Leftover Creativity

 

As usual it was a wild week.  One evening I’d worked really late and couldn’t figure out dinner.  Connie suggested Chinese.  Shrimp and broccoli, chicken with garlic sauce, everything fried rice and hot and sour soup.  Perfect. 

Then, a couple of days later instead of playing my new game of Five Crowns from my friend Joyce, I worked til about six.  After that we cleaned out a shelf in the pantry.  I am happy to say I can finally find all of the lentils along with the various kinds of rice and pasta and grains.  By then it was 7:30 and I was out of ideas for dinner.  A cursory glance in the fridge showed we had half the hot and sour soup along with the container of white rice that came along and was saved for fried rice.  The top item in the freezer in the fridge in the kitchen was a package of pork specials I’d bought to make schnitzel.  Then, I put the cookbook with that recipe somewhere. 

You know that somewhere.  This is a perfect place for it.  I’ll remember I put it there.  Yeah, right.  I’ll remember it for five minutes and then that memory will be overwritten by equally important information.  Oh, well. At least the pork was frozen.

There were a few other options but I’d already decided the leftover Chinese food was our best option.  A box of mushrooms was sliced along with a few ribs of celery.  Those went into a skillet with some olive oil.  The pork specials got thawed in the microwave then sliced really thinly and added to the vegetables.  Once all of that was cooked I tossed in the leftover hot and sour soup.  It made a lovely sauce.  Into another skillet went a handful of sliced green onions and some more olive oil and the container of rice.  I sprinkled on a bit of sesame oil and soy sauce and let it cook til the rice was brown on the bottom. 

What did we think?  I do believe I’d order just the hot and sour soup and white rice to make this again.  It was REALLY good. 

Ingredients:

1 pint hot sour soup

1 sm container white rice leftover from Chinese carryout

2 T light olive oil, divided

2 pork specials, very thinly sliced

8 oz container cremini mushrooms, sliced

3 ribs celery, diced

4 green onions, diced

1 T sesame oil

1 T soy sauce

 

Directions:

Into a skillet pour 1 T of the olive oil.  When it’s shimmering add the mushrooms and celery.  Cook for about 5 min or until they’re a bit browned.  Add the pork and toss until it’s cooked through.  Into another skillet, pour the other tablespoon of olive oil.  Add the diced green onions and the rice.  Pat the rice down and let it cook on medium for about five minutes or until it’s a bit brown on the bottom.  Then, toss with a spatula so all the rice is warmed through.  

Serve with the rice topped with the sauce.