Here's my post to rec.food.cooking. Beware, it's long.
My mom was here for a week, cooking up a storm. She made mountains of chopped liver, matzoh balls, steak, chicken, and goodness knows what else. I'll miss her, but my arteries are relieved.
There are a few items left in the fridge that we don't normally use, and they're perishable, so I thought I'd use them up. Among them, most of a quart of chicken broth and four smallish pieces of cheese (four different kinds -- dill havarti, muenster, jack, and some wine-soaked bleu, which I just realized I forgot to throw in the dish.)
I decided to make my "tamale pie", because it's easy and it would use up both the broth and the cheese. I boiled three cups of chicken broth, then added a cup of cornmeal and simmered, stirring, until it got all nice and thick. Stirred in all the cheese (wish I'd remembered the bleu, just for kicks), some butter, and a few slices of jalapeno.
For the filling, I used a couple cups of chili (this batch had chicken, beans, corn, and chipotles in it) and nearly two large cans of olives, sliced (James is CRAZY for black olives, and when I told him I was making tamale pie, he got all bright-eyed and said "With lots of olives?"). Poured the filling in a baking dish, topped with the cornmeal mixture, and put it in a 425F oven. It has about twenty minutes left (I cook it for about a half hour, 'til the top gets nicely golden brown).
I know this isn't a proper tamale pie, but it's a really easy way to use up leftovers. Now to figure out what to do with all this leftover chopped liver. I'll probably take it to work tomorrow. On Friday, they helped me finish off the previous batch.
So what do you cook that's just a "toss it all in a dish" dish? Where you don't measure, but you just mix or layer stuff and leave it in the oven for a while?
Most of my using-up-leftovers things are either forms of "mexican lasagna" or "miscellaneous cooked-filling wraps" type dishes, or occasionally some sort of enchilada-type thing. Depending on the leftovers, sometimes they become Miscellaneous Thai or Indian stir fry (which can mutated into the "miscellaneous cooked-filling wraps," land by becoming roti).
And to be perverse, as the picture loaded downward I was wanting to see a bell pepper strip or some other suitable long curved thing appear below the jalapeno slice to make a smiley face.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-19 01:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-19 02:47 am (UTC)My mom was here for a week, cooking up a storm. She made mountains of
chopped liver, matzoh balls, steak, chicken, and goodness knows what
else. I'll miss her, but my arteries are relieved.
There are a few items left in the fridge that we don't normally use,
and they're perishable, so I thought I'd use them up. Among them, most
of a quart of chicken broth and four smallish pieces of cheese (four
different kinds -- dill havarti, muenster, jack, and some wine-soaked
bleu, which I just realized I forgot to throw in the dish.)
I decided to make my "tamale pie", because it's easy and it would use
up both the broth and the cheese. I boiled three cups of chicken
broth, then added a cup of cornmeal and simmered, stirring, until it
got all nice and thick. Stirred in all the cheese (wish I'd
remembered the bleu, just for kicks), some butter, and a few slices of
jalapeno.
For the filling, I used a couple cups of chili (this batch had
chicken, beans, corn, and chipotles in it) and nearly two large cans
of olives, sliced (James is CRAZY for black olives, and when I told
him I was making tamale pie, he got all bright-eyed and said "With
lots of olives?"). Poured the filling in a baking dish, topped with
the cornmeal mixture, and put it in a 425F oven. It has about twenty
minutes left (I cook it for about a half hour, 'til the top gets
nicely golden brown).
I know this isn't a proper tamale pie, but it's a really easy way to
use up leftovers. Now to figure out what to do with all this leftover
chopped liver. I'll probably take it to work tomorrow. On Friday, they
helped me finish off the previous batch.
So what do you cook that's just a "toss it all in a dish" dish? Where
you don't measure, but you just mix or layer stuff and leave it in the
oven for a while?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-19 08:11 pm (UTC)Most of my using-up-leftovers things are either forms of "mexican lasagna" or "miscellaneous cooked-filling wraps" type dishes, or occasionally some sort of enchilada-type thing. Depending on the leftovers, sometimes they become Miscellaneous Thai or Indian stir fry (which can mutated into the "miscellaneous cooked-filling wraps," land by becoming roti).
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-19 08:56 pm (UTC)And to be perverse, as the picture loaded downward I was wanting to see a bell pepper strip or some other suitable long curved thing appear below the jalapeno slice to make a smiley face.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-19 08:59 pm (UTC)