Innovative Leftovers Part 4–Summer Vegetable Stew

I absolutely love split pea soup, but you know how canned soups are, for the most part, disgusting?

Unfortunately, the same holds true for canned split pea soup. So I decided to jazz mine up a little when I was making dinner for myself. (My brothers weren't gonna feed me, that's for sure.)


Summer Vegetable Stew
Serves 1-2


Ingredients:

1 can split pea soup
1/2 zucchini, cut into quarter-rounds
1/2 carrot, cut into half-rounds
1/2 can black beans

1/4 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water (if soup is watery)
Salt and pepper
Spices (garlic powder, oregano, cayanne)
Olive oil


Instructions:

Drain black beans into a bowl, reserving some of the liquid. Rinse. Place zucchini, onion, carrot, and beans into a small pan over medium heat with some olive oil and stir.

Add spices, salt, and pepper to taste. Place pot lid over pan and allow to cook until zucchini is soft.

Pour split pea soup into a medium saucepan over medium heat.

If soup is watery, mix cornstarch in 1 tablespoon water to form a smooth slurry and add to soup.

Add vegetables and stir.

Stir in reserved bean liquid.

Allow to come to a gentle boil and thicken if needed, then remove from heat. Adjust seasonings if necessary.

Serve.

Well, it's not perfect, but it's definitely better than the soup alone. It's also better than whatever my brothers would have made. Just kidding. Maybe. The vegetables give it a nice fresh feeling and the spices make it taste a lot better than the soup normally does. I recommend serving with naan or flatbread. (Trader Joe's makes a great tandoori naan.) Or you can make toast. That works too.
So even though this improved the soup quite a bit, homemade soup trumps canned any day.

Innovative Leftovers Part 3–Pulled Pork Fajitas

When my mom made pulled pork the other night, I think my brother's vow of vegetarianism was sorely tested. It was tested even more the next day when I made fajitas for lunch with the leftovers. We had a couple of ears of barbecued corn left over as well, so I threw those in too.
For the record, fajita is pronounced fa-he-ta. My friend insists on calling them fa-ge-tas. Are you reading this, Gabe?

Pulled Pork Fajitas
Makes 6 fajitas, serves 3

2 bell peppers (or 6-7 small peppers or 5 small peppers and 1 large pepper)
1/2 onion
4 ears cooked corn on the cob (or however many you have; supplement with frozen corn)
3 cups pulled pork
5-10 button mushrooms

1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

6 small tortillas
6 slices cheese

1/2 pouch red chile enchilada sauce (We love Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday sauces.)
1/2 jar roasted garlic and tomatillo salsa (We love his salsas too.)


Instructions:

Slice onion, bell peppers, and mushrooms.

Cut corn off cob.

Pour olive oil into large pan over medium heat and place onions, peppers, corn, and mushrooms inside. Stir.

Continue cooking and stirring for about 3 minutes, then add beans and pulled pork. (I put the pork in a separate pan so my brother could have veggie fajitas.)

Stir, then cover and cook until onions are nearly translucent. Turn off heat.

Meanwhile, place tortillas with cheese in toaster.

Toast until cheese is melted.

It's melted. Yeah, I know it doesn't look like it is.

While tortillas are toasting, combine enchilada sauce and salsa in a bowl and stir to combine.

Fill each tortilla with sauce and filling. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

You're gonna need a fork and knife for this fajita.

Mmm... Pulled pork is just as good in a tortilla as it is on a bun. While it may sound strange to combine enchilada sauce and salsa, the sauce is very good. It doesn't clash at all with the barbecue sauce on the corn and pork. The cheese adds a nice gooey element, while the vegetables are slightly crunchy. I have to say, I wasn't expecting Mexican-American fusion to be this good!
Enjoy your fa-he-tas!

Maple Glazed Salmon

Whenever my mom is gone, it falls on me to cook. I got a little pamphlet thingy called "Inspirations" from The Fresh Market that had a recipe for maple glazed salmon. It sounded good and fairly easy, so I had my brother pick up salmon on his way back from dropping my other brother off at the gym. (Side note: The amount of peanut butter they put in their cereal is increasing. It's slowly but surely taking over the bowl. I'm afraid.)

Maple Glazed Salmon (from The Fresh Market)
Serves 4. Double if two of those people are teenage boys.


Ingredients:


1/2 cup maple syrup (Don't you dare use Hungry Jack. I bolded, italicized, and underlined it because it's that important.)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced
1-1/4 pounds salmon
2 tablespoons scallions or cucumber, thinly sliced


Instructions:


Mix everything but salmon and scallions together.

Place salmon fillet, cut in half if doubling recipe, in shallow dish or gallon plastic bag.

Drizzle marinade over fish, reserving 1/4 cup. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat grill to medium-high. Place salmon on grill skin-side up.

Cook until fish flakes easily with fork, about 5 minutes per side.

It's flaking, all right. 

To serve, put reserved marinade out as sauce and top fish with scallions or cucumber.

This was very tasty. The marinade/sauce is pretty sweet, so I wouldn't recommend dumping it all over the salmon. My dad grilled the salmon to perfection, and the great salmon flavor went very well with the marinade. The fish doesn't keep very well, so eat the leftovers as soon as possible. This salmon goes well with polenta and a light salad.

The entire fillet couldn't fit in the picture. And yet, thanks to my brothers, we ate three-quarters of it.

Simple Sauces Part 4–Tomato Sauce

Everyone needs a good all-purpose tomato sauce, one that can be used for everything from chicken parmesan to pizza to pasta. It needs to be easy to make and open to additions of vegetables, herbs, and meats.
This is that sauce.
It's kind of a miracle that this just happened to be the sauce because I kind of chose it arbitrarily, but whatever! It's a great tomato sauce.


Basic Tomato Sauce (from the side of bionaturae's Organic Strained Tomatoes):




Ingredients:


1 jar strained tomatoes (preferably organic, bionaturae recommended)
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 minced garlic cloves
4 teaspoons dried basil (or 8 fresh minced basil leaves)
Sea salt to taste


Instructions:


Place olive oil, minced garlic, and sea salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat and sauté until garlic is golden.

Pour strained tomatoes in and stir.

Simmer for 5-10 minutes.

I recommend not serving it with the slotted spoon.

As I mentioned before, this sauce lends itself to any occasion. You want to throw some chopped tomatoes in there? Sure.
You want to sauté onions and carrots with the garlic? Done.
Ground beef? Just toss it in (cooked, of course).
Chicken chunks? Go for it.
Anchovies? ...Maybe stick with chicken.

Even in its most basic form, this sauce is tasty. The organic tomatoes jibe perfectly with the garlic. The reason I love bionaturae's Organic Strained Tomatoes because the only ingredient is tomatoes. No additives or preservatives, just pureéd tomatoes. Their sauce recipe is insanely easy to prepare as well; it can be made in less than 15 minutes, perfect for those "Oh crap! I forgot to make a sauce for the pasta tonight!" moments.
Please pray for my grandfather. He is currently very ill in the hospital.