The Magic of Leftovers

 

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I hate leftovers. Yeah, yeah, there's just something so anticlimactic about popping a container and microwaving the sad remnants of yesterday's dinner. However, I love leftover magic. Taking bits and bites of the left-over, the sad, and the forgotten and turning them into something delicious just makes me feel like a kitchen witch of the most benevolent variety. 

This, for example, was last night's supper, a twist on beans and toast. The main cast members:

• Leftover Beans 
• leftover stuffing (not from the same night as the beans)
• the Heels of the bread
• half a shallot
• the last, sad, wilted stick of celery

The same night I packed up my leftover navy beans, I set them up in a marinade of olive oil, with some cilantro, salt, pepper, and the finely chopped celery and shallot. Side note: you'd be surprised how much adding 'half of this' or 'the last of that' really can bulk up what looks to be a meager amount of food! I just used what I had - if I'd had a carrot and some bell pepper and parsley, perhaps I would have used that instead. 

The stuffing was just the breadcrumbs, cheese, and bacon bits I used on our stuffed chicken breasts from a few nights ago. I toasted my bread, topped it with my warmed-up beans and toasted stuffing, and finished it off with a few green onions and some Pickapeppa sauce. It was delish!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with mushrooms, brown butter and pistachios, made from leftover sweet potatoes!

 

Leftovers, to me, is absolutely a homesteading practice because of two things: 1) bulk shopping, which saves money but also means eating a lot of the same food, and 2) reducing food waste by using what you have on hand. 

Here are some leftover tips to enhance your wizardry:

• Pack foods separately: For example, for pork and beans night, I didn't dump the extra meat in with the beans. Yes, it uses more containers but it gives you more flexibility for later. Side note: I always use re-usable containers!
• Marinate, or Quick-Pickle: this is especially good if you want to change up the flavors from one night to the next. Good candidates for a little extra marinade are meats, beans, and cooked veggies. Raw vegetables (avoid lettuces and other soft leaf veggies) can benefit immensely from a bath in vinegar, sugar, and salt. 
• Change up the consistency: this is my favorite thing to do with potatoes, and leftover meats (especially seafood). Mash or shred your leftovers, add some spices, breadcrumbs, and eggs, and/or finely chopped veg, and fry up some patties. Salmon cakes, potato fritters, etc. You can do this with grains too, though it is a little fussier. 
• Change the flavor profile: especially good to do with plain-cooked grains like rice, quinoa, or couscous. Instead of making another savory dinner side, warm up your leftovers with butter, milk, and sugar and have yourself some dessert instead. Add cinnamon, vanilla, maple, nuts, dried fruit. 

• Change up the "packaging": sometimes I like to bust out my hand-pie makers* and go for pierogis, dumplings, empanadas, etc. You can make the dough from scratch or just use pre-bought pie dough or wonton wrappers. This is a great idea if you feel like you have barely enough food to go around. Leftovers make for great fillings!
• Search your drawers and shelves: do you have half a serving of pasta left? a pepper starting to go a bit wrinkly? what about that lone piece of bread someone left behind? Make use of what you have and see how creatively you can incorporate it into your feast. 
• Add a fresh component: Did you have chicken and peas yesterday? How about Chicken and broccoli today? Or throw both into a fresh salad? I guess I don't have any sort of genius reason for this one, I just like the fact that I'm not eating 100% of yesterday's food!

If you'd like some leftovers inspiration, there's a few books I've enjoyed that you might too.  

• An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler - "Cooking with Economy and Grace" - this book does focus on leftovers and reducing food waste. Tamar's voice comes through really strong, so you'll either love it or, well, you won't, but there's a LOT of good ideas and advice.
• How To Cook a Wolf by M.F.K. Fisher, a truly vintage take on creativity within confines. Dated, somewhat (published in 1942), and not exactly focused on leftovers per se, but a gem and a classic nonetheless. Tamar's book draws heavily on this one for inspiration.
• Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler. Solely in the inspiration category, this one. Not a lot of practical leftovers advice, but highly entertaining and motivating! 

* DISCLAIMER: I am NOT compensated for any links in this post, nor affiliated with any retailers, publishers, or products.