Save Time, Expend Odds-n-Ends

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

In the world of kitchen frugality, there are peanut butter scrapers and jar wasters. Allow me to explain. When that jar of peanut butter gets low but there is still some sticking to the sides, do you:

a) Throw it out and open a new jar. It is virtually empty anyhow.
b) Get down inside with your knife and scrape the sides. You know you can get one more sandwich out of it.
c) Cut the top of the lid, get out your thinnest rubber spatula, and deftly scrape the last trace of brown goo from the inside. You can get one and a half sandwiches, at least!

Okay, maybe you don't have to saw the lid off the top of the jar, but it is possible to make the ends of food stretch a little longer. With a little creativity, those odd remainders you find in your refrigerator at the end of the week can be the building blocks for some deliciously creative, brand new meals.

Throughout the world, poverty and the subsequent need to use every last bit of food available have been the starting points for some of our most beloved dishes today. In Italy, stale bread becomes croutons for a panzanella salad or bread crumbs for coating meat before frying. In Chinese cuisine, the only appropriate base for classic fried rice is rice which was left over from the day before.

In my kitchen I am notorious for combining bits of old meals into sometimes bizarre new creations. This is a habit that was in no small way influenced by my jar-scraping father, a.k.a. The Garbage Disposal. Just this week, leftover cheddar chive macaroni was married to some previously browned ground turkey to become what was essentially a fancy Hamburger Helper. Later, a cup of uneaten cooked pasta was mixed in with Sunday's escarole and sausage soup to round out a suitable meal for the next day's lunch. You want Real Meals in Minutes? It doesn't get much faster than that.

But what to do on Thursday or Friday after a week of diligently cooking dinner at home where you are suddenly overcome with odds and ends? A vegetable drawer bursting with bits and pieces of produce, cheese that is at the end of the block, and a half dozen bunches of fresh herbs, of which you have used only a sprig from each? That is where the fun begins.

If I have a lot of vegetables on hand, the first thing I think of is soup. A base of carrots, onions and celery (the Holy Trinity of the Kitchen) can sweat down with any variety of squash, eggplant, tomatoes, and herbs. Add some stock, maybe the end of a bag of dried pasta or a cubed potato and a few minutes later . . . Minestrone Soup in Minutes! And you haven't had to go out and buy anything that you didn't already have on hand.

For an abundance of herbs or even arugula, pesto comes to mind. When people hear pesto they think basil, pine nuts, parmesan and olive oil. The truth is it can be made with any variety of herbaceous or spicy greens, in a blender or food processor with any nut from walnuts to pecans, oil to bind and parmesan if you have it. And voila, you have a sauce in minutes to toss with any variety of cooked pasta. Interesting combinations to try: arugula and walnut, or lemon verbena and pine nut.

Below are the recipes from my latest Odds-n-Ends dinner. What few people make use of are the possibilities in the end of a block of cheese. Parmesan rind is bursting with nutty flavor. Rather than throw it out, try it to enhance the flavor of your next soup or to cook with the rice as I did with my Buttery Parmesan Rice. The end of a round of brie leftover from some entertaining became the notable flavor in a rich sauce topping some market fresh brussels sprouts (believe me, even your kids will eat these!). And a bunch of tarragon, the end of the bounty from a friend's garden, mashed with garlic, olive oil and lemon zest was an intensely flavorful and aromatic topping to some chicken pieces that had been lurking in the back of the freezer.

Your mom may have taught you the importance of not wasting food by reminding you that there are starving children in India, but that doesn't mean you have to eat everything on the plate in one sitting. Save that extra portion you couldn't quite finish and if you don't eat it as a late night snack, chances are you will eat it eventually. And even if you aren't a jar scraper per se, thinking a little like one can help turn those bits and pieces you have on hand into a whole new meal in less time than it takes to go out and buy another jar of peanut butter.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 8 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves removed (more if desired)
• 2 lemons, zest only
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 4 pieces skinless chicken breasts or thighs

Serves/Makes: 4

• 2 pounds Brussels sprouts, end removed, cut in half lengthwise
• 1 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoon flour
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 4 ounces brie cheese, rind removed, cut in small cubes
• salt and white pepper

Serves/Makes: 4

• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 1 3/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 pinch salt
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese