I think everyone knows I love a deal. I spend much of my time at work researching deals but my love of knowing I got a great price doesn't end with travel. As I've said before, I often take my recipe cues from what's on sale at the grocery store. It's rare that leg of lamb is in that category so I immediately snatched one up for our Sunday roast.

One problem with this technique of buying what's on sale and maybe what's not on my weekly menu plan, means that I need to think on my feet for what else I'll need to make the meal. That's not so much of a problem, but generally I like trying new techniques, or if it's something I haven't really made before like leg of lamb, I like to look through my cookbooks and see what the different recipes call for. In this case, it was easy, most call for the same and a simple preparation is best.

One of the cookbooks I trekked back with from the US this time is an autographed version of Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc. I can't thank my aunt enough for that wonderful gift! While I have Keller's other 2 cookbooks from his other Napa Valley restaurants, this is the first one that works with every day ingredients in way that your average at-home cook can relate to. Ad Hoc serves homestyle food, so this is right up Dave's alley as well. Not surprisingly, there is a simple recipe for leg of lamb in Keller's book. Making various small slits in the piece of lamb, you insert 10 thin slices of garlic throughout. A drizzle of olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and tucking in a bit of rosemary and voila! The meat needs to reach an internal temperature of 135 degrees F. I used a meat thermometer and also followed Keller's instructions to let the meat rest for 45 minutes. This is a long time, but I decided to listen to the master. The meat was perfectly cooked, the only downfall is that it was a bit cold after resting for so long. He didn't mention to tent it, so again, I wanted to follow exactly and I didn't either. It was still tasty but I guess I'd tent it in the future and maybe only let it rest for 35 minutes. I don't have a microwave and somehow reheating seems wrong, but perhaps a quick zap would do the trick.


As you can see from my photo, a roasting pan with rack is not something I have in my collection so I decided to make my own. I cut up potatoes and leeks and added those below. I forgot that lamb really doesn't have much fat though, so halfway through I drizzle some olive oil over the potatoes as they weren't getting my from the lamb. I had to continue cooking the potatoes as well, for about 15 minutes longer than the lamb.


Leftover tip: We got a 2.2 kg roast so there were definitely leftovers. Knowing we wouldn't have slices of lamb again, I decided to make a lamb wrap for lunch for several days after. I heated a tortilla on the stove, cooked the meat for just a few seconds to warm it up (it loses the rareness immediately so don't cook longer than that!), added some greens, tomatoes, red onions and plain yogurt spiked with a bit of Tabasco and paprika. Delish! Unfortunately it wouldn't really stay 'wrapped' for a photo :)

I know I've said it before, but now I'll prove it. One of my favorite things about working at home is that I get to either have great leftovers, or may totally new things for lunch each day. Not that I do; many days I'm so busy I'm lucky if I step away from the computer at all, and there are plenty of days (Mondays after we've been gone for the weekend, specifically), when I have to heat up noodles and broth because there's literally nothing fresh in the house. But there are some days when I can whip up something new from a previous meal. In winter, usually it's just reheating a soup or stew, but in summer I'm more likely to create something completely different from what's leftover.

The key is to look at the ingredients you have but don't necessarily think about them as part of the original dish you made. Some of these lunches are made from dinner leftovers, others are made from the few random things I had in the refrigerator.

The first one was created when I opened the fridge to see I had 2 pieces of what they call 'American Toast' that was fast approaching it's best-by date. I bought a package of this toast for goat cheese toasts I occasionally make to go with salads or with brunch. Unfortunately goat cheese toasts aren't something you want to be eating with every meal for several days straight, but one meal definitely doesn't use up the bag of 5 pieces of bread or the bit of goat cheese. So I had both of these ingredients and began to brainstorm from there.

I toasted the toasts with goat cheese on them about half the time I normally would, then I added a slice of salami to each, sliced a tomato and added that on top. I baked for a bit longer until the tomato was slightly roasted. Then I topped with a bit of salad greens, drizzled a little olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. It looks good and tasted even better. I'll always keep this in mind when I have these leftover ingredients.


After making cilantro-limo chicken tacos, I had half a yellow bell pepper and some of the yummy cilantro-lime dressing leftover. I turned this into a quick and easy salad with tons of flavor. I topped salad greens with sliced bell pepper, then cooked up a fresh chicken breast, shredded and added to the salad. Add a chopped tomato and a healthy drizzle of the dressing and it's a completely new meal!


During one of our first grill-outs of the year, Dave prepared a bunch of different meat and we had several sausages left over. I also had the end of a baguette that was too hard to try to turn into a sandwich but I figured if I moistened it a bit with just a little water and then toasted, I could possibly bring it back. Once I had those 2 ingredients, I knew exactly what I'd make -- almost a cheesesteak with sausage. I often have bell peppers on hand and I always have onions and cheese. I baked it all in the oven and it turned into a serious meal.


A simple but elegant dinner that I've made at least a handful of times already is the chicken panini. Carefully sliced open and stuffed with tomato, basil, mozzarella and even prosciutto, then grilled, it generally turns out looking pretty and dresses up a simple chicken breast without too much time or effort. So after making the chicken panini the previous night, I stared at the ingredients and while it's not much of an innovation to put them together in a sandwich, this open faced version with a salad was well-balanced and an excellent lunch.

I topped a slice of my Irish soda bread (reference here) with a little olive oil, then prosciutto, tomato, basil from my garden and mozzarella. Serve with a simple green salad with tomatoes and drizzled with olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. You'll need a serious knife and fork to enjoy!


So Dave may get steak-frites, salmon, duck and the like at his fancy work cafeteria, but for the most part I'd say I treat myself pretty good at Travelzoo Swiz's cafe, Chez Lauren :)

Serving a 10-lb turkey for 2 people is obviously going to yield some serious leftovers and as you've heard before, I'm not a fan of eating the exact same thing for several nights in a row. So after Dave's welcome home dinner, I starting thinking about how I could incorporate the turkey into another dinner without it necessarily feeling like we were eating turkey again. Chili sounded like the perfect thing.

I've made chili so many times before that I really don't follow a recipe or even measure out the seasonings. I try to estimate for the recipes on here, but really it's a dash of this and a palmful of that. I used a lot of the same ingredients I had included in past chili, but I was a little worried that the flavor from the turkey wouldn't be as bold as when beef is used, despite the fact that the turkey was infused with cajun seasoning. This is why I decided to include a bit of prosciutto. I also added a bit of cocoa powder just for a further depth of flavor -- this doesn't end up tasting like chocolate at all.

Leftover Turkey Chili

3 slices proscuitto
1 onion, chopped
2 bell peppers (any color), chopped
2 chiles, chopped
1 chipotle, chopped
1 can black beans, drained
1 can tomatoes
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp coriander
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
leftover turkey, chopped into bite-size pieces

In a dutch oven over medium-high heat, add a little olive oil, then tear up the prosciutto and add to the pan. Next add the onions and bell peppers and cook for several minutes. Add the chiles, then add the beans and tomatoes all at the same time, stir. Add all the seasonings and the cocoa powder and stir.


Add the turkey, gently stir to combine and let simmer for at least 20 minutes to let the flavors develop.

Ladle out into bowls and top with sliced green or red onions, cheese and chopped fresh cilantro. Serve with leftover jalapeno-cheddar cornbread.

Results: Very tasty. I wasn't sure if I'd like this version as much as a beef version but it had a lot of flavor and is probably a lot healthier than the red-meat version.

Believe it or not, back when I was single, I actually didn't starve. Granted, dinner might be two pork chops, seasoned with Lawry's, and prepared on a George Foreman grill. But, I did cook for myself, at least between JBCs anyway. And later, as Lauren and I started nesting, I loved manning the Weber Kettle Grill on my roof in San Francisco while she prepared the sides in the kitchen.

That said, we haven't bought a grill in Swizz and the George Foreman is long since retired. So, woefully out of practice, but eager to make something for my sick Lo, who hadn't eaten much since picking up a stomach bug in Venice, I asked if she wanted some spaghetti with leftover sauce from our lasagna. But, she had a better idea...

She told me to cut up some onions, carrots, celery, and peppers.

Brown them in a pot with garlic and oil, stirring every few minutes. Add some sausage. Then, once it had all cooked up, add the leftover sauce from our lasagna, some water, a bay leaf, and some oregano.

10 minutes of simmering, finished with a little grated Parmesan cheese, and voila -- delicious minestrone soup!


Lo's $.02: So Dave kindly offered to reheat the meat sauce and make some fresh pasta, but that did not sound appetizing at all. So when I suggested minestrone and gave him some ideas on how to prepare it, it was cute to see how enthusiastic he was in making it for me. He did a great job and it was so sweet of him to cook for me when I was sick. The soup was delicious, a great way to transform the leftover sauce and it was so much better to make minestrone with this meat sauce as opposed to just canned tomatoes. Dave often acts so naive in the kitchen, but when it comes down to it, I know he can do it and I know he'd survive just fine without me cooking every night. But lucky for him I want to cook most nights and lucky for me, I know he'll always appreciate that.