#334_Left-over Holiday Foods

Wondering what to do with your leftover ham and turkey from the Holiday dinners?
Here's a couple of ideas that I did with our left-over meat
a few days after the Thanksgiving dinner.

Turkey and Ham Sandwich with Provolone Cheese

For Thanksgiving I like to buy the biggest turkey I can find in the store so that we will have left over roast turkey to make sandwiches.

This year one store had a very good deal on the turkey, (I thought). I got the 22-lbs. tom turkey which I only paid 8 dollars for it. To get that deal I had to purchase $35.00 worth of groceries (excluding the 8 dollars for the turkey) and four 12-packs of coca-cola products for $10.00. The only downside was that I had to buy some stuffs I didn't really need for the dinner. So when you think about it, it's not that a good deal after all. Oh, well it's holidays....

Sorry I got side tracked....Okay, here's what you can do with the left-over turkey meat:

1) Slice or shred the meat. It doesn't really matter how you slice the turkey. When you pick the meat you'll end up with shredded meat anyway.
2) In a pan melt some butter and toss in meat. Sprinkle some spices: i.e. salt, Mrs. Dash or garlic powder or celery salt or Season-All or whatever spice you're in the mood in; cook until the meat is heated through.
3) For the bread, use sliced sandwich bread or French bread rolls. I love the French bread kind because they are crusty on the outside. Butter the sides and grill them whether in toaster oven or pan grill.
4) Spread some mayonnaise on one side of bread
5) Now it's time to pile up those meats....if you want to put a piece of lettuce leaf...go ahead. If you want to put a slice or two of ham, go ahead....then pile them turkey meat.
6) Put at least 2 slices of Provolone cheese or Havarti cheese.
7) This is optional....at this point I like to put this sandwich under the broiler and grill until the cheese is melted.
8) Now you can top the sandwich with the other half of bread and enjoy!
Simple, but soooo yummy!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Ham and Cheese Omelet

In this omelet, I used 2 eggs and grated Havarti cheese.
You can also add some sliced green peppers, sliced chives and whatever you like in it.
Check out how Emeril Laggasse makes his omelet, click here.

Most Americans will pair this omelet with hash brown potatoes, but for Pinoys, me in particular, I eat this with garlic fried rice.....Mmmmm, Yum-O!!

You can also make a sandwich out of this omelet........

Enjoy!!

#333_Italian Meatballs Sandwich

As you already know, we always associate tomato sauce with Italian cuisine.
It is therefore appropriate that I use the word "Italian" to describe this sandwich
because its filling is made with meatballs simmered in tomato sauce.

I will skip the making of meatballs part as I already have a post on
"How to Make Meatballs" (click here).
What I will share with you here is how to make the
Tomato Sauce with Meatballs and how to assemble the sandwich.

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce recipe:

3 Tbsp. olive oil or canola oil
1 small onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
4-cans (14-1/2 oz. each) whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup water or broth fresh basil, crushed
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
Cooked meatballs (click here).

Cooking Directions:

In a large sauce pot over medium heat, heat oil then saute garlic until fragrant. Stir in onions; saute until translucent then add the tomatoes including its juice. Add salt, liquid, and basil, brown sugar and the meatballs. Put lid on and lower heat to low, then...let this sauce simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring once in a while. (Or you can use a crock pot and cook it all day). That's the secret of a good tomato sauce, for use in either pasta or for meatballs, it's the slow and long cooking time.

Before assembling the sandwich....
Slice some vegetables such as red and greed peppers and onion and saute in butter. And one important part of making this sandwich is to use a good crusty bread such as French bread. I also love to use Pan de Sal rolls to make bite-size sandwiches and they are absolutely the best.

To assemble the sandwich....

1) Pre-heat broiler.
2) Slice bread in half and spread some butter or better yet, Garlic Butter, then put them under the broiler, about 1-2 minutes.
3) Place sliced Provolone or mozzarella cheese on the one half of bread

4) Spoon some Meatballs with tomato sauce on the cheese, then top with the sauteed veggies.

Optional:

This is what I do with mine....put the sandwich back under the broiler and grill just until the cheese is melted.

Update: 11-29-11

Here's my Pan de Sal with Meatballs

Ohhh, Yum-O!!

Notes from MaMely:
How to make Garlic Butter: here's the link, click here.
For Pan de Sal recipe, click here.

#332_Chinese Broccoli ( Gai-lan)

Chinese Broccoli......

that's the tag that was on this particular vegetable at the Asian store. If you're like me who is not familiar with it, you would wonder if it was just mistagged because it doesn't resemble broccoli at all except for the stems; then the leaves look more like collard greens than broccoli.

A Chinese lady who was scrutinizing every single leaf of a bundle said that they call it "Gai-lan" in Chinese and raved about how good it is when cooked. She actually told me how she prepares and cooks it, but I just couldn't follow it. I only understood that it is so delicious and she steams the stems then combine it with the cut up leaves to cook....she got me so excited and bought a bundle to make some stir-fry.

I broke off the stems from the leaves then steamed them,
then I decided to make stirfry just like the
Beef-Broccoli with Cashews recipe #231, click here,
except I didn't think that I needed to steam the leaves part, so I didn't.

I thought the stir fry came out really good, with the leaves still vibrant green and all, but I was a little bit disappointed though because the leaves have a bitter taste. And so I thought that mixing in some left over "Broccoli Stirfry" that I still had from last week will improve the taste, but it didn't. Something went wrong....I probably didn't cook it properly in the first place.
Now, I'm not sure if I really like it that much after all....

#331_Beef-Broccoli with Cashews

I recently learned that consuming broccoli regularly prevents cancer or even fight cancer, click here. Since then I've decided to eat broccoli more often and I have been looking for different quick ways to cook it other than just steaming then tossing them in butter.

A friend of mine suggested that I put a piece of ginger root when making a broccoli stir fry. Another one suggested that I toss in some cashew nuts.

When I made this stir fry today, I combined the ginger and the cashew nuts. O-M-G!!! you oughta try it and be the judge!

Here's the recipe:
(Ingredients are just guesstimates)

Prepare the meat....
1-1/2 lbs. beef sirloin, thinly sliced, then marinate in:
1 ladleful of Yoshida sauce or Oyster Sauce
6 cloves garlic, peeled then crushed
freshly milled Peppercorns
2 Tb apple cider vinegar
Marinate sliced beef for at least 2 hours up to overnight.

Ingredients for the stir fry...
1 lb. broccoli
about 1 inch-2 inches ginger root, julienned
1 to 1-1/2 cups of broth
1 ladleful of Yoshida sauce or Oyster Sauce
1/2 cup Cashew nuts
3 Tb. Canola oil or Sesame oil
1/4 cup Cornstarch plus enough cold water to dissolve it

Cooking preparation:

1) Blanch or partially steam broccoli, then cut them into florets.

2) Drain beef in a colander, set aside.

3) Heat some canola oil in a wok and flash fry cashew nuts. Drain nuts in paper towels.

4) In the same wok, (put some more oil if necessary), on high heat, stir-fry the marinated beef with the ginger root, until the meat is no longer pink. Cover and lower heat and let it simmer until it is almost dry, and the meat has rendered its own fat, stirring once in awhile.

5) Turn heat down to medium low then add broth and Yoshida sauce to the meat, cover and let it simmer for about 3 minutes. Take out meat and transfer onto a bowl.

6) Turn heat up to medium high.To the sauce, add the steamed broccoli and stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Push the broccoli up to the side of the wok (or transfer it to a bowl) and stir in the cornstarch that has been dissolved in cold water to the sauce; continue to cook until sauce is thickened.
7) Combine the broccoli and the meat back into the wok with the thickened sauce and mix until well blended.
8) Sprinkle the cashews on the stir-fry before serving.

Best served over hot steamed rice.

This is not the usual Chinese way to stir fry the beef. In most Chinese stir fry recipes, the meat is only tossed in hot oil for about 2-3 minutes and they call it done, but if you want the meat to be well done and tender, this is the best way to do it.

How to steam broccoli: (I steam the whole head of broccoli then cut into florets)
Cut the stems off the broccoli. If you are not using a steamer basket, you can use a pot with an inch of water and about teaspoon of salt. Bring water to a boil, then put the whole head of broccoli and the stems in the boiling water, cover and steam until they are half done about 3-4 minutes. You want your broccoli to be crispy and vibrant green and not over cooked so the nutrients are not destroyed. Let them cool, then cut broccoli into florets. Peel skin off the stems and slice into diagonal.

How to blanch broccoli:
http://revolutionarychefs.com/index.php?Itemid=173&option=com_rapidrecipe&page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=152