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Leftovers

Let me just start by saying I ****ing love leftovers.  I have so many friends who actually throw out whatever they don't that evening.  I have never and will never understand it. Forget the monetary and ethical aspects of the disgrace, but what lost opportunities.  A few pantry items or maybe one or two ingredients and you have a completely different meal.  It got me thinking to the last few weeks, where I've been buying similar items, but making them into something else.  The best part is, the dinner you had the night before can become the best breakfast and vice versa.

Last night, I made some linguine with white clam sauce.  It was a very simple sauce. I cooked some onions and garlic until translucent and then added the chopped clams.  A little parsley, red pepper flakes and topped with some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and I was good to go. I didn't use white wine, because I like the briny taste of the juice from the clams.  Now, as could be expected, I ate most of the clams, despite eating only half of the amount I made.  So today, I had half of the remainder for lunch.  Not having prosciutto, I cut two strips of bacon into tiny bits and when they were done, I poured out most of the grease and added the pasta to the dish.  The pasta took over a little of the flavor, but with bacon in every bite, it was wonderful and completely different.  I decided not to let the leftovers sit, because of the clams and decided to finish it off for dinner.  There wasn't enough "meat" for it to be a real meal and I worried that the 24 hours in the fridge might have zapped some of the garlic flavor.  I melted some butter and started to saute some diced garlic, then chopped a tomato and added that to the pan. I added the pasta and sprinkled some dried oregano.  Literally 3 minutes from the start and I'm eating a completely different meal from the other two, with basically the same ingredients.  Another trick, when you want a nice meaty pasta dish is to do half clams, half mushrooms.  The textures are similar and the mushrooms soak up all of the clams flavors.  Four possible meals from one.

I also love having a burger at home.  Chicken, turkey or beef, it doesn't matter.  So I buy a lb of ground meat and make my burger.  I seal and store the remaining meat and then I have enough for a substantial meal.  I love crumbling it in a pan and using it for tacos, heavily season with cumin and smoked paprika, adding lettuce, tomato and avocado, with various toppings such as cheese, salsa and sour cream.  Sometimes I'll bake a potato and then stuff the potato with the meat and small can of corn and peas.  Instant unbaked shepherd's pie.  Sorry, no Chef's Sauce my Irish friends.

I eat pan grilled chicken cutlets more than I care to admit. I usually do something like tacos or top the meat with some sauce, usually a combination of odd things in my fridge, but I always have a ton leftover, usually already cooked, so I usually take a fork and shred the remainder, adding some Sriracha and packets of duck sauce, which works (with a little seasonings) as a bastardized BBQ sauce.  This is great by itself or on a sandwich.  Of course, sometimes I just add some mayo and a little mustard and make chicken salad.  Great for some lettuce wraps, with sliced tomato.

These are all completely silly in a way, but it's the versatility which keeps the go-to average, home alone meal take on a different light.  Obviously there are times when I make something a little "fancier," but the next value decreases, because those dishes can't really be doctored.  Fancy is always nice, but to be completely honest, there is nothing I eat that makes me happier than a nice loaf of bread, a slathering of mayo, Sriracha, lettuce, tomato, red onion and avocado....that's it.  But of course that makes a pretty nice salad, burger topping or taco accouterments.

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