Leftovers | onedadskitchen

Making Use of That Leftover Lamb – Sort of Lamb Shawarma

Okay, now that you have made this delightfully tasty but quite large leg of lamb from yesterday’s recipe, what the heck do you do with any leftovers? Sure you can make shepherd’s pie, which I have done in the past, and it is quite a tasty dish in its own right and makes good use of leftovers, but I wanted to try something different. There really aren’t a ton of uses for leftover lamb and it can get kind of tough and chewy if it is overcooked as it is, so I wanted to find something a little out of the ordinary that would not require a great deal of cook time for the lamb pieces. I received a cookbook, The Make-Ahead Cook, by America’s Test Kitchen, that came to my rescue right away. They had the solution of what to try with leftover lamb that I had never considered before – lamb shawarma. You have likely had or seen lamb shawarma at a Turkish or Mediterranean restaurant at some point in the past as you see this mass of meat rotating on a vertical rotisserie and the meat is gently sliced off from there to produce your dish.This recipe attempts to recreate the taste of that dish with the use of leftovers and a trusty skillet to get you through, and makes a really great yogurt-tahini sauce to go with it.

Lamb Shawarma

For the Yogurt-Tahini Sauce

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons tahini

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Shawarma:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 pound cooked lamb, sliced thin (about 1 3/4 cups)

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Salt and pepper

4 (6-inch) pita breads, warmed

2 cups chopped iceberg or romaine lettuce

2 plum tomatoes, cored and chopped

2 shallots, sliced thin

For the yogurt-tahini sauce. combine the yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, parsley, garlic and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a bowl. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste, cover the bowl and refrigerate it until you are serving the meal.

For the lamb shawarma, Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick skillet set over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the cumin, coriander, and cardamom and cook, stirring constantly, until the spices are fragrant and just beginning to brown, about 1 minute (be careful not to burn the spices!). Add the sliced lamb, breaking up any clumps, and cook until the lamb is just beginning to crisp, about 2 to 3 minutes. Take the skillet off the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of the minced parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spread 1/4 cup of the yogurt-tahini sauce in the center of each warmed pita, then divide the lamb mixture evenly among the pitas. Top each pita with some of the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, lettuce, tomatoes and shallots. Wrap the pitas around the filling and serve.

This was really tasty and only took a few minutes to put together completely. The lamb gets barely any re-heating at all, just enough to get it hot and crisp, and it tastes great with all of those great Mediterranean spices that you use in the mix. Place it on a warm pita with the yogurt sauce and it was fantastic. I have to admit I was a little worried that Michelle and Sean would not go for it but we all loved it and gobbled it down pretty easily. This will certainly be my go to dish for leftover lamb from now on. I did add some diced cucumber to the toppings of the pita to mix it all in for a bit of coolness and freshness to go along with the dish, and you could serve this simply with a side of rice or a side salad and have a great meal for lunch or dinner.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on January 13, 2015 in Cooking, Dinner, Lamb, Leftovers, Lunch, Sandwiches, Sauce

Tags: americas test kitchen, homemade lamb shawarma, lamb shawarma, lamb shawarma recipe, leftover lamb, the Make-Ahead Cook, uses for leftover lamb, yogurt-tahini sauce

Thanksgiving Recipes Across the United States – NYTimes.com

19 Nov

Thanksgiving Recipes Across the United States – NYTimes.com.

The New York Times used their Food section of the newspaper and online today to post a particular recipe related to Thanksgiving for each of the 50 states and Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. This gives you a chance to try a lot of new things for your Thanksgiving this year or try something from your home state that you may never have thought of before. Check it out!

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Posted by MikeG on November 19, 2014 in Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dinner, Fruit, Gravy, Holidays, Leftovers, Potatoes, Poultry, Rice, Side Dishes, Turkey, Vegetables

Tags: New York Times Cooking, New York Times Thanksgiving recipes across the United States, NYT Cooking, Thanksgiving recipes, Thanksgiving recipes across the United States, Thanksgiving recipes from each US state

A One Skillet Fall Favorite – Skillet Chicken Pot Pie with Butternut Squash

14 Nov

I had made quite a bit of chicken early in the week and needed to come up with something else to make with it this week so it didn’t go to waste. One of my favorite standby dishes that is a great way to use some leftovers is to make some type of pot pie. you can pretty much put anything in a pot pie and have any type of protein or just vegetables and some type of gravy on the inside and then top it off with some type of crust to make your pie. I had seen this recipe on Bon Appetit’s website recently that makes the whole pie in a cast iron skillet and makes use of a couple of different vegetables in a pot pie that I haven’t tried before – butternut squash and kale. Now we are not big kale eaters in my house – I don’t really care for the bitterness of it and I would much rather have spinach, which I happened to have on hand, so instead of going out to buy kale, I substituted spinach instead.

Skillet Chicken Pot Pie with Butternut Squash

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup frozen white pearl onions, thawed

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

1 small bunch kale, center ribs and stems removed, leaves chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 cups chicken broth

1/2 small butternut squash, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 rotisserie chicken, meat torn into bite-size pieces, or 1 1/2 cups leftover chicken, torn into pieces

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 egg

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven; preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Heat the olive oil in an 8-inch cast-iron or other heavy ovenproof skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the pearl onions. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to brown, about 4 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the garlic and the sage to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic begins to brown, about 2 minutes. Add the kale and season it with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing the kale often, until the kale is wilted, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring constantly, for 4 minutes.

Stir in the chicken broth a 1/2-cupful at a time, then add the butternut squash. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the squash is just softened and the broth is thickened, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the chicken pieces to the skillet, stir and season with salt and pepper.

Unfold the puff pastry and smooth any creases. Place the puff pastry over the skillet, allowing the corners to hang over the sides of the skillet. Whisk the egg and 1 teaspoon of water in a small bowl. Brush the pastry with the egg wash and cut four 1-inch slits on the top of the pastry to vent it.

Bake the pot pie until the pastry is beginning to brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake the pot pie until the pastry is a deep golden brown and crisp, about 15 to 20 minutes longer. Let the pot pie cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This is a great one pot dish that gets done in under an hour and uses your leftovers really well. I enjoyed the addition of the spinach and the squash instead of having just carrots and potatoes in the mix. I also added some peas to the mix that I had and I ended up using regular pie crust instead of puff pastry, mainly because I did not have any puff pastry on hand that night. I think the puff pastry would be perfect since it is lighter and flakier, but the pie crust did the job nicely. This is definitely an easy one that you want to make use of again and would be just as good with beef as it is with chicken.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on November 14, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Leftovers, One Pot Meals, Poultry

Tags: bon appetit, Bon Appetit chicken pot pie with butternut squash, butternut squash, chicken pot pie, chicken pot pie with butternut squash, pot pie recipe

Stir it Up With a Crispy Garlic Chicken Stir Fry

13 Nov

When life gets hectic around the homestead I usually turn to making a stir fry for dinner. it is often the easiest thing to putt together in a short amount of time, doesn’t typically use a lot of ingredients and can be made basically with whatever you happen to have on hand, including any leftovers you want to try to use. Such was the case yesterday and when I had lot going on all day, Michelle was working late and I just needed something easy that I could put on the table fast. I decided to make use of this recipe that I had seen at Savory Nothings for a crispy garlic chicken that I decided to turn into a very easy stir fry when I included some leftover green beans, a couple of sliced peppers and some shallot.

Crispy Garlic Chicken Stir Fry

For the Sauce:

3 cloves garlic, minced

6 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons barbecue sauce

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1/2 cup water

For the Chicken and Vegetables:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1/2 cup flour

3 eggs

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Vegetable oil, for frying

1 cup green beans, fresh or frozen (trimmed if fresh)

1-2 small bell peppers, any color, seeded and sliced into rounds

1 shallot, diced

To make the sauce, add the minced garlic, honey, soy sauce, barbecue sauce, fish sauce, white wine vinegar and the water together in a small saucepan set over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the sauce until it begins to thicken, about 4 to 5 minutes. Set the sauce aside until the chicken is ready.

To make the chicken, pat the chicken dry with paper towels. In a shallow dish, add the flour. Whisk the eggs together in a second dish and place the breadcrumbs in a third shallow dish. To bread the chicken, first coat the chicken pieces in the flour, then dip the chicken pieces in the egg, shaking off any excess, and then dip the chicken in the breadcrumbs to coat them. Set the chicken pieces aside on a platter until all of the chicken is coated.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add two tablespoons of the vegetable oil and heat the oil until it is shimmering. Add the chicken, cooking in batches so you do not overcrowd the pan, and cook the chicken for 6 to 8 minutes, until it is cooked through on the inside and golden and crispy on the outside.

Once all the chicken has been cooked, add the green beans, peppers and shallot to the skillet and saute the vegetables until they are heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the chicken back to the skillet with the vegetables and then coat the contents of the skillet with the garlic sauce. Toss all the ingredients with the sauce until everything is well coated and cook until the sauce has thickened to a syrupy consistency, about 2 minutes. Pour the contents of the skillet into a bowl or on a serving platter and serve.

Quick, simple and it all comes together in under 25 minutes. The sauce was perfect, just like your favorite sauce from your local Chinese restaurant, nice and thick and full of garlic and sweetness. You could really add any vegetables you like to this right at the end; I just happen to have green beans and peppers on hand but I think broccoli and baby corn would go really well with this as well. I served it simply with some white rice and we had a very easy meal to enjoy after a busy day.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on November 13, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Leftovers, Poultry, Sauce, Stir Fry

Tags: chicken stir fry recipe, crispy garlic chicken, crispy garlic chicken stir fry, garlic chicken, garlic sauce, Savory Nothings, stir fry recipes

Thanksgiving: Recipes, Tips, Menus and Techniques | SAVEUR

07 Nov

Thanksgiving: Recipes, Tips, Menus and Techniques | SAVEUR.

With Michelle’s birthday this weekend, I have a lot of planning, prep work and regular work to do so I’ll be posting some great links for Thanksgiving ideas from some popular websites, such as this one:

It’s never too early to start planning out your Thanksgiving menu and Saveur magazine has you covered with lots of great recipes, tips, menus you can make, techniques to help you and videos to watch to help you with everything from gravy to carving the turkey to leftovers. Check it out!

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Posted by MikeG on November 7, 2014 in Cooking, Cooking Tips, Cooking Websites, Dessert, Dinner, Gravy, Holidays, Leftovers, Potatoes, Poultry, Salad, Side Dishes, Turkey, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Tags: Saveur, Saveur magazine, Saveur Thanksgiving recipes and tips, techniques to help with Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving dinner, Thanksgiving ideas, Thanksgiving menu, Thanksgiving menus, Thanksgiving tips and recipes

Fall Soups and Stews – Photo Gallery | SAVEUR

01 Nov

Fall Soups and Stews – Photo Gallery | SAVEUR.

It is definitely that time of year when my attention (and perhaps yours) turns to warm, comforting meals like soups and stews. These make great tasting, nourishing meals that are perfect for you to make any time, like on the weekend to get ready to have for lunches or dinner during the week. Saveur Magazine has put together 60 soup and stew recipes so you can try just about anything that you like. Check it out!

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Posted by MikeG on November 1, 2014 in Beans, Beef, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dinner, Leftovers, Lunch, One Pot Meals, Pantry, Pasta, Pork, Potatoes, Poultry, Produce, Rice, Seafood, Slow Cooker Meals, Soups & Stews, Turkey, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Tags: 60 soup and stew recipes, 60 soup and stew recipes for fall, Fall soups and stews, Saveur 60 fall soups and stews, Saveur magazine, soup and stew recipes for fall, soup recipes, stew recipes

Got Leftovers? Make This Chicken and Rice Casserole with Lemon and Parmesan

07 Oct

More often than not we have one meal a week that I just call Leftovers Night. The night is either a hodgepodge of different things that have been leftover from various meals re-heated separately or, if the ingredients go well together, some type of stir fry, hash or casserole for dinner. When we had some leftover vegetables and a rotisserie chicken in the fridge the other day, it seemed to be crying out to be made into some type of casserole and I had seen this recipe from America’s Test Kitchen for a chicken and rice casserole recently and found this was the perfect opportunity to give it a try.

Chicken and Rice Casserole with Lemon and Parmesan

2 tablespoons butter

2 carrots, peeled and sliced thin

1 onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press

1 cup long-grain white rice

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

1/2 bunch asparagus, tough ends trimmed, cut into 1-inch lengths

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

1 tablespoon minced fresh tarragon leaves

25 Ritz crackers, crushed to coarse crumbs (about 1 cup) or crunchy bread crumbs

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet set over medium-high heat until the foaming subsides. Add the carrots and the onions and cook until the vegetables are lightly browned, about 6 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the rice and stir until the rice is evenly coated. Add the water, chicken stock, heavy cream, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and bring the mixture to a simmer. Turn the heat down to low, cover the skillet and cook, stirring often, until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid and is just tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Stir in the cooked chicken, the asparagus, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice and the tarragon and season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish and sprinkle the Ritz cracker crumbs over the top to coat the top of the casserole. Bake the casserole until the topping is browned, about 10 to 12 minutes. Allow the casserole to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

This recipe makes great use of all kinds of leftovers and comes together nicely to form a one pot dish filled with chicken, rice and vegetables. The chicken stock and heavy cream create a nice sauce that goes throughout the dish and you get a hint of the lemon and the cheese in each bite. I really liked using the Ritz crackers as topping as well and it gave some added buttery flavor and crunch to the dish. This would work well with any type of leftover chicken or turkey and you can put it all together in under 40 minutes, making it great for a weeknight and for easy clean up.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on October 7, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Leftovers, One Pot Meals, Poultry

Tags: America's Test Kitchen chicken and rice casserole with lemon and Parmesan, americas test kitchen, chicken and rice casserole, chicken and rice casserole with lemon and Parmesan, chicken casserole, leftover vegetables, one pot meals, Ritz crackers, rotisserie chicken

Why Not Wednesday – Flank Steak on Ciabatta with Red Peppers

01 Oct

Sometimes appetizers can make the best meals for dinner, particularly on a weeknight when you may have run out of ideas of what to make, just want something quick and easy or are trying to make use of some leftovers so that you can clear the fridge, make a quick meal and get something tasty. This recipe from New York Times Cooking can do all of those things depending on the ingredients you choose to use. The original recipe is for a grilled flank steak on ciabatta bread with red peppers. I did modify my version slightly, using some leftover steak that we had from one meal and instead of the chopped red peppers I substituted some jarred roasted red peppers I had in the fridge. I think it came out just as well as the original recipe sounds, but I will post the original recipe here for you to use.

Grilled Flank Steak on Ciabatta with Red Peppers

1 1 3/4 to 2-pound flank steak

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons black olive tapenade

1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 red onion, coarsely chopped

4 garlic cloves, slivered

2 large red bell peppers, cored and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 large loaf of ciabatta bread, halved horizontally

Smear the flank steak with 2 tablespoons of the extra-virgin olive oil and massage the smoked paprika into the steak. Season the steak with salt and pepper and set the steak aside. Combine 1 1/2 tablespoons of the black olive tapenade with the chopped parsley and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and set it aside.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a large skillet. Add the red onion and saute the onion over medium heat until it is soft, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute briefly, then add the red peppers. Reduce the heat to low and saute the vegetables gently until they are very tender, about 30 minutes. Stir the mixture occasionally. Stir in the red wine and the remaining black olive tapenade then remove the mixture from the heat.

Heat a gas grill to hot, or alternatively heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. When the pepper mixture is done, place the steak on the grill or the grill pan and sear the steak, about 2 to 3 minutes per side for medium-rare. The timing may differ depending on the thickness of the steak that you use, so you can make a diagonal cut at one end of the steak to check the doneness.

Transfer the steak to a cutting board and place the ciabatta halves, cut side down, on the grill to toast. Alternatively, you can place the ciabatta halves on a baking sheet under the broiler. Watch the bread closely to avoid burning and heat for about 2 minutes on the grill or 3 to 4 minutes under the broiler. Smear the toasted ciabatta with the reserved tapenade and parsley mixture. Slice the steak thin on the bias and arrange the steak slices atop the toasted ciabatta. Reheat the pepper mixture and spoon it on top of the steak. Cut each ciabatta half in six pieces, arrange on a platter and serve.

This is a pretty quick meal to put together if you take some shortcuts. As I said, I had some leftover steak from an earlier meal that I sliced thinly and quickly heated in a grill pan. I used roasted red peppers and some baby yellow peppers I had on hand along with the red onion and instead of using tapenade (which Michelle doesn’t like and I didn’t have on hand), I used some sliced black olives and sliced Kalamata olives in its place and it worked out quite nicely. We had this for dinner along with some rice and vegetables, but this could also be a great item for an appetizer or even for a buffet table if you are having a party. You can put it all together pretty easily and have a nice spread. I really liked the taste of the steak mixed with the olives, onions and peppers and put that all on top of some crunchy ciabatta and it was pretty awesome.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on October 1, 2014 in Appetizers, Beef, Cooking, Dinner, Grilling, Leftovers

Tags: black olive tapenade, ciabatta bread, grilled flank steak, grilled flank steak on ciabatta with red peppers, new york times, NYT Cooking, red peppers

From Butternut Squash to Faux Pho, Soups to Make This Season – Bon Appétit

19 Sep

From Butternut Squash to Faux Pho, Soups to Make This Season – Bon Appétit. As the fall weather gets closer and closer I start to think more about making some, warm,comforting meals for dinner. This very often includes making an array of different types of soup that are perfect for the season and are great for dinners, lunches and leftovers. Bon Appetit has put together 31 soups that are great for this time of year. Take a look at the recipes and find your favorite one to try. Check it out!

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Posted by MikeG on September 19, 2014 in Beans, Beef, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dinner, Leftovers, Lunch, One Pot Meals, Pasta, Pork, Poultry, Rice, Slow Cooker Meals, Soups & Stews

Tags: 31 soup recipes, 31 soup recipes for fall, bon appetit, Bon Appetit 31 soup recipes for fall, soup recipes, Soups, soups to make for the fall

A Fast Dinner on Friday (or Any Day) – Chicken Fried Rice

29 Aug

Sometimes you just want a meal that you know you can pull together in just a few minutes and without much of fuss. Maybe you can even make use of some of those leftover items you have in the fridge for the last few days and don’t really know what to do with them. That is when a meal like this can really come in handy. Making any type of stir fry is always a great way to use items, and having fried rice is always a favorite, but sometimes you would like the flavor without having the extra oil and fat involved in frying the rice itself. This recipe for chicken fried rice is originally from Food Republic, but I did modify it just a little to make it fit better with what I had on hand and what we like. It is still just as easy and tasty.

Chicken Fried Rice

2 cups long-grain riced, cooked and cooled completely

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

4 scallions, finely sliced

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 green pepper, seeded and cut into strips

1 red pepper, seeded and cut into strips

1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced

4 ounces green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/3 cup frozen peas, defrosted

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken (breast or thigh), diced or cut into thin strips

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 tablespoons chicken broth

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce

1/2 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a shallow baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper. Turn the rice out onto the parchment paper, breaking up any lumps, and spray the surface with the nonstick vegetable oil. Place the pan in the oven and cook the rice for 12 minutes, it should be crisp on the surface. Season the rice to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and set the pan aside to keep the rice warm.

Meanwhile, in a large, nonstick skillet with a good coating of vegetable or canola oil set over high heat, fry the scallions, green pepper, red pepper, onions, carrot and green beans for about 2 minutes, stirring continuously until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Add the peas and the chicken and fry to give the chicken a little color and cook it through, about 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle over the brown sugar and then add the rice, breaking up any lumps along the way. Add the chicken broth, soy sauce and chili sauce and mix to blend everything well. Stir fry everything for about 3 to 4 minutes. Toss in the cilantro and serve.

Of course, as with any stir fry you can add just about any type of vegetable or protein that you like or have on hand. This would work well with shrimp, pork, beef or even just with the vegetables if you like. The rice does come out nice and crisp without having to deal with all of the frying of it. You do want to make sure that the rice is dry before you put it in the oven so that it doesn’t just steam once it is in there. The whole dish comes together very easily, gives you a great one pot meal and has some great flavor with the chicken stock, chili sauce and soy sauce. This is an easy one you can use anytime.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!