David at Cooking Chat has announced a new food blog event, Leftover Tuesdays. My last post was also a blogger event. It’s not that I’m trying to jump on the Is My Blog Burning band wagon, it’s just that once I found out about this one, I really had to write about it. Am I the only person who loves leftovers? It must be some sort of OCD thing, because I really like making something that I can then pull out when I need a quick lunch or dinner or to use up in some other recipe. It seems to me that there’s a completeness to cooking like this. Nose to tail eating is fine by me.

Many people are worried about getting sick from leftovers. Frankly, this never really crosses my mind. Maybe because I worked in my dorm cafeteria in college and I had to watch those disgusting movies about hygiene (i.e. nose and scab picking, sleeveless t-shirt wearing mustache man leans over the huge Hobart of soup with a cigarette in his mouth), so I know how to handle food and I’m always really careful. If you have any questions about what’s safe to eat, the Food Safety and Inspection USDA has a new automated response system with a multicultural virtual representative, Karen, who is available 24/7 and has answers to many of your food safety related questions. This is what she has to say about leftovers:

Bacteria begin to multiply rapidly in the danger zone between 40 ?F (recommended refrigerator temperature) and 140 ?F. Therefore, food left out at room temperature will become unsafe in a matter of hours. Refrigerate leftovers at 40 ?F or below or freeze (0 ?F) as soon as possible, but never leave food out more than 2 hours, 1 hour if the outside temperature is above 90 ?F. Divide leftovers into shallow containers. This encourages rapid, even cooling. Cover with airtight lids or enclose in plastic wraps or aluminum foil. Use refrigerated leftovers within 3 to 4 days, or freeze them for longer storage. For more information, contact the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854).

I don’t know about you, but I think if I had any questions about my leftovers, I wouldn’t call the hotline. I’d just chuck them in the garbage and eat something else. But they must see a need if they’ve actually set up a phone number for people to call.

I’m sorry if this deflates anyone’s publication ambitions, but the Leftover Recipe Book
already exists. I can’t wait to make noodle burritos and hamburger extender. They also claim to have ideas for leftover cold cereal. Please tell me if you have any ideas for that one. I’d be impressed if you could make something edible with cereal that’s been sitting in milk for more than 10 minutes. Leftovers has already been used as the name of a short movie, and the name of several bands, include this neo-punk pop band. If you really don’t like leftovers, you may want to advocate for their use as biofuel, though the extra food could probably be put to better use in feeding the homeless and underfed in this country and elsewhere.

I work at a small state university that has an awful selection of places to buy lunch from, and what little is edible would cost more than I can afford to spend on lunch, so I bring my lunch just about every single day and it’s usually leftovers. If I do have to resort to eating on campus, because for some odd reason I don’t have any leftovers (almost never), I usually buy soup, which keeps going up in price for a smaller and smaller container. What’s with that? Soup is about the cheapest thing you can make, and they could use leftovers rather than throwing things away everyday. They could practically give it away. I also don’t understand why you can’t get a discount on soup like you can get a discount on coffee if you bring your own container. You know that the container is more expensive for them than the soup.

I’ll make some things just because they make excellent leftovers, is that weird? A pork roast for two turns into lots of lovely pork sandwiches for the week’s lunches. When I make meatballs, I make a lot of extras and freeze them and also make a meat loaf at the same time. I have recently learned that this practice is not technically “leftovers,” rather it is called “planovers” a term that has been around since at least 1914. So, I’m guilty of making a lot of food on Saturdays or Sundays just so that I won’t have to cook when I get home at 8:30 p.m. during the week. Erik doesn’t complain and we’re both happy to have hot food when we get home rather than spending what little extra money we have on unplanned restaurant expenditures. If you remember my post on our outing to Prune last Fall, you know that I have a plan for the restaurants that I want to go to this year and I want to at least make it to some of them before the summer menus are rolled out.

We have leftover chicken quite often. I love roast chicken, but I’m usually just cooking for two. We usually eat only a breast and a half or one of the breasts and one of the thighs. So in the days after that, we’ll have a stir fry, cold chicken and a green salad with hot French mustard on the side or something Mexican that calls for shredded chicken, like enchiladas or chalupas. That last recipe, by the way, is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. I make gallons and gallons of chicken broth every winter. I make so much broth and chicken soup that I’m always giving it to my friends. They must not mind leftovers, because they never say no.

Risotto is one of the most common things that I’ll make to use up leftovers, especially chicken or fish and odds and ends in the vegetable bin and the broth that’s always in the freezer. I make this so much that I don’t need a recipe. Many people are afraid to make risotto because it is supposedly such a time consuming scary fancy Italian dish that needs special rice, homemade broth, etc. I’m happy that the first time I went looking for a risotto recipe, it was before Mario had a cooking show and before I married a man with a copy of Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. Not that I have any issues with Mario or Marcella, I’ve learned a lot from both of them. Still, the first time I made risotto, it was from a book that I’d received as a sort of a gag gift that turned out to be really great, The Surreal Gourmet Entertains by Bob Blumer. It has the kind of reassuring advice about dinner parties that my husband knows innately, but I’ve had to learn. The “Don’t worry so much about whether or not your bathroom is spotless or your dinner is perfect, just put on some fun music and hand everyone a drink when they come in the door” philosophy is really pretty good and something I’m getting better at. Anyway, Blumer’s advice about risotto is really good. You don’t have to stir constantly, just add the broth 1/2 cup at a time, give it a stir a few times every five minutes or so, and make sure to add more broth just as the rice is about to start sticking to the bottom of the pot. This is something you can do while you’re dicing the last minute additions (the already cooked leftovers), grating the parmesan, chopping the parsley and still have time for a glass of wine and a chat with your partner, your friends, or your dog. I’ve made risotto to go with fancy things like osso bucco, but it’s best if you treat it like a casual, use-up-your leftovers kind of dish. It’s also pretty good the next day.

The version I made last night and that we had leftover for lunch today included some shitake mushrooms, some leftover asparagus and some chopped up chicken and chicken broth from last Thursday’s roast chicken.

Risotto

• 5-6 cups chicken broth (purchased or homemade, yes homemade tastes better, no it isn’t essential)
• 1 cup white wine (or champagne, or dry vermouth, or dry sherry)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 cups Arborio rice, or use sushi rice, it’s also a short grain rice, it works and is much cheaper
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (the best you can afford)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Chopped fresh parsley and additional Parmesan for garnish
• Optional: chopped leftover meat and additional vegetables such as diced carrot, celery or zucchini; sliced mushrooms or chopped tomatoes; any leftover pre-cooked vegetables such as artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, squash, etc., just try and cut everything into roughly the same size pieces.

• Optional: 1-2 T butter stirred in at the end

In a saucepan bring broth to a simmer and keep at a bare simmer.

In a large heavy saucepan heat the butter and olive oil on medium until butter is just melted. Add onion and garlic and stir occasionally until onion is translucent. Add any uncooked vegetables now and saut? for 5-10 minutes (if the vegetables start to stick, you can add a little more butter or a touch of broth). Add rice, stirring to coat with butter for about 2-3 minutes. Add wine and allow it to reduce almost completely. Add 1 cup simmering broth and cook, stirring frequently until absorbed. Continue cooking and add broth mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring often and letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next. When it is done, the rice will be creamy and almost all the way soft. This will take 30 minutes or so. There may be broth left over, or you may need to use some water if you don’t have enough broth. Stir in any pre-cooked ingredients and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in Parmesan, and add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat and continue to stir for 2-3 minutes more (broth will continue to evaporate, and the risotto will cool allowing it to finish cooking and to set slightly). Let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

It’s easy to come up with variations on risotto. For example, you can add some shrimp about 5 minutes before the rice is done and substitute finely sliced green onion or chives for the parsley, or use other cheeses in place of some or all of the parmesan. If you’ve got some bits of cheese left over from a cheese plate, this is a good place to use them up, just call it something like “3 cheese risotto” or “5 cheese risotto” and everyone will be impressed.

You can place leftovers in individual containers or in a larger casserole dish. Eat or freeze within 2 or 3 days.