Leftovers

“The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers.  The original meal has never been found.”

- Calvin Trillin

Sometimes I feel like Calvin Trillin’s mother.  I love both serving and eating leftovers. There’s nothing better than pulling already-made food out of the fridge, to be reheated and replated, and served a second time.  It’s less work for the cook, I enjoy the sense of thrift from using something again, and often leftovers just taste better the second day.  I’m lucky that everyone else in my family likes them too.

However, I might have overdone leftovers this week.  I had three healthy new recipes I wanted to try, and I made them three consecutive nights for dinner.  Which means we’re still working our way through the leftovers.

I found this recipe for Chickpea Pot Pie on the wonderful blog Eats Well With Others.  The good news is that I loved it, and I’ll definitely make it again.  Unfortunately, the rest of my family wasn’t so sure about chickpeas taking the place of chicken.  So I’ve been enjoying these leftovers by myself for a few meals.

Here’s what I’ll do next time: I’ll follow the recipe as printed, but in the third step, I’ll divide it in half. I’ll prepare the first half with chickpeas (which I will share with no one), and the other half with cooked chicken (for the rest of my family).

And you know what that means – more leftovers for me!

Chickpea Pot Pie with Cornbread Curst

(Adapted from Eats Well With Others)

1 cup chopped sweet potatoes

1 cup chopped potatoes

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups canned chickpeas, drained (OR 1 cup chickpeas and 1 cup cooked chicken)

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 tsp kosher salt

dash of Tabasco sauce

3/4 cup cornmeal

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 1/2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup skim (nonfat) milk

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 large egg yolk, slightly beaten

Instructions

Boil sweet potatoes, potatoes and carrots until tender but not soft and set aside.  Butter a 2-quart casserole or 8 ramekins.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For the filling, heat oil in a large saucepan and add onions.  Cook until they are soft, about 5 minutes.  Sprinkle in the 1/4 cup flour and mix.  Slowly pour in the vegetable broth, stirring well.  Still stirring, cook the mixture over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, about 2 to 3 minutes. 

Add 2 cups chickpeas, peas, cooked potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots, salt and Tabasco.  (Alternatively, divide the mixture into two saucepans, adding 1 cup chickpeas to one pan and 1 cup cooked chicken to the other.)  Cook on medium heat until the mixture is heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Turn into the prepared casserole dish or divide evenly among the ramekins.

For the crust, in a bowl combine the cornmeal, 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.   In a small bowl, combine the milk, oil and egg yolk.  Add to the dry ingredients and mix until uniform.  Spoon the batter evenly over the filling.

Bake until the top is golden brown, about 22 to 25 minutes for a 2-quart casserole and 12 minutes for the ramekins.