Roasted Pork- the Zeus of Leftovers
If I ever get around to writing a fiction novel, it will be one of those Greek mythology/fantasy hybrids. But the twist I'm planning to add is: I'm going to write it about leftovers. In the pantheon of leftovers, roasted pork has got to be the Zeus; really any kind of roasted meat. Having leftover roast is like having 3 more instant meals in your ice box. Plus- it kicks butt over any other kind of leftover, hands down.
On Sunday mornings, my standard operating procedure is to stand in front of my ice box, eyes glazed over, trying to figure out what I can make with the hodgepodge of tasty tidbits I have. This morning I was staring at a container of leftover roasted pork (BINGO), some assorted roasted veggies, odds and ends of cans of tomatoes (sauce and crushed), one lonely, wilted fresh jalapeno and a huge block of Tillamook Sharp Cheddar. In my mind, I saw visions of shredded pork tacos with slaw of some kind and home made salsa.
I have several wonderful recipes for salsa, but it seems that I never have all the ingredients on hand for any of them. So I decided not to let that dissuade me from my task. I would make a darn good salsa from whatever I had on hand. So that's what I did. This recipe is typical of the ones on my blog. I don't give exact amounts because I was using up little glass dishes of leftovers. And really, that's what most people are trying to do, right? So lighten up! Let go of the tethers to your cookbooks! Learn to wing it!
Here's what I did- in case anyone happens to have the exact same things lying around as I did. If you don't- use this as an inspiration to make your own version of salsa!
I took out my trusty blender and my spice grinder. In the blender I dumped about half a large can of crushed tomatoes and a small glass dish of tomato sauce. To that I added a can of diced green chiles, half a baggie of frozen chopped cilantro, a roughly chopped fresh jalapeno, salt, a dash of ground coriander, some ground dried chile de arbol, and some freshly ground cumin seed. After whirring it around in the blender, I added a tad more salt and some red wine vinegar- for tang. It made enough to fill a glass dish for tonight's pork tacos, and filled another quarter ziplock baggie that landed in the freezer for some day in the future when I need something to pour over smothered burritos, or just for chips after school.
Once again, leftovers have come through for me in a pinch! I was the damsel in culinary distress, and Zeus came down from Mount Olympus, lightning bolt in hand, to save me from frozen pizza!
I'm looking at the title for this post, and I'm thinking it's really about salsa, not leftover roasted pork. Hmmmmmm. I can't really think of anything better, though. So I guess I'll tag it as salsa and get on with my life!
On Sunday mornings, my standard operating procedure is to stand in front of my ice box, eyes glazed over, trying to figure out what I can make with the hodgepodge of tasty tidbits I have. This morning I was staring at a container of leftover roasted pork (BINGO), some assorted roasted veggies, odds and ends of cans of tomatoes (sauce and crushed), one lonely, wilted fresh jalapeno and a huge block of Tillamook Sharp Cheddar. In my mind, I saw visions of shredded pork tacos with slaw of some kind and home made salsa.
I have several wonderful recipes for salsa, but it seems that I never have all the ingredients on hand for any of them. So I decided not to let that dissuade me from my task. I would make a darn good salsa from whatever I had on hand. So that's what I did. This recipe is typical of the ones on my blog. I don't give exact amounts because I was using up little glass dishes of leftovers. And really, that's what most people are trying to do, right? So lighten up! Let go of the tethers to your cookbooks! Learn to wing it!
Here's what I did- in case anyone happens to have the exact same things lying around as I did. If you don't- use this as an inspiration to make your own version of salsa!
I took out my trusty blender and my spice grinder. In the blender I dumped about half a large can of crushed tomatoes and a small glass dish of tomato sauce. To that I added a can of diced green chiles, half a baggie of frozen chopped cilantro, a roughly chopped fresh jalapeno, salt, a dash of ground coriander, some ground dried chile de arbol, and some freshly ground cumin seed. After whirring it around in the blender, I added a tad more salt and some red wine vinegar- for tang. It made enough to fill a glass dish for tonight's pork tacos, and filled another quarter ziplock baggie that landed in the freezer for some day in the future when I need something to pour over smothered burritos, or just for chips after school.
Once again, leftovers have come through for me in a pinch! I was the damsel in culinary distress, and Zeus came down from Mount Olympus, lightning bolt in hand, to save me from frozen pizza!
I'm looking at the title for this post, and I'm thinking it's really about salsa, not leftover roasted pork. Hmmmmmm. I can't really think of anything better, though. So I guess I'll tag it as salsa and get on with my life!
Comments