My lunch

[mamadeb]

Since I'm hungry and procrastinating, and I know you're all so interested, today's lunch.


Leftovers of Leftovers.

Shabbos lunch/dinner was chicken marinated in fresh rosemary and lemon juice. We had quite a bit of the juices (lemony and scented with the herb), so I saved those. I also had about half a chicken plus two cups of roasted potatoes, the juices and my chicken stock. So, last night, while I cooked sanj's lentil stew, I made chicken hash.

I diced a spanish onion finely and sauted it with margarine (a deliberate choice) until soft, and added all of the juices, which had gelatinized nicely. Plus, some of the rosemary leaves were still there. While that liquified and cooked down, I chopped up the potatoes and then skinned, boned and chopped up the chicken. I could have done it a bit finer, maybe using my mezzaluna, but I didn't bother. I added them to the pan, along with a cup or so of chicken stock, and some freshly ground pepper. I cooked that until the chicken and potatoes were hot and infused with the juices and stock, and it still wet but not swimming. This would have been served with steamed broccoli except we wanted to watch West Wing, so it ended up being eaten seriatum - a bowl of hash followed by a bowl of broccoli.

There was enough leftover for my lunch, with the addition of leftover spinach kugel.

Comments

[cellio]

Sounds yummy.

I diced a spanish onion finely and sauted it with margarine (a deliberate choice)

Do you have a good sense of when it's better to use margarine and when it's better to use oil? (I don't, but I hope to correct that by asking this question. :-) )

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

It depends on the role I want the fat to play and the flavor I want in the finished product.

I'll use margarine if I want a somewhat, buttery taste and I want the mouthfeel you only get with a room temperature solid fat. Since the chicken and juices were sharp and herby with lemon and rosemary, and the onions would be sweet, I wanted the richness that I'd get from margarine. My other oils, neutral and extra-virgin olive, wouldn't have fit the bill.

If I didn't keep kosher, I'd have used butter, maybe with a bit of neutral oil to raise the burning point.

And, I just grabbed the margarine from the freezer without conscious thought beyond "How shall I cook the onions?"

(On the other hand, I sauted the vegetables for the lentil stew in olive oil, because that fit.)

[hiddenhibiscus.livejournal.com]

Sounds delicious! Leftovers supreme!

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Leftovers rule.

[reginagiraffe]

My sister throws out leftovers!! *boggles*

That's just one of many things we don't see eye-to-eye on.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

It does depend on the leftovers and if you use them in a timely way.

But it does reduce the scratch cooking, doesn't it?