Unlike most folks, we tend to enjoy our leftovers served as they were originally. Whether its brisket, turkey, potatoes - whatever - we usually love our flavors and textures so much that we just re-heat and eat (and this works especially well where its meat and gravy - gently simmering the meat in the gravy to reheat it renders a meal almost as good as the original).
However, some leftovers don't lend themselves to "reheat & eat" - such as the chicken meat from our soup chicken. Because we cook our soup for so long, the meat tends to disintegrate a bit - and let's face it - "heat & eat" boiled chicken isn't much of a treat anyway. So - what to do with 3-4 pounds of leftover Breychak Pullet meat?? Well - since the soup is one of the first holiday foods we cook- we freeze the meat almost right away, knowing we won't get to it for a while.
So - this past week, we made it our business to finally play with our pullet. After the long Passover week, I was craving Asian. I consulted a favorite book - Asian Appetizers by Joyce Jue. This Thai-style curry (Kow Soi) generated a gravy that was soaked up the Shanghai Noodles just as I'd hoped!
Spicy, full of coconut milk and curry goodness - this dish was good for more than two meals.
So what to do with all of that chicken still left? I craved Mexican flavors and suggested to Bob something like a Taco Pie.
He made a spicy tomato-based sauce and soaked some pinto beans. Into a rondo went layers of corn tortillas, chicken, sauce, beans and cheese. Then, more cheese on top. The end result came out of the oven looking like this:
This was also pronounced a yummy.
A large bit of this is now in the freezer, and Bob actually had some tonight. There is nothing quite as satisfying as playing with your leftover food to create new and tasty dishes!
However, some leftovers don't lend themselves to "reheat & eat" - such as the chicken meat from our soup chicken. Because we cook our soup for so long, the meat tends to disintegrate a bit - and let's face it - "heat & eat" boiled chicken isn't much of a treat anyway. So - what to do with 3-4 pounds of leftover Breychak Pullet meat?? Well - since the soup is one of the first holiday foods we cook- we freeze the meat almost right away, knowing we won't get to it for a while.
So - this past week, we made it our business to finally play with our pullet. After the long Passover week, I was craving Asian. I consulted a favorite book - Asian Appetizers by Joyce Jue. This Thai-style curry (Kow Soi) generated a gravy that was soaked up the Shanghai Noodles just as I'd hoped!
Spicy, full of coconut milk and curry goodness - this dish was good for more than two meals.
So what to do with all of that chicken still left? I craved Mexican flavors and suggested to Bob something like a Taco Pie.
He made a spicy tomato-based sauce and soaked some pinto beans. Into a rondo went layers of corn tortillas, chicken, sauce, beans and cheese. Then, more cheese on top. The end result came out of the oven looking like this:
This was also pronounced a yummy.
A large bit of this is now in the freezer, and Bob actually had some tonight. There is nothing quite as satisfying as playing with your leftover food to create new and tasty dishes!
I'm now craving some serious Thai curry! Yum!
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