Frittata... risotto... soup

My leftovers tend to go to soups, though also omelets. Actually, my starters are often soups and omelets.

I used to be risotto madame, and retain certain rights, have risotto'd for a long time now. Nothing better.
There is a failure of arborio presence here in Abq. Just packaged stuff from california, lundberg? sorry, yawn. And some company called Vigo. Eh.

How I miss my arborio in big packs from ital markets. Or cannaroli. or some other more esoteric rice. I should try lundberg again, but, I'm chary.

A couple nights ago I had a craving for a quiche and made one for BBB and I. I had lots of leftover veggies from various meals and salads, but didn't have any bacon, milk or a pie shell and didn't feel like making the dough so I improvised.

I had half of an 9 inch square pan of slightly stale jalapeno cornbread that was too spicy for our tastes as a stand alone item so I sliced the layer in half horizontally and placed both halves in the bottom of a square baking pan before compressing it flat with a jar to form the crust. Then I diced up some fresh onions and garlic, a couple slices of ham, and 4 cooked red potatoes; shredded some carrots and cheddar cheese and assembled it all on top of the cornbread with some peas and fresh spinach leaves.

For the custard I used 4 eggs, some plain yogurt, a spoonful of spicy brown mustard, some herbs and enough water to thin down the yogurt and eggs to give me enough custard batter to cover the veggies and cheese.

It was wonderful. The fire in the jalapenos in the cornbread was counterbalanced by the egg custard as they released some of their spiciness to the rest of the ingredients.

The cornbread turned out to be a pretty good crust. I'll definitely do that again.

Italian Aborio Rice available to order from Amazon.com's gourmet food section.

Usually my vegetable leftovers end up in some sort of frittata-ish concoction. Never anything fancy, just an easily prepared, convenient & quick meal. Like tonight, I had some leftover French beans & steamed potatoes in the fridge. Combined with some gently fried spring onions, a little diced tomato, some grated cheese & the eggs, the end result was pretty respectable for a meal on the run. I've used all sorts of vegetable leftovers in this way, including peas & corn, etc. A nice touch is to put the frittata under the griller (broiler) flame at the last minute, to crisp up some grated cheese on top. Other times, I might add some diced ham, if there's some around, or even some leftover pasta. (Interestingly, I was reading about frittatas on a cooking site earlier tonight & was surprised to learn that the inclusion of pasta is a common feature of frittatas in southern Italian cooking.) Apart from this, I'm afraid I'm really not too imaginative in my use of leftovers (but then, there's never a lot of any one particular ingredient, anyway), so I'll be interested to read about what the rest of you do with yours.

Here's a quick & easy, uncomplicated soup I like to make when there's lots of good, fresh, inexpensive asparagus around. More like a cross between a soup & a risotto, really. If you like Parmesan you'll like it! I really like it!

ASPARAGUS SOUP WITH RICE & PARMESAN:
(serves 4 - 6)

* 500g asparagus, woody ends removed & stalks peeled, if necessary
* salt & freshly ground black pepper
* 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
* 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
* 3 tablespoons chopped continental (flat) parsley
* Half cup Aborio rice
* 60g freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for the table.

- Bring 6 cups of water to the boil, add salt & plunge the asparagus stalks into the boiling water.
- When crisp-tender (about 5 minutes) lift asparagus out with tongs & cut into 5 cm pieces. Retain cooking liquid.
- In another large pot, combine the oil, garlic & parsley & cook over a low heat till the garlic softens (about 3 minutes), stirring constantly.
- Add the reserved asparagus cooking liquid & bring to boil.
- Add the rice & cook till al dente (about 11 mintes)
- Add the asparagus pieces & heat through.
- Remove from heat & stir in the Parmesan & check the seasoning.
- Serve right away (or the rice will keep absorbing the water & become mushy) with extra Parmesan at the table.

~

Buterflynet, that sound fabulous! There is a restaurant here that serves savory cheesecakes with polenta crusts, your recipe sounds very similar to what they serve.

I've used noodles in a frittata before, msolga, it's pretty good.

Sooo...... osso..... why are you holding out on your rissoto expertise?

I almost always have leftover chicken since I buy the whole bird so most of my leftover dishes include chicken. Other than that it usually has lots of vegetables and sometimes even fruit (apples work pretty good in a frittata).

So it isn't just me. I always felt I was committing some sort of culinary crime each time I've done it!

My, you look so fetching today, boomerang!

Yep, another frittata-er. Also salads, especially with leftover chicken. Also burritos (mostly just chicken, but also good for various veggie leftovers).