Whoever Said Leftovers Are Boring Never Tried These Recipes! Repurposing Leftovers into New Meals
by Shoshana Isaacson
UNORTHOBOXED Magazine Food Editor
How many times have you heard the wail, “Leftovers again?” moaned by your family in a way that only those who love you can groan? When trying to be conscious of waste and living on a budget, using up what has been served before is extremely important. But eating the same roasted chicken or soup two or three days in a row can get exceptionally boring and leave your family less than enthusiastic when it comes to meal time.
Leftovers are an invitation for creativity in the kitchen. In some ways it is reflective of the ingenuity our ancestors had when food needed to last and nothing was wasted. One doesn’t have to search back very far to see this in action. War times throughout the world often brought on food shortages and home cooks had to be inventive with what was available to make meals for their families.
During the Great Depression there were hundreds of recipes created to extend small quantities of staples or to replace them altogether. Regardless of where our ancestral roots lie, there have been times of food shortages. Many Bubbies and Savtas could whip up a delicious meal from whatever was left from Shabbat or another meal. From every area where Jewish people have lived there are recipes that lend themselves to using leftovers in new and delicious ways.
Albondigas is a classic Sephardic dish that uses inexpensive add-ins such as vegetables or grains to stretch ground meat and is a perfect recipe to use up many seemingly mundane leftovers, as can be seen in the following recipe.
* All recipes are written by the author and may not be copied or reprinted without the author’s permission
Sephardic Albondigas with Pickled Green Beans
A perfect way to use and disguise leftover green beans and tomato sauce or to use up tomatoes that are starting to get a little mushy
Ingredients
1 pound ground meat, beef or lamb is traditional, but use what you prefer
1 onion, diced
4 teaspoons minced garlic
½ cup chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 pinch ground cloves
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 to 3 cups leftover green beans, cut into one inch pieces
½ cup white vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
1 small white onion cut into very thin half moons
3 less-than-perfect tomatoes, diced OR 1 cup leftover tomato sauce
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Step 2
In a large mixing bowl mix the ground beef with the diced onion, two of the minced garlic cloves, chopped cilantro (reserve a pinch), smoked paprika, cloves and salt. Divide into eight balls and roll into oblong/oval shaped meatballs.
Step 3
Toss the cut green beans in the white vinegar and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
Step 4
In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil. Add the thinly sliced onion, remaining minced garlic and tomatoes/tomato sauce, with a pinch of the chopped cilantro. Allow the onions and tomatoes to cook until the onion starts to become translucent, then add the cayenne pepper. Stir occasionally and add water as necessary until the tomatoes begin to break down. If using tomato sauce, simmer gently.
Step 5
In a separate large frying pan over medium-high heat, heat the canola oil. After 1-2 minutes, add the meatballs. Brown on each side for 2-3 minutes.
Step 6
Transfer the browned meatballs to a well greased baking pan. Add the sauce and reserved pickled green beans.
Step 7
Place the pan in the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the meatballs are 155 degrees at their center. Serve hot over rice or couscous.
Note
If you have leftover roast, you can grind it in your food processor and add that to your raw ground meat. ⅓ cup ground cooked meat to ⅔ cup raw ground.
3 Ways to Use Leftover Chicken Soup and Soup Chicken
Chicken soup, regardless of the recipe you use, always makes a huge pot and there is almost always broth, veggies and chicken left. Below are three incredible recipes that will repurpose the leftovers in a way no one will guess this was the soup you served for Shabbat dinner.
Before you get to the recipes you need to prepare the soup to be used in multiple ways. Start by letting your soup cool down. Then prepare a large bowl with a colander placed inside lined with cheesecloth. Carefully pour the soup over the cheesecloth separating the solids from the broth. Lift the colander from the bowl. Separate the vegetables from the chicken. In the end you should have broth, a container of vegetables and the chicken in yet another container. Remove any bones from the chicken. Separated in this way you can freeze these items for future use or plan on using them in one of the following recipes right away.
