Whenever I manage to create a beautiful dish out of leftovers, I think about my grandmothers. Strong, hard working, stubborn and resourceful women (I got those genes), they couldn cook something great out of anything (I got those genes too). Back in the old days there was no such thing as throwing food away, right?!

I think my cooking style is a bit old-fashioned in that way. As much as I enjoy a gourmet this or that, mid to high-end restaurants, and following top chefs’ cookbooks and magazines, my way of cooking is a “no-nonsense cooking”, as I see it, using the limited resources of ingredients and time wisely and carefully. The most important thing above all is, of course, having a family meal at the end of the day with my husband and my kids.

I felt very proud of myself with the result of this pasta dish. Orecchiette is my favorite shape of pasta because it has a fun & funny shape and a soft but chewy texture, it is like having plenty of little cups on your plate, each one has a bit of the filling and sauce that surrounds it. It works so well with a mish-mash or mix and match kind of dish just like this one.

I had so many different leftovers at home and I didn’t feel like reheating any of them and eating them again as is, and then I thought: “of course, Orecchiette!”

You can really do whatever you want with it and throw in any kind of leftovers you have and it’ll work. I think. I hope. Because I really don’t know what kind of leftovers you got at home. I added some crème fraiche to it which I hesitated about, not being sure if it will match with all the different flavors. But it worked like magic, binding and bringing everything together. So this is how it went:

Leftover:
½ onion, small chopped
1/3 roasted whole chicken, pulled/cut to large bite-size pieces
3 breakfast sausages, diced
3-4 cups roasted vegetables (potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, rutabagas), diced if not already
Blanched kale and chard, chopped to large pieces
½ cup crème fraiche from the lovely onion tart in this post (substitute with heavy cream. Sour cream might work too)
1/3 cup grated cheese

Pantry items:
Olive oil
1 clove garlic
½ box of orecchiette or other kind of short pasta

Bring water and salt to a boil and cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box.
Meanwhile, in a big big skillet sauté onion in olive oil until it softens. Add the garlic clove. Move to the side of the skillet and add the leftovers. Warm it all up good.
When pasta is ready, drain and add to the leftovers, add salt, ground black pepper, and crème fraiche. Mix and toss it all together. Serve with grated cheese.
That’s it!

Makes 6 servings

Tell me about your winner leftover & pasta recipes and I will post them here. E mail me at nurit AT familyfriendlyfood DOT com, or in a comment below.

Leftover bread turned into Bread pudding with spiced rum sauce for dessert
Mashed Potatoes with Cheesy Crunchy Topping
Mashed potatoes turned into Light-as-a-feather potato pancakes
Black Forest Chocolate Roulade, using Leftovers Egg whites
Roasted Chicken

Related Posts:

Leftovers: Roasted Chicken

Mashed Potatoes with Cheesy Crunchy Topping

Leftovers: Mashed potatoes turned into Light-as-a-feather potato pancakes

Tags : Chicken, Leftovers, Pasta, recipe
Categories : Chicken, Fall and Winter, Leftovers, Main dishes/entrées, Pasta, Recipes