Cooking with Leftovers / Principal Chef

Fried Rice

I love fried rice. For us, it’s not a side dish. It’s a one bowl meal. The key is thinking a little bit ahead and having some one to three-day old rice in the fridge. If you keep some shrimp (Trader Joe’s Argentinian) in your freezer, or if you have some crab (Costco) in your fridge, you are ready. Take stuff that’s already in your fridge, freezer, and pantry, add some cooked rice from the night before, and go out there and be a fried rice hero!

Ingredients

3 cups White Rice, Leftover and Chilled

1 Onion, diced

6 Garlic Cloves

2 tsp Ginger, Minced(I usually don't have ginger, or ginger paste, but it's nice when I do)

2 cups Diced Vegetables (Peas, Carrots, Broccoli, Celery, Anything you like!)

2 Eggs, beaten

⅓ cup Soy Sauce or Tamari Sauce for less sodium

2 tsp Sesame Oil

1 tbsp Black Pepper(That's not a typo – Black Pepper is KEY for this dish!)

2 Green onions, for garnish

3 tbsp Cooking Oil – Canola or Peanut

1 lb Cooked Crab/Shrimp/Sausage/Pulled Pork/Chicken/Tofu or anything leftover that’s tasty!

Directions

I start by making a super thin omelette, taking it off the heat, and slicing into 1/4″ slivers to mix in the fried rice later. Set aside or refrigerate.

Chop your vegetables!

Create your mixture – Soy Sauce, Pepper, Sesame Oil

Add 1 Tbsp Canola oil to wok or pan. Sauté Onions for five minutes, then vegetables for 5 more, or until they’re just the way you like them. Take out of wok or pan and set aside.

Put 2 Tbsp Canola Oil in wok/pan with heat on high. Add rice and let it sizzle for 4-5 minutes. Use a spoon or spatula to make sure it does not stick, but do not stir. You’re trying to make it a little crispy. Add soy mixture, stir, and mix well.

Add everything except the egg. Stir in and heat. Again, let sit instead of constantly stirring.

Blend in the cooked egg at the very end and serve! Have extra soy sauce and some Thai Chili Garlic sauce or Sriracha sauce for those who like it hot.

Stir Fry with Spicy Tangerine Sauce

We love this recipe and the roasted garlic sauce one too. Sometimes for a larger crowd we will make both sauces and it feels like we’re at a restaurant, where our guests can choose one or the other.

The recipe is from the Hot Wok cookbook by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sanderson. The crispy tofu comes from Honga Im Hopwood’s cookbook.

Ingredients

Sauce Ingedients

1 tsp Tangerine Zest (Orange works too!)

⅓ cup Tangerine or Orange Juice (Use the fruit you zested)

¼ cup Rice Wine (or dry sherry)

2 tbsp Oyster Sauce

1 tbsp Hoison Sauce

1 tbsp Sesame Oil

2 tsp Chile Garlic Sauce

2 tsp Cornstarch

1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

RIce

1 cup Rice

Protein and Veggies

0.50 lb Tofu, Chicken Breast, Meat (Leftovers are great here!)

2 Veggies of your choice (Carrots, Spinach, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Green Beans, Snap Peas, etc.)

Directions

Preparing the Sauce

Mix all of the sauce ingredients together. Set aside or refrigerate for 2-3 days

Cooking the Rice

Make the rice the way you make rice – Rice cooker, stove top, microwave – I don’t judge. I make rice on the stove top using the recipe for Sheri’s Spanish Rice. For Asian foods, I take out the taco sauce and keep the rest of the recipe the same.

Preparing the Veggies and Protein

If you’re making tofu – make it crisp. Take 3/4 cup cornstarch and mix in 2 Tbsp of Black Pepper. Cut the tofu into cubes, Dry with paper towels. Roll it in the cornstarch and sauté in vegetable/canola oil until crisp on all sides. It’s super tasty!

Otherwise, cook a chicken breast or sirloin steak and slice.

Rotisserie chicken is spectacular here.

Leftovers are awesome too!

Choose your veggies and sauté until you like them. I add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper (maybe more salt to taste).

Final Preparation

Prepare all of your ingredients – your sauce, your prepared protein, and your prepared veggies.

Add the sauce to a sauce pan, heat until serving temperature. Add the protein and veggies, stir to heat and coat.

Prepare a bowl/plate with the rice in it. Ladle your creation on top and serve!

Stir Fry with Roasted Garlic Sauce

We love this recipe. On a Sunday morning bike ride, I told my friend Mary Ellen that my stir fry was always a little boring. She gave me ideas to change all that!

Ingredients

Sauce Ingredients

1 Head Roasted Garlic

0.50 cup Vegetable or Chicken Broth

0.25 cup Rice Wine or Dry Sherry

0.25 cup Oyster Sauce

0.25 cup Sesame Oil

1 tbsp Cornstarch

2 tsp Chili Garlic Sauce

1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

Make Some Rice

1 cup Rice

Protein and Veggies

0.50 lb Tofu, Chicken Breast, Meat (Leftovers are great here!)

2 cups Veggies of your choice (Carrots, Spinach, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Green Beans, Snap Peas, etc.)

Directions

Roasting the Garlic

Take a head of garlic (or 2 or 3 just to have extra so you can squeze it on some bread, taste a little heaven, then smell like garlic the next day!), chop off the very top of the head, so that all of the tops of the cloves are exposed.

Set garlic heads in a pyrex dish with 1/4 inch of water, drizzle olive oil over the top of the heads, cover with foil, and bake at 350 for one hour.

Wait at least 15 minutes before you squeeze out the garlic.

Preparing the Sauce

Mix all of the sauce ingredients together. Squeeze roasted garlic into the mixture. Set aside or refrigerate for 2-3 days

Make the rice

Make the rice the way you make rice – Rice cooker, stove top, microwave – I don’t judge.

Preparing the veggies and protein

Otherwise, cook a chicken breast or sirloin steak and slice. Rotisserie chicken is spectacular here.

Leftovers are awesome here.

Choose your veggies and sauté until you like them. I add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper (maybe more salt to taste).

Final Preparation

Prepare all of your ingredients – your sauce, your prepared protein, and your prepared veggies.

Add the sauce to a sauce pan, heat until serving temperature. Add the protein and veggies, stir to heat and coat.

Prepare a bowl/plate with the rice in it. Ladle your creation on top and serve!

Shrimp and Grits

I love going to The Faded Rose restaurant in Little Rock, Arkansas and eating their Shrimp and Grits! The fry a grit cake, which is really good, but more work than I’m willing to do without a deep fryer. I find that just good old cheesy grits is a nice base for this meal. And then it’s just shrimp and veggies, with a little cajun flavor, making a simple but wonderful dish.

Ingredients

1 cup Grits – Stone Ground or Instant. Stone ground is of course better!Once again, Bob's Red Mill is my favorite grits brand.

1 lb Raw Shrimp, peeled and deveined, salmon, and/or andouille sausage

1 Onion, chopped

4 Celery stalks, chopped

1 Green Pepper, cleaned and chopped

4 tbsp Butter

6 Garlic Cloves, choppedIf you love garlic, double it!

1 tbsp Dried Basil

1.50 tsp Kosher Salt

1.50 tsp Black Pepper

2 cups Broth, Chicken or Vegetable

14.50 oz Diced Tomatoes, full can

Directions

Take 1 cup of stone ground grits and put it in 3 cups of boiling water (or whatever the directions say). After it thickens, add 1 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1 tsp chili garlic sauce, and 1 cup of sharp cheddar. Cover and set aside.

Or . . . if you have leftover cheese grits , reheat those babies and you’re set!

If you’re going to use sausage, shrimp, and/or salmon (blacken it if you like it spicy!), cook it first and set aside. Again, it’s a great dish for leftovers, so if you have something you love that fits, this will work.

Heat skillet, add butter, and sauté Holy Trinity with Garlic: (6- 12 cloves depending on your taste. I did 12!) Add Basil as well.

Add tomatoes, broth, seasonings, heat and leave on simmer to reduce. (In this picture I used fresh cherry tomatoes. Jill’s tomato plants were overflowing so, what the heck! My friend Pete taught me about cooking sauce with fresh cherry tomatoes – cook them until they split, then they’re ready!)

Note: If you want to add some heat here, I love Tabasco in this one. The spicy vinegar taste works very well with this dish.

Add shrimp, salmon, sausages, or your leftovers to the sauce.

Place grits in the center of a bowl. Ladle shrimp and sauce goodness around the grits and serve.