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copyright ©1999-2004
DigsMagazine.com.
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the leftovers
party
by Stephanie
Cloutier
| 1
2 3
continued from page 1
give your
visa card a break
The main idea of this
party is to avoid spending a lot of money, or hopefully, any at all. You
may find you need a few items from the grocery store, a key ingredient
or two to help you reinvent your remainders, perhaps. But remember,
you're only creating one or two leftover dishes, and your guests are
bringing their own. Think of it as a festive potluck dinner surprise,
except you know what the main ingredients are. You also should designate
the responsibility of assigning various courses among your guests, such
as appetizers or sides. Most of us will have the same main ingredients
-- the last thing you want is a mashed potatoes dish done ten different
ways.
encourage
creativity
For making a
leftover dish for the party, use ingredients you have on hand and
get inventive! Perhaps there's a plate of mashed potatoes sitting
in your fridge right now but you aren't sure how to use them.
Sure, you could simply rewhip them with cream or butter with a
portable electric hand beater to get that soft consistency of
creamy mashed potatoes. But it's a lot more fun to try something
different, like Potato-Crab Cakes.
There are endless recipe
possibilities beyond the traditional festive fare. If you happen
to have a lot of turkey left, try incorporating it in ethnic
dishes such as Turkey Pad Thai or Turkey Quesadillas. If you
believe in the theory that any food dipped in chocolate tastes
better, try using that fruitcake you aren't too keen on eating but
are dying to clear from the fridge. For Fruitcake
Squares with Chocolate Sauce,
simply cut fruitcake into slices and then into bit size squares.
Place a toothpick into each of them. Drizzle with store bought
chocolate sauce and serve. |
potato
crab cakes
1 Using
your hands, mix together all of the following in a large bowl:
cold mashed potatoes, canned or packaged crab meat, ½ ounce
melted butter, pinch of cayenne pepper, 1 egg, zest of lemon, salt
and pepper to taste.
2
Form fat
palm-sized patties and place them on a baking sheet with Clingfilm
or Saran wrap. Place in fridge for about 20 minutes.
3
Beat 2 eggs in a
small bowl, and sprinkle breadcrumbs (or even matzo meal if you
have it lying around), on a flat plate.
4 Dip 1 fishcake
in the beaten egg mix then into the breadcrumbs, covering them as
much as possible. Put them aside on another plate.
5
Heat butter in
large frying pan to medium heat and fry fishcakes on both sides
until the crusts are golden, and the centers are warmed through.
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skedaddle
on this way kids!
--------------------------->
lounge . nourish
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host . laze
. home .
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