Last week, when I wrote about sharing more recipes using leftovers, I had no idea I was going to get to eat some yummy steak pizza this weekend! Paul cooked steaks on Friday night, while I sauteed mushrooms and made a salad. I love Paul's steaks: they're simple but so delicious, rubbed with olive oil, seasoned with salt, black pepper, and thyme, and cooked in a lot of butter and olive oil in the pan. If you find yourself with one leftover steak but two or three people to feed, a pizza is a great way to go. Nothing stretches leftovers like a big ol' piece of bread. Plus, you can put all sorts of colorful veggies and cheese on there; make it beautiful and it will be good.
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Today I want to get a little personal--just a little bit. And it has to do with time, and cooking, and how there never seems to be enough food even after you spend hours cooking something that's supposed to last for days. It happens to us, our small family of two, and it happens to everyone else, I know. It also has to do with what I've chosen to post on this blog for the past few years, and why, and some possible changes ahead.
The other day, at a crawfish boil (lucky!), a neighbor of ours was saying that he checked food orleans when he was looking for something to make for dinner (that is, quick) and couldn't really find many choices. Of course, I said, "That's about right." He said, "Does it seem to you like everything on your blog takes about 3 hours to make?" I said, "[Gulp] Um...yes." And then followed with, "We usually cook those things on the weekends." Which is completely true, but for a busy dad looking for something to rustle up in a half hour, that kind of talk don't do much good.
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Riz jaune has appeared in my life right when I really needed a new "dinner magic" kind of recipe--something cheap, on-hand, and easy to adapt to all sorts of quick dinner fixes. Riz jaune (say "ree zhahn") is basically a Cajun version of fried rice. You make a sort of trinity-plus-Pope concoction (that's onion/celery/bell pepper + garlic), add veggie bits or leftovers you have around the kitchen, ditto with meats (sausage is especially nice), and then you stir in cold cooked rice and eggs. Mix everything up, cook till the egg is firm and scattered all throughout, then eat it as-is or in dozens of other ways that I haven't even thought of yet. Here's what we have had: Riz-jaune-and-red-bean burrito, and gumbo served over riz jaune instead of plain rice. Good stuff. I can also see this being a great stuffing for vegetables or an interesting bed for some gravied chicken or pork.
Tagged with:
Eggs, mushrooms, rice, tomatoes, pope, Sausage, eggplant, gumbo, leftovers, burrito, trinity
