The Cowgirl Chef: Creative ways to use Easter leftovers
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a problem with ham sandwiches, chopping up eggs for egg salad or reheating mashed potatoes. But why go for the obvious when you’re only a step or two away from something new with your Easter leftovers?
Especially when the big work of cooking whatever it is — ham, lamb and whatever you’ve got as sides — has already been done. Now it’s just a matter of reimagining and reassembling.
Let’s start with ham, something that’s wonderful added to soups, such as split pea or black-eyed pea; folded into an omelette; tossed into a salad; or, if you’re in France, thinly sliced and put in a crêpe, or made into a croque Monsieur, the ubiquitous ham and Gruyère sandwich with béchamel.
Especially if you’ve got a really flavorful ham, there are all sorts of things you can do. How about ham with some leftover fresh spring peas? Or ham in pasta or atop a homemade pizza? Or as I’ve done here, simply and Southernly, folded into a buttermilk biscuit?
Oui to that.
My mom always made potato pancakes with leftover mashed potatoes, and I was on the way to doing that when I found a recipe for what’s essentially a potato pancake in a ball shape.
With Parmesan and artichoke hearts, these old mashed-up potatoes become completely new — crunchy, crispy bite-size potato and artichoke balls. I added a yogurt-pesto dipping sauce because I thought it would make eating them more fun (and it did — I ate nearly all of them when I made this recipe). Consider yourself warned: You’ll be making mashed potatoes simply so you can have them as leftovers.
I figured if there’s one thing there’s always too much of after Easter, it’s hard-boiled eggs. I read not too long ago about a chef in Paris who made deviled eggs with tamari, which got me to thinking about other Asian flavors that I might play around with. I had an unopened bag of red miso on hand, and this, I felt, would be the key to a new direction.
Finally, lamb tacos. I’ve never met a taco I didn’t like, and if there’s one thing I miss most about Texas, it’s the availability of tacos and tortillas, and everything else (ahem, margaritas) that goes along with that. Luckily I have a few tortillas in my stash, so I decided on lamb tacos, with a Greek-inspired feta salsa. It’s not Tex-Mex, but it’s a taco, so that counts for something.
Note: Nutritional analyses unavailable.
Ellise Pierce is the Cowgirl Chef and author of “Cowgirl Chef: Texas Cooking With a French Accent” (Running Press, $25). www.cowgirlchef.com, @cowgirlchef.
Easter ham buttermilk biscuits
Makes 16 small biscuits
▪ 2 cups flour
▪ 2 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
▪ 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
▪ 2 tablespoons sugar
▪ 1 stick butter, cut into small pieces and frozen or well-chilled
▪ 1 cup buttermilk (maybe a bit more)
▪ 1 cup ham, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar or just pulse a few times in a food processor. Add cubes of butter and pulse quickly until the butter pieces are pebble-like throughout. (You can also use a pastry cutter.) Pour in buttermilk and gently mix or pulse until the dough begins to come together — don’t overmix.
3. Dump out dough onto a floured surface and gently bring together with your hands so it’s a fat rectangle about 1 inch thick. You don’t need a rolling pin — just pat the dough down with the palms of your hands. Go easy with the dough, and you’ll be rewarded with light and fluffy biscuits.
4. Put half of the ham pieces on dough, then fold in the left and right sides to the middle and press down gently. Add remaining ham, fold in the sides again, and press dough and shape it into a rectangle. Cut dough into 8 fat biscuits, then cut each one in half — 16 total.
5. Transfer them to a cookie sheet lined with parchment, and bake 15 to 18 minutes or until the bottoms are brown.
Asian deviled eggs
Makes 1 dozen
▪ 6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
▪ 2 teaspoons red miso
▪ 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
▪ 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
▪ A few drops sesame oil
▪ 4 to 6 teaspoons grapeseed oil or vegetable oil
▪ Chopped cilantro, for serving
▪ Black sesame seeds, for serving
1. Halve eggs in the middle (not lengthwise), remove yolks and put them in a bowl. Carefully slice off the bottoms of the egg whites so they’ll stand up.
2. Add red miso, ginger, lemon juice, sesame oil and 4 teaspoons grapeseed or vegetable oil to yolks and mix with a fork. Add more oil as needed. Put mixture in a plastic bag and snip off one of the corners. Pipe yolks into egg whites. (Or, simply spoon the mixture in.) Refrigerate until ready to serve. Then sprinkle with cilantro and black sesame seeds.
Mashed potato and artichoke croquettes
Makes about 3 dozen
▪ 2 cups leftover cold mashed potatoes
▪ 2 egg yolks
▪ 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
▪ 1 cup chopped artichoke hearts
▪ 1 tablespoon flour
▪ Salt and pepper
▪ 1 egg, lightly beaten
▪ 3 cups breadcrumbs
▪ Vegetable or canola oil
▪ 1 cup Greek yogurt
▪ 1 tablespoon jarred pesto
1. Mix first five ingredients together in a bowl; add salt and pepper to taste. Using about a tablespoon of the mixture, form balls, lay them out on a cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator to firm up for a couple of hours.
2. Make croquettes: Roll balls in the egg wash, then in the breadcrumbs, and put them back on the cookie sheet (it’s easiest to prep and then cook them).
3. Put just enough oil in a large skillet to coat the bottom, then add the croquettes. You may need to work in batches. Cook until all sides are browned, then remove them to a paper towel-lined plate.
4. Whisk together yogurt and pesto and serve with croquettes.
— Adapted from a recipe on Epicurious.com
Lamb tacos with feta salsa
Makes 8 tacos
▪ 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
▪ 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for tomatoes
▪ Sea salt and pepper
▪ 3 1/2 ounces feta
▪ 6 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
▪ 1/4 teaspoon Greek oregano
▪ Pinch red pepper flakes
▪ 16 ounces leftover lamb, chopped or pulled
▪ 8 corn tortillas
▪ Lime wedges, for serving
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lay cherry tomatoes out on a cookie sheet, drizzle with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Cook about 30 minutes, turning once, until soft and slightly charred. Let cool completely.
2. Crumble feta into a small bowl and add olives, oregano, red pepper flakes and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add tomatoes and gently toss together. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, reheat the lamb and warm the tortillas: Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees. Put lamb in a glass or ceramic dish and cover with foil; wrap tortillas in foil too. The lamb will take about 30 minutes to warm through, and the tortillas about 10 minutes. To serve, put two tortillas on a plate, add about 2 ounces of lamb on each one, and spoon about 1 tablespoon salsa on each taco. Serve limes on the side.
This story was originally published April 6, 2015 at 8:21 AM with the headline "The Cowgirl Chef: Creative ways to use Easter leftovers."