Leftover Revival

Cooking for me is about empowerment. If it wasn’t for leftovers, scraps, bits and pieces here and there I may not be so inspired – at least by one very important component – resourcefulness. Being savvy saves. It saves time, money and both are key to saving energy. Keeping our kitchens local is as much about using local & organic ingredients as it is about not letting things go to waste. So play with marinades, dressings, sauces, the last 1/3 cup of rice, the few pieces of steak from dinner, the 1/4 tub of poke or the few stragglers in the hydrator.

The meal below is Linguine with Miso and Basil along with fried Eggplant. The last iteration of this dish maintained an Asian-fusion flare by using an extra sauce of tangerine juice, tamari and olive oil while accenting with shiso, more basil, chopped olives, arugula and finally nasturtiums.

Below, fragrant Basmati Rice, Local Seared Flank Steak, Avocado Sauce & Dragon’s Tongue Arugula morphed into a salad with ample amounts of juicy pineapple and fresh avocado chunks. Rotating the fridge and using those bits and pieces insures freshness and fluidity in the kitchen – that way spoiling will be less of an oversight. Pull out the random jars, containers and leftovers and configure something out of the box! Keep playing, think twice before deeming those leftovers invaluable and keep returning to the drawing board. Ai Pono