisket. Don't get one with a spice packet, get one that's vacuum sealed with the spices pressed into the meat. Cover with water, and simmer for at least 3 hours.

Appetizing, isn't it?
















This next pic isn't any more delicious-looking, huh?
















Let the brisket cool, then slice against the grain. While the meat's cooling, throw some quartered red potatoes into the water and boil until tender. Remove the potatoes, then add chopped carrot, celery and onion, and boil until tender. Remove those, then add cabbage wedges, and boil to your desired doneness.
















No, there's no cabbage in the picture. 'Cause I forgot about it until I walked by the cutting board and saw the wedges. Doh!

Anyway, on to the hash. Next day, chop up a little of everything into bite-size pieces. Heat a skillet, spray with a little cooking spray (you could use butter or oil), and fry until you start getting crusty bits.

Top with an over-easy egg and some hot sauce.
















Is it worth 4 hours of active cooking and an overnight rest just for a plate of this? Yes, definitely.

Faux Chilaquiles

Wow. This is the best thing I've made all year. Wait, this is the only thing I've made this year. But still. This was freakin' awesome.

I took the last of the leftover carnitas that MIL made, and shredded it. Fried it in a dry skillet until crispy, dumped it onto a plate. At the same time, I "scrambled" an egg, the way Hubby likes it - crack the egg into the pan, cook until almost set, poke the yoke, flip, cook a little more until the yolk isn't runny, remove from the heat.

In the skillet used to crisp the carnitas, I heated up some of MIL's homemade chile sauce, then tossed in some tortilla chips to soften in the sauce. Throw in the pork and the chopped up "scrambled" egg, flip and toss for a few seconds. At the last second, because Hubby asked "where's the cheese?", I chopped up a stick of string cheese, and added that, flipped and tossed some more.

End result? Little bits of crispy pork, some soft tortilla chips, some still crispy, gooey bits of cheese and egg throughout, all coated with a spicy sauce. Amazing. I love spur-of-the-moment 10pm snacks.

Meatloaf Sandwich

MIL made meatloaf the other day, and since she always cooks for an army, we of course had leftovers. Here's my favorite way to have leftover meatloaf:
















Toast bread, fry egg, heat meatloaf, melt cheese, assemble. Serve with hot sauce and a beer.

Turkey, Cabbage, and Rice Soup

I hope you made turkey stock from your leftover bird. Even if you didn't, you can use chicken broth to make this soup, or even water with a bouillon cube or two.

For the rice, I used Camargue red rice. Brown or wild rice would also work well. I'll bet barley or wheatberries would be tasty also.

This soup is great as a sort of de-tox, nothing heavy like stuffing, potatoes, etc. Just soup. With veggies. It's good for you.















Slice carrots and celery, chop onion, mince garlic. Saute until slightly softened. Add stock and chopped up leftover turkey, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until the veggies are almost as soft as you want them. Add chopped cabbage and cooked rice, and simmer until the cabbage is wilted. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

Stuffing and Ham Hash

For my first post-Thanksgiving leftovers meal, I made a simple hash of leftover stuffing and chopped ham, topped with a runny egg (of course).
















I think I love leftovers more than the meal.

Quesadilla from Leftovers

or, How Hunger and Blogging Don't Mix

I was absolutely starving when I got home from work today. The quickest way to eat something tasty was to make a quesadilla out of the leftovers from taco night.

Oh, taco night...let's back up a minute:

Sunday night we had friends over. MIL made tacos, rice and beans. Sounds boring, right? Not so! She seasoned & cooked ground beef, adding a shredded potato to keep it thick (who knew?). Then she fried corn tortillas in oil about halfway, drained them, stuffed with a little meat, then fried the rest of the way. I thought frying the 2nd time with the meat would result in greasy-nasty beef, but it didn't. Trays of tacos were served with green onion, tomato, cilantro & onion, and shredded cheese (and homemade chili, of course). Spanish rice and pinto beans for sides. It made for a pleasant Sunday evening with friends, slightly dampened by the fact that we all got tired early 'cause we ate too much.

Now, back to the present:

Of course, there were leftovers, 'cause MIL cooks for an army, even if there's no army present. So tonight's quesadilla went as follows:

1. Spread beans, ground beef, and cheese on one half of a flour tortilla.
2. Toast in a skillet until crunchy on the outside and melty-gooey on the inside. (Geez, I sound like a Taco Bell commercial, sorry.)
3. Remove from skillet, open quesadilla, add tomatoes, green onions, and chili sauce, close quesadilla.
4. Eat.
5. Remember to take a picture only after the plate is empty.

But it's ok, I'm sure there'll be a "next time", hopefully one in which I remember to take a picture.

Kick Butt Leftover Nachos

I had some chicken and some black bean sauce leftover from yesterday's dinner, and decided the best way to put them to use was to make nachos.

Like I've said earlier, I like fussy fiddly cooking, so just layering some chips in a tray and randomly scattering stuff over them just isn't happening in my kitchen.

I spread out a layer of chips, topped each one with a dab of bean sauce, a piece of diced leftover chicken, a piece of tomato, a couple green onion slices, and half a black olive slice. Shredded cheddar was then semi-randomly scattered on top (but ensuring complete coverage, of course). Then another layer of chips with their accompaniments, then another layer. The whole thing baked at 350 for about 10 minutes, enough to melt the cheese and heat everything up.

We ate right out of the dish, each of us picking up a chip in turn, patiently waiting for the Tapatio bottle to be passed. Straight out of the dish, no plates, but at least we had napkins and sat at the table. All of us were extremely happy with dinner. All four food groups, a little crunchy, a little squishy, a little salty.

Reaffirms my opinion that sometimes leftovers are better than a recipe.

Post #52 - Post-Christmas Leftovers

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Our dinner consisted of tamales (from Tamales Ancira in Escondido), chili verde, and adobo.

Which brings up a question - do you put tomato sauce in your adobo? My husband's great-grandfather was Filipino, and put tomato sauce in his. But every recipe I've seen online (save one) is tomato-sauce-less. I'm thinking it's a Mexican influence, since the other part of my husband's family is Mexican. Then there's the names - adobado is Mexican, adobo is Filipino. Anyone have any ideas?

Post #39 - Leftovers!

Turkey
Stuffing
Celeriac / Parsley Root / Potato gratin

Chop it all up, throw in a skillet, salt & pepper.

Serve on toast (rye is especially good) with hot sauce and an over-easy egg.

We had this for both lunch and dinner, and no pictures. It was that good.