I am a big fan of taking leftovers and finding fun and new ways to turn them into new meals. I know so many people who scoff at the thought of leftovers. Or who enjoy cooking, but don't have the time and energy to cook a new dish every day! And believe me, I absolutely do not have that time, either. Before work and errands and forgetting to grocery shop and just generally running around like a chicken with my head cut off almost every day of the week??
I'm not sitting around with any more free time than anyone else. Although it might not seem that way because I do cook quite a bit and always have some delicious meal on the plate. I am absolutely that obnoxious friend who, when you ask how my day is going, I'm very likely to send back a photo of food. Or a cat. Kind of a niche audience, but that is what good friends are for. I also, obviously if you have found yourself on this page at all, have a food blog for precisely this endeavor.
For anyone who thinks that leftovers aren't worth reheating and will never be as good the first time? You might not want to continue reading. Because there are going to be some ugly truths about how restaurants make food that you're going to wish that you didn't know.
How Do Restaurants Do It?
I'm a restaurant cook by trade, so food may perpetually be on my mind. And I do quite enjoy coming home after a long day's work cooking for other people and break out the skillet at home and cook for myself once more! Although cooking at home isn't quite as extensive an effort as it at first might seem.
One of the reasons that restaurants can crank out food within a remotely reasonable amount of time is because there is a great deal of preparation work that goes into making meals before they're ordered. Things like soup and lasagna are almost always made ahead of time. I knew the owners of a restaurant in rural town who made every single clam chowder to order. How they did this? I have absolutely no idea! Do they still do this? Oh, I hope not. Because there's a reason that these sorts of meals are prepared ahead of time.
This is because so a lot of meals meals are incredibly time consuming. Soups, stews, curries, and really anything that slowly simmers will also be more flavorful when made across a time that isn't feasible when made-to-order. These are oftentimes going to taste better the next day when all of the flavors have had time to meld into one another.
It also takes 20 minutes just to reheat a lasagna in the oven. But it takes at least an hour just to cook this the first time, without any of the other steps that go into making it. So, unless you want to wait an hour and a half for your meal at the restaurant? These are absolutely made ahead of time and reheated!
Restaurants Rely on Pre-prepared Dishes & Ingredients
This means that a large portion of your dishes in restaurants are pre-made. This is why you cannot make substitutions. Because they are already prepared and picking mushrooms out of them isn't possible. This might be inconvenient for those with food allergies or who are picky eaters, but this is a practical thing with restaurant food. Time-consuming meals are made ahead of time, so there is no way to guarantee that an ingredient can be removed without leaving residual amounts of them.
For the dishes that aren't made ahead of time? The ingredients are at least prepped ahead of time. Those steaks are pre-cut and portioned out. High end restaurants will have a butcher or someone who knows how to process and properly cut meat on staff. The same kind of thing happens with high end seafood restaurants. However, this is not the norm. It's an incredibly skilled position that comes with a higher price tag. This is the type of restaurant where a single plate typically costs hundreds of dollars.
We all think of fast food restaurants as being pre-made, pre-packaged, and slabbed on the grill to order. But, for the vast majority of restaurants in the middle? A lot of the food comes pre-cut, pre-portioned, and largely pre-prepared. And you wouldn't believe how much of it comes directly from Costco.
The vast majority of burgers, steaks, French fries, et cetera are bought ready to cook and require absolutely no preparation at all. They're frozen, shipped around the world, and tossed on a skillet, grill, or deep fried. The fresh fruits and vegetables are likely prepared in house up to a week ahead of time.
This means that, if you think that eating out means that you're avoiding frozen food or leftovers? You're going to be sorely disappointed.
Almost Everything Is a Form of "Leftovers"
Now that we've gotten over the fact that absolutely everything that we eat is in some way, shape, or form prepared ahead of time and therefore constitutes a leftover? (Unless you live directly on a farm and go out and slaughter the animal and process the meat and pick all of the fruits and vegetables and grow the wheat and have your own grain mill and pasta machine, which wow yes, actually does describe a particular part of life!) Then, it's time to embrace that leftovers are integral part of the cooking process.
The main obstacle to overcome is how to make those leftovers fun and new. If I've made salmon with the intention to make salmon burgers? Chances are that burgers aren't something that I'm going to eat all week. I can maybe eat burgers for a day or two before it gets to be a little much! And that's really where utilizing leftovers comes in handy. Because I'm absolutely buying 2 pounds of it and cooking far too much of it ahead of time.
Turning Leftovers Into New Dishes
This week I made Oven Baked Salmon and Brown Rice w/ Broccoli, Bell Peppers, & Rice Wine. I made both of these specifically to make a Salad w/ Baked Salmon & Tamari, Rice Wine Rice. However, I always go into these kinds of dishes knowing that I'm not going to eat that one dish for the rest of the week. As absolutely delicious as salmon and rice are, even the best dishes get old when eaten time after time. That's why I oftentimes go into recipe already thinking about all of the other things that I can make with the base ingredients.
Part of the reason that I can do this is because I live alone and know that I'm not making dishes for a whole hoard of people. Although, even if you do live in a larger household or are preparing for a potluck, doubling the recipe is a great way to ensure that you still have leftovers at the end.
How Many New Meals Can I Make Out of Leftovers?
From the single meal of Salad w/ Baked Salmon & Tamari, Rice Wine Rice, I have made not one. Not two. Not three. But EIGHT additional meals. There are a couple of tips and tricks for making this work:
The first step to making meals last is to keep the individual components separate. Even though I made the rice and salmon for one dish, I cooked and stored them separately. This meant that I could use the rice without the salmon and the salmon without the rice. It also gives you more variety to choose from and makes both of the dishes last longer. Just make sure to properly store or freeze them.
There are also go-to meals that I almost always turn everything into. I'm particularly fond of burritos, nachos, and eggs for this purpose. I sometimes just make batches of rice, quinoa, and lentils just because I know that I'm going to want to make burritos with them throughout the rest of the week. I'm kind of a connoisseur of quick and easy recipes that can easily be tossed in like this. And I plan ahead for this inevitability. Particularly because tortillas, chips, and eggs are relatively bland and go with a wide variety of flavors.
When I go to make a dish, I'm also thinking about what else I can make with it later on. I don't ordinarily cook fried rice and salmon burgers I kind of reserve for special occasions. Although if I know that I'm going to pick up a salmon? I'm already starting to think of making burgers the next day! As well as other components that can easily be added later on to make them fun and new.
I'll usually top them with some kind of avocado dip, Greek yogurt, or sour cream. Although I'm particularly fond of avocado dip lately because it's another great way to make avocados last a little bit longer. It's kind of a cross between hummus and guacamole, but works with a wider variety of flavor profiles. Although that's entirely personal preference. As is topping them with just a dash of salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Sometimes I even make my own Enchilada Sauce with fresh produce from the garden. However, there's still snow on the ground. So, that will have to wait until the summer season!
2. Fried Rice w/ Rice
The second meal that I made this week was Fried Rice w/ Broccoli, Bell Peppers, & Eggs. When I made the original Salmon Salad, I absolutely knew that I was going to make fried rice. I'd actually gone to the grocery store thinking that I was going to make fried rice. Although I'd been craving seafood and changed my mind about halfway through the produce aisle. Not to be outdone, though, one of the first dishes that I made with the leftovers was fried rice. I decided not to use the salmon in it because I'd already been thinking about what other dishes I was going to do with salmon. However, you could easily fry the salmon in with the rice.
I'm a huge fan of salmon and almost always turn it into some form of burger when I get the chance. This is one of the reasons to store all of the individual components separately. Because, as much as it does sound like fun to make rice burgers with both the salmon and the rice from the original salad? It's nice to have the option of whether to use them together or not.
For this recipe, I also added red bell peppers to the salmon patty and topped it all off with Greek Yogurt Tartar Sauce, avocados, lettuce, and Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries. You can easily buy burger buns and tartar sauce from the grocery store to simplify this dish. Although I'm particularly fond of making them at home. I proofed the dough in the refrigerator before I went to work and tossed the tartar sauce together in about 15 minutes with the jar of pickles and Greek yogurt that I already had at home.
4. Omelette w/ Salmon
Omelettes are so simple to make. It only takes about 15 minutes to whip up an omelette and requires almost 0 effort. All that you have to do is preheat a skillet on low, whisk the eggs, and pour everything in a pan. Then, just let sit until the egg sets and the toppings heat and voila! An incredibly simple dish in almost no time. For this Omelette w/ Salmon & Greek Yogurt Tartar Sauce I also added avocados and the Tartar Sauce w/ Greek Yogurt & Red Jalapeños that I'd already made for the burgers.
The first dish that I made with these leftovers was the rice omelette. So, I am repeating an omelette here! But omelettes are some of my favorite ways to utilize leftovers. They're incredibly simple to throw together and are a great dish to start out the day with. They'll keep you full without slowing you down. Plus, they're really just delicious. An omelette with just the rice and an omelette with just the salmon are entirely different meals as well that taste nothing like each other. So, even being a repeat? The eggs are really the only similarity here.
5. Salmon Burgers w/ Rice & Salmon
A couple of days ago I used the leftover salmon to make salmon burgers. This is the kind of classic meal that I like to throw together with all of the components being separate. However, it did get me thinking about how rice might actually be good in a burger form. After all, there are some pretty delicious looking sushi-inspired burgers. So, I decided to take things to the next level and make Salmon Burgers w/ Tamari Rice, Tartar & Runny Egg with both the rice and the salmon mixed into the patty.
I also used the same No-knead Dutch Oven Bread Rolls and Tartar Sauce w/ Greek Yogurt & Red Jalapeños that I'd previously prepared. I often like to do this where, I'll start with one meal, and then make additional components to add in later on. Just because didn't start the week with tartar sauce, doesn't mean that I can't quickly toss some together and come up with fun and new ways to use the rice and salmon! They were also delicious all in the same burger.
6. Nachos w/ Rice & Salmon
Late night meals are a great way to utilize leftovers. I can't tell you how many times I come home after a long day and am so hungry that all I want is a quick and easy dish throw together before I fall asleep standing up and wish that tomorrow would take just a little bit longer to get here. And nachos are one of the best ways to do that! There's something incredibly satisfying about tossing a bunch of things that you already have on top of tortilla chips and drowning them in copious amounts of cheese.
Now, I know that Nachos w/ Tamari, Rice Wine Rice & Salmon might sound a little bit peculiar. After all, salmon and cheddar cheese aren't something that you see on many menus. Or really... any menus. As much as I want to think that, if you can imagine it, it exists somewhere? But this truly might be a fusion of flavors that doesn't often see the light of day. And that really is a shame for menus throughout the world, but is one of the fun things about utilizing leftovers. They're a great way to experiment with ingredients in a low-pressure environment. After all, if it doesn't work out? You still have more of it left to do other things with. And, if it does work? Then, you've just found a new favorite mix.
7. Burrito w/ Rice
I'm quite frankly surprised that it took me this long to make a Burrito w/ Rice, Greek Yogurt, Spinach, & Runny Egg. I turn almost anything and everything that I have leftover into a burrito. Flour tortilla shells have a very innocuous flavor that goes with a wide variety of dishes. They're also incredibly inexpensive in bulk at Costco. Which makes burritos one of my go-to leftover meals of choice. A lot of the time I'll just make a batch of rice, quinoa, or lentils to have in the back of the refrigerator for whenever I feel like a burrito. They take about 15 minutes to toss together and are great meals to eat on the run.
For this burrito, I also had used up all of the tartar sauce that I'd been making other meals with. But fret not because for St. Patrick's Day I'd made Green Pasta Salad w/ Spinach & Greek Yogurt and Green Tartar Sauce w/ Greek Yogurt & Spinach. I didn't toss pasta salad into a burrito just yet because I still had some rice left. But I did grab the Spinach Tartar Sauce and used that instead of sour cream! With a runny egg because breakfast burritos are the best thing in the morning. And a little bit of hot sauce just for good measure.
8. Nachos w/ Rice
Nachos are also making a second appearance on this list. These are quite similar to the first nachos that I made the other day. However, I did use all of the salmon and am going in a slightly different direction for these Nachos w/ Rice Wine Rice, Spinach, & Avocados. I still used the rice, but added in the Green Tartar Sauce w/ Greek Yogurt & Spinach and some freshly sliced avocados. This is absolutely a nod to St. Patrick's Day and is quite festive and green-tinted. But it's also delicious.
These types of meals also go to show that, even if you don't want the exact same meal every day? You can still make one big dish at the beginning of the week and utilize components of it in order to make fun and new dishes. I even made an entirely new meal in between the first Salmon Salad and these Nachos. But I'm still taking bits and pieces of leftovers that I have on and incorporating them into something fun and new.
Final Thoughts
These types of meals also go to show that, even if you don't want the exact same meal every day? You can still make one big dish at the beginning of the week and utilize components of it in order to make fun and new dishes. I even made an entirely new meal in between the first Salmon Salad and these Nachos. But I'm still taking bits and pieces of leftovers that I have on and incorporating them into something fun and new.
Not everything that I make is going to be your cup of tea. But a lot of the reason that I consume food content is to be inspired to mix things up and to find parts of recipes that I can incorporate into my own meals. Because I get bored with the same thing over and over again, too! So, I look at leftovers as an opportunity to make some new, rather than an impediment.
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