{"id":410,"date":"2011-01-11T12:34:39","date_gmt":"2011-01-11T17:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pechism.org\/?p=410"},"modified":"2011-01-11T12:34:56","modified_gmt":"2011-01-11T17:34:56","slug":"sometimes-i-am-cheap-enough-to-use-leftovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pechism.org\/?p=410","title":{"rendered":"(Sometimes) I am Cheap Enough to Use Leftovers"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am unapologetically pretentious enough to admit that I loathe leftovers.\u00a0 Despite the fact that I cook far too much food than necessary and most of the food winds up in the fridge, I wholeheartedly shirk from any sort of economical reuse of last night’s meal.<\/p>\n

One leftover I do make use of, however, is pasta.\u00a0 You can make it into a frittata or heat it up in some garlic oil and have a second Italian bonanza.\u00a0 Since it reconstitutes remarkably well if properly encouraged, I find myself boiling a bit more than I need so I can create something tasty the next day.<\/p>\n

The Italians stole pasta from the Chinese and I feel there’s a kind of poetic justice in reclaiming leftover noodles for their intended purpose, and thus was born my ghetto ramen.\u00a0 I say ‘ghetto’ only in the sense that I know several Japanese who would curl up and die at this dish, but I’m going for flavors I like more than authenticity.\u00a0 In any case, it’s far healthier than instant ramen, which has enough sodium and fat in it to kill a small donkey.<\/p>\n

\"Ghetto<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Before you critique my chipped chopsticks, please realize they’re my personal set that I’ve used since my first long-haul in Japan in 2000.\u00a0 Recipe follows the jump!<\/p>\n

Ghetto Ramen
\n<\/span>Serves 1 Hungover Person.<\/em><\/p>\n

1 tbsp sesame oil
\n1 glove garlic, grated
\n1, 1\/2″ knob ginger, peeled and grated
\nPinch crushed red pepper flakes
\n2 cups water
\n1 tsp dashi-no-moto (instant dashi stock powder)
\n1 1\/2 tbsp good soy sauce (such as Kikkoman)
\n1 1\/2 tbsp mirin
\n1 tbsp cooking sake
\n1\/2 tsp fish sauce
\n1 tsp lemon juice
\nA handful of frozen peas
\nA generous handful unsauced leftover spaghetti
\n1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro<\/p>\n

This is more suggestion than commandment; feel free to toss in some chicken or shrimp.\u00a0 Adjust the quantities of the soy, mirin, and sake to taste.\u00a0 In any event, in a small pot heat up the sesame oil and add the garlic and ginger and red pepper.\u00a0 Saute, stirring frequently, until very fragrant and just<\/em> beginning to color.\u00a0 If you let this burn, you are screwed.<\/p>\n

Add the water, dashi-no-moto, soy, mirin, and sake.\u00a0 Bring to a simmer and taste, adjusting seasonings if necessary.\u00a0 Add lemon juice and return to simmer.\u00a0 Plop in the peas and spaghetti and cook until both are heated through.\u00a0 Pour in a bowl and add more lemon juice to taste and a big handful of cilantro.\u00a0 Eat with shichimi-togarashi or la-yu (Chinese chili oil).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am unapologetically pretentious enough to admit that I loathe leftovers.\u00a0 Despite the fact that I cook far too much food than necessary and most of the food winds up in the fridge, I wholeheartedly shirk from any sort of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cookery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pechism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pechism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pechism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pechism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pechism.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=410"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.pechism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"https:\/\/www.pechism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pechism.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pechism.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pechism.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}