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A simple action that each of us can take to increase the sustainability of our eating is to waste less food. This can be such a challenge, as we collect bits of leftover vegetables and meats and nobody in the family feels like eating them anymore. They get old and then thrown away. This evening I rose to the challenge of using up a bunch of leftover bits and making a new dish that seems entirely different and possibly even gourmet! I measured each of the leftover ingredients I used (edamame, green beans, roast chicken, and chicken Italian sausages) to give you an idea of how to go about it. I encourage you to adapt this recipe in such a way as to use up all the cooked vegetables, seafoods, meats, or tofu in your refrigerator. Combine them with some nice, fresh ingredients and nobody else will know they are eating leftovers!
2 ½ cups chicken broth
¼ tsp saffron, crumbled
olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 large tomato, chopped
½ cup dry white wine
2/3 cup cooked edamame
1 cup cooked chicken
2 cups cooked green beans
2 cooked chicken Italian sausages
2/3 cup brown rice, rinsed
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
salt and pepper to taste (you might not need additional salt as the chicken broth and cooked meats and vegetables will already add salt to the dish)
Heat chicken broth in sauce pan. When hot, add a little broth to saffron in a small dish and let sit for about 15 minutes, while you prepare other ingredients.
Heat olive oil in wide pan. Saute onion until translucent. Add green pepper and cook for a few minutes. Add garlic clove and stir. Add chopped tomato and cook until liquid is mostly evaporated. Add brown rice and stir to coat rice kernels. Add chicken broth, saffron and white wine. Stir. Cover and simmer until rice is tender and most of liquid is absorbed, about 45 minutes. Add leftover meats and vegetables and rosemary. Cover and cook for 5 or 10 minutes more. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4-6.