Leftover Night - Part I

My husband hates leftovers. I mean, he really won't eat them unless they look qualitatively different than the original meal. So, I often have to gussy up leftovers so that he'll eat them. The easiest leftover meal is homemade chicken soup after having a roast chicken on the weekend. In less than 30 minutes, I have a weeknight dinner on the table that's so satisfying on a cold winter night. But sometimes, I need to be more creative.

For instance, I made ginger-marinated pork tenderloin over the weekend, but since there were only 2 of us, we had a lot of leftover pork. Since it already tasted like ginger and soy sauce, I decided to make a stir-fry with the leftovers. So, we made pork stir fry with bell peppers and baby bok choy with sesame oil. Accompanied by some microwaved frozen brown rice from Trader Joe's, we had a feast. Here's my recipe:

Pork with Bell Peppers:

Leftover roasted pork tenderloin (about 3/4 lb or as much as you have)

1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced into bite-sized pieces

1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into bite-sized pieces

1 small onion, halved and sliced

1-2 TBSP olive, peanut or vegetable oil

2 TBSP fish sauce, or to taste

1 TBSP garlic, minced

1 TBSP ginger, minced

Handful chopped cilantro leaves*

Handful thinly sliced scallions (white and green parts)

Sesame oil, to taste

Heat oil in a wok or saute pan over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry, for about 1 minute or until fragrant and golden. Add onion and cook, until onion softens, stirring frequently. Add bell peppers and cook, until peppers are just crisp-tender. Add pork and toss, until pork is warmed through. Add fish sauce and cilantro leaves, and stir until incorporated. Remove from heat and top with scallions and a few drops of sesame oil, if desired.

Stir-Fried Baby Bok Choy:

3-4 heads of baby bok choy, rinsed and quartered lengthwise

1-2 TBSP olive, peanut or vegetable oil

1 TBSP garlic, minced

1 TBSP ginger, minced

1 TBSP soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil (no substitutions)

Heat oil in a wok or saute pan over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry, for about 1 minute or until fragrant and golden. Add bok choy and let sear on one side. After about one minute, turn bok choy to get color on the other sides. When bok choy is crisp-tender and browned on some edges, turn down the heat, add soy sauce and stir. Remove from heat, add sesame oil and toss.

*Trader Joe's puts about a tsp of chopped flash-frozen herbs into these little ice cube trays and sells them. You can keep them in your freezer until you need them. I imagine you could do the same thing at home, using your ice cube trays, chopped herbs and a little water, and then putting the resulting cubes in a zip-top bag.