Supper With Sam

Archive for the ‘Leftovers’ Category

This curried cauliflower puree is a wonderful solution to leftover cauliflower.I must however warn that if you are not a lover of cruciferous vegetables - approach with caution. This puree has a wonderful, creamy texture but it definitely has a strong cauliflower taste.

Cruciferous vegetables are extremely good for you. The are an excellent source of fibre,vitamins and have been known to lower the risk of cancer if eaten regularly. But, try to convince your family to eat a bowl of cauliflower, broccoli or horror of horrors - brussel sprouts.

I can however say that this puree coupled with the curry flavours enticed my vegetable-hating son was prepared to give it a try and afterwards said: "Awesome Mom"!

So, the other day I was in the supermarket and they were selling absolutely beautiful, huge cauliflowers.It was the night of the roast beef dinner so I thought I would at least be able to serve some of this massive cauliflower in a cheese sauce. I stll had a good half of the cooked veggie left over though.

After leaving my poor, beautiful cauliflower in the fridge for a day, inspiration struck. I would puree the rest and do something with it! I took the ready cooked caulflower and warmed it in the microwave. I then blitzed to a puree in the food processor, adding a knob of butter, a splash of cream and some medium spiced curry powder. The cauliflower was then a lovely orange colour. I reheated it and served as a side dish with supper. Very tasty.

So the other day I did the whole roast beef thing and there were a few slices left. I already had things to put on the kids sandwiches for school lunches so decided to use up the leftovers to make a pasta with creamy roast beef sauce.

Pasta is probably one of the staple foods in our house. I normally keep at least three packets of different shapes and on evenings when I really am at a loss for what to make for supper I grab a packet and go from there. For me pasta sauces can either have a tomato or a cream base.In our house we love a pasta with a cream base.

For this dish I cooked some ricciolini which are like larger, ridged half-pipes of macaroni. It is a good shape for a cream as it keeps the sauce in the little scoops. I sliced the cold roast beef thinly into strips and stirred it into the drained pasta, adding some frozen peas, garlic and shredded spinach. I threw a cup of cream over the top and heated everything up over the stove. The shredded spinach had just started to wilts and the peas were still crunchy, leaving the roast beef pieces delicately pink.

Serve with a fresh green salad, making your leftovers into a delicious pasta meal.