No one finishes the Thanksgiving meal.
There are always containers of... remaining food.
What to do? Dump everything in a pot and call it soup? YUCK.
Instead of thinking of The L Word as some "used" food you need to get rid of... I think of "them" as if I have a sous chef who's already started preparing things for me to use. Meats and vegetables can go into sauces, stuffings, "cakes," stews to top pastas or polenta... Or mashed potatoes can top Shepherd's Pie... or they can thicken soups.
A salad can be added to cooked greens. A piece of cooked salmon is the base for a great salmon salad... a salmon cake... or hash. And though hash has a reputation as a dumping ground for "remains," with a little care it can be better than the original dish!
If you have a little bit of sauce left from a meat dish, add it to some day-old rice for a totally new side. All it takes is a little imagination, and these "pre-prepared" treasures are just advanced mise en place!
So... I'm starting a campaign to remove the word "leftovers" from the language... Too Much Baggage.
From now on it's "THE L WORD," (with apologies to my dear friends in the Lesbian community)...
...Or The Remains of the Day!
(Originally posted on November 26, 2012)