Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Leftover Pie

Lately I've had this bee in my bonnet about using up leftovers in creative ways. So yesterday for lunch, I did something that made me slightly uncomfortable yet hopeful: I made up a recipe. Ok, ok, I don't always use recipes to the letter, but that's usually when I've made something so many times that I feel comfortable winging it or improving on the original. Yesterday for lunch I went whole hog, and just made the whole thing up as I went.

Which brings us to:
Leftover Mexican Pie!
Ingredients

Filling:
1 T EVOO
1 1/2 C pinto beans (mine were from the freezer via crockpot)
1 C leftover rice (any kind)
1 1/2 C leftover roasted vegetables (I used my ratatouille, so peppers, onions, garlic, eggplant)
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1 chipotle pepper, canned in adobo, minced
1/2 - 1 C shredded cheese (I used TJ's Quattro Formaggio cheese blend)

Cornbread: (recipe from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman)
1 1/4 C buttermilk, yogurt or soured milk (just mix 1 T vinegar into your milk and let it sit for a few minutes)
2 T butter or oil
1 1/2 C medium grind cornmeal
1/2 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 T sugar or honey, or more if you like sweeter cornbread
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Heat EVOO in a 10" cast iron skillet over medium heat. When warm, add all the filling ingredients EXCEPT for the cheese. Keep this on medium-low while you make the cornbread.

For the cornbread, mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the soured milk, egg, sugar/honey and butter/oil. Stir to combine.

Sprinkle the cheese over the filling ingredients in the skillet. Pour the cornbread batter over the cheese. Pop it into the oven for 30 minutes, or until cornbread is just starting to turn brown on top.

Serve with green salad and/or negro modelo!

This recipe can be easily veganized if you use oil and sugar and soured soymilk in the cornbread and some egg replacer. In lieu of cheese, I'd add some salt to the filling mixture.

Serves 6-8, so we have lots of leftover leftover pie. ;)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi! I came to your blog through Urban Hennery's link list on the Dark Days of Winter Challenge. As a fellow Michigander I had to check you out!! :) Anyway, I read through some of your older posts and noticed your having trouble finding local dairy. I'm not sure if you're interested in raw milk or not, but if you are, A Campaign for Real Milk is a good way to find a local source. http://realmilk.com

We found our dairy through that site. I know our dairy has many customers from your area. What the "city folks" do is join groups, and take turns traveling up our way to get fresh, organic, raw milk, cheeses, eggs and various meat products for the members of the group. My dairy is Oliver Farms http://www.oliverfarms.com if you're interested. Hope this is helpful to you! Good Luck!

Chessa said...

Thanks for the info, Farm Mom! Oliver Farms looks awesome. How much is it, if you don't mind me asking? I know another farm I was looking into they charged a one-time cost for "buying" the cow, then a boarding coast per month, then a weekly cost for milk on top of it. It was kind of crazy, but maybe that's how this works.

At the very least, I saw that they sell their raw milk cheese at the Oakland County Farmer's Market, so I might have to check that out soon. I don't think I've ever been to Waterford.

Anonymous said...

We pay $60 a year to board the cow. We then pay $4.50 a gal for the milk and pick it up whenever we want, in whatever quantity we need (up to 3 gals a week) 24/7. It's set up self serve. Just open the cooler case for your cheeses, eggs and butter or check out meats in the freezer. The milk is in a small tank with a spigot!! :) Everything has it's price, of course, but there is no monthly charge on top of that. You can use your own containers or buy their glass containers with reusable lids. That's the option we chose, and we haven't had any problems.