Monday, August 13, 2012

Creative Cooking: What to do with Leftover Ratatouille

I made ratatouille last week. I love ratatouille, so I was pretty excited to try it with the fresh veggies I had... but it was disappointing. For the first time since I started making the dish, I overcooked it. Mushy ratatouille is okay, but nothing to sing home about. I usually devour the leftovers, but I knew I wouldn't be doing so this time.

So I did a little creative cooking the next night:
And was I ever pleased with the results! This would work on regular, not-so-mushy leftover ratatouille too - the recipe always makes quite a bit and while it keeps well in the fridge, it's easy to tire of it after 2 or 3 consecutive lunches.

Leftover Ratatouille Soup

Ingredients:

leftover ratatouille (or any vegetable stew)
leftover rice (preferably brown)
can of petit cut (small dice) tomatoes (mine was spicy red pepper flavoured)
1 tsp sugar
herbs and spices of choice
salt and pepper to taste

Methods:

1. Make your ratatouille and enough rice for the whole batch (about 2 cups uncooked). You can find the recipe here. Feel free not to overcook it like I did.

2. The next day (or two), blend the ratatouille in batches (or all at once with an immersion blender, if you're lucky enough to have one) and pour into a big pot.

3. Stir in the rice and a can of finely diced tomatoes.

4. Season to your liking. I added some salt and pepper (since my ratatouille was a touch undersalted), sugar (to counter the acidity of the tomato) and some red pepper flakes for heat. Remember that your ratatouille is already seasoned, so make sure to stir and taste a lot during this step.

5. Warm on low heat until heated through. Serve with some type of bread (I went with homemade cheddar-green onion scones).
  Enjoy!

Have you done any creative cooking with leftovers lately? I'd love to hear about it (especially since I tend to cook for 8 instead of our party of 2)! 

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