Category: Recycling

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Cooking from the Freezer (Recipe: Seared Foie Gras)

Scouring through my freezer unearths random bits of grand schemes and leftovers: turkey stock reduction from Thanksgiving, leg of lamb marinated-style tandoori but still raw, and a hunk of foie gras. When I realize I won’t be able to consume foodstuff before they expire, I toss them in the freezer. Perhaps, it’s not the best for way to store food, but it’s better than the alternative.

The foie gras was leftover from Foie Gras three-Ways. As hard as we tried, the six of us could not consume the full lobe (and thank goodness we didn’t). So I wrapped the leftover chunk in a paper towel and plastic wrap and tossed it in the freezer.

Fast forward nine months, and the foie gras is not improving with age. Consuming it hardly aligns with any new year’s resolution to lose weight or get fit; but it does fit with my goal of wasting less food. So I invited a few friends over for dinner.

In the vegetable drawer, another remnant of a grand scheme: celeriac that I had intended to serve with duck. Together, they made an elegant first course.

For the main course, I cooked the lamb and served it with naan (also from the freezer, leftover from the chicken tikka masala) and savory greens with potatoes.

A satisfying meal produced entirely from leftovers. And if I hadn’t said anything, you may have never known.

Seared Foie Gras
4 oz. foie gras cut into 4 slices
1 tbs. chopped shallots
¼ cup port wine
1 cup turkey stock reduction
2 tbs. butter
salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste

1. Season foie gras with salt and pepper. Heat a pan over high heat until it is smoking hot. (Really). Press foie gras into dry pan. Cook for 1 minute. Turn over and cook for 1 second. Remove from pan.
2. Drain pan of all fat except 1 tbs. Add shallots. Deglaze pan with port, add chicken stock. Reduce. Swirl in butter. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
3. Rest foie on celery root puree. Serve with fried sage and sauce.

Celery Root Puree
1 knob celery root
¼ cup cream
Salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste

1. Peel celery root and cut into chunks.
2. Put celery root in a pot and cover with cold water.  Add a generous pinch of salt.  Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to a simmer and continue cooking until the celery root is tender.
3.  Drain celery root, reserving about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid.  Put in a food processor, along with the cream and process until smooth.  Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon juice.  Set aside in a warm place.

Fried Sage
1 bunch sage leaves
3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
3 tbs. plan oil
Heat a large sauté pan over a high flame. Add oil. Add sage leaves. Sauté for about 1 minutes, or until the leaves begin to look spotted and translucent. Add the garlic and continue to fry until garlic begins to brown. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.

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Recycling the 4th

Bolognese When organizing a party, the general rule of thumb is that 60% of the guests will accept the invitation. Somewhere in planning a 4th of July pot-luck in the garden, I messed up the numbers, as I ended up with 15 guests.

Granted, I was thrilled that so many wonderful people could join me, I just don't have the accouterments for that many guests, and had to resort to disposable plates, cups and flatware. During a last-minute run to Target, I was thrilled to discover biodegradable plates made from recycled paper. I didn't feel as guilty about creating all that trash knowing that some of it would end up in the compost bin.
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I billed the dinner as "pot-luck." But as I evaluated the guest list — considering who would bring food vs. beverages vs. nothing at all, I decided it was best if I just cooked enough to cover all the bases. As my friend Paul teased, I could have feed all the guests just on the hors d'ouevres, never mind the assortment of salads, as well as burgers and fixin's.

Needless to say, I had leftovers. From the burger bar, I had leftover patties, tomatoes and onions. From the crudite, I had celery and carrots. Do you see where I'm going with this? With a sprig of basil from the garden and a grating of fresh parmesan, the leftovers hardly felt recycled.

Here's my original recipe with modifications for cooking with leftovers.

Pasta Bolognese
¼ cup olive oil
1 ½ cups diced yellow onions (or red onions)
½ cup diced carrot
½ cup diced celery
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2 lb. ground beef (or leftover grilled hamburger patties)
2 cups tomato sauce/puree (I pureed raw tomatoes which were quite watery, negating the need for extra broth)
1 ¾ cups beef stock (no need if using fresh tomatoes that are watery)
1 cup dry white wine (surprise, surprise, I had left over of this too)

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large sauce pan. Add onions, stirring occasionally, until wilted and lightly browned. Add carrots, celery, salt and pepper and continue to cook for 5 minutes

2. Season meat with salt and pepper. Add to pan, breaking up meat with back of a spoon. Continue cooking until meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

3. Add tomato sauce, wine and stock. Simmer for a very long time.

4. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve with pasta, or use for your favorite lasagna recipe

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Dear Whole Foods: Get it Together!

A few years ago, Whole Foods came out with a line of “Two-Bite” confections: two-bite cupcakes, two-bite brownies, two-bite macaroons. As someone who truly wants only a bite or two of sweets, these were the perfect treats! I regularly purchased the chocolate cupcakes – they were moist with a perfect crumb, and the buttercream frosting was rich and creamy – perfect! I developed a pack-a-week habit. I would bring them to friends’ houses for after-dinner treats, or keep them around my place for a mid-day sugar kick.

To fill this demand, Whole Foods went into mass production and that’s when the quality dropped off. On several occasions, I would get home only to discover the cupcakes’ expiration date had already passed. I started double checking dates while still in the store, and always alerted the store manager when I found some past their prime. Phase two of the downfall – I would get home with unexpired cupcakes and they were already stale. You can tell from the crumb – it was dry. Again, I would return to the store and alert the manager.

After a few more purchases of pre-expired stale cupcakes, I stopped buying them. Clearly, all my attempts to help them with quality control fell on deaf ears.

Fast-forward two years… I’m at Whole Foods again, craving sugar, and notice a beautiful display of the famed (or is it, infamous?) two-bite chocolate cupcakes. Whole Foods continue to sell them; obviously people must still be buying them, so surely they must have gotten their acts together.

Not a chance! Stale, with two weeks to go until they “expire.”

I was too tired to complain again; previous attempts achieved nothing. But I didn’t want to waste them either.

The solution: BABKA! I mushed up the cupcakes…

…and used them as a filling for a challah with chocolate swirls. How’s that for recycling?

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Mole, Take II

After the enchiladas, I had left-overs of everything except the chicken and the slaw. What better way to utilize everything than to make nachos. I cut the tortillas into pie-shaped wedges, fried them in a little canola oil and then topped them with the leftovers. It hardly felt recycled.

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Black Bean Dip

It was only in the past few months, as I’ve been reading about sustainability and participating in the Cambridge Recycling Committee, that I finally understood the dictum, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” You can see it on grocery bags at Whole Foods, or any sort of green initiative. Reuse and recycle are obvious – for example, the plastic water bottle you purchased – reuse it by refilling it with filtered water, instead of purchasing a new bottle, and when you are done with it, recycle it. People often justify wasteful behavior by explaining that they will recycle. “Yes, I took more paper napkins than I need, but I will recycle them, so it’s okay.” Reduce was a harder concept for me to grasp. Reduce means only taking as many paper napkins as you need. Sure, it’s great that you’ll recycle, but we must also consider the energy expended and the chemicals used to create the napkins – the tree that was cut down, the plant that processed the paper and packaged it, the truck that shipped the napkin to the supermarket, etc.

When it comes to food and entertaining, the mantra would be “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Compost.” With cooking, I find it much more challenging to reduce. In terms of shopping, the stores often dictate the quantities I purchase: I must buy a 1 cup container of sour cream, even though I will only use 2 tablespoons. I’ll admit it’s getting better: I can now buy chicken broth in one cup packages instead of one quart. Most grains are sold in bulk bins. Even celery is sold by the stalk. Most challenging is gauging what quantity to prepare for dinner parties, especially buffets.

So it happened when Dina and I hosted Mole cannoli – a feast of two of our favorite foods. The final guest count was a moving target – between the quest for finding a babysitter or the new boyfriend we didn’t realize would be coming. And we wanted a nice variety of moles, salads and garnishes. Needless to say, we did not do a very good job of reducing – there were ample leftovers. The best I could do was reuse and recycle. We ate leftovers for a few days, and the excess of black beans and mole sauces went into the freezer.

Last week, inspired by Lydia’s black bean dip post, I pulled the black beans out of the freezer. I intended to make the dip for a friend’s party, but as I set out to make the recipe, I realized I didn’t have most of the ingredients on hand. But! I did have ½ cup of leftover green mole from that same evening that generated the black beans. I pureed the two together and, Voila! Black Bean dip. (P.S. The sour cream on top was leftover from another dinner the previous week)