Clean-Out-the-Crisper, Full-Circle Salad

Tired mushrooms, softening pepper, yellow carrots and
 half a beet found this spring over-wintered in the garden,
broccoli stalks, arugula gleaned  when one of the garden beds
was cleaned up  and fresh eggs from the girls.   Left over chicken (not shown)

I'm not a cook.  But I do cook. Most of the time it's fun.  And it's always part of the Things I get to do today, so I look for ways to be creative--most of the time. Sometimes I just look for ways to get my husband and myself fed. Not to be overlooked are those moments when the great cycles of life all converge:  "no food" in the house, meal time, fridge needs cleaning out.  Ever happen at your house?

Full-Meal Deal

This galactic converging slammed into my kitchen the other night.  We had Clean-Out-the-Crisper, Full-Circle Salad.  You immediately get emptying the fridge drawer onto the kitchen counter.  The salad also included bits of chicken and hard-boiled eggs. Not knowing which came first, I included the full circle.

A Brine Solution

I love goat cheese.  The recipe sounded yummy.   It came from a fancy-pants cookbook.  In spite of the good beginning, resulting dish was hard to eat:  flavor toward the bland side, but mostly it was dry on the palette.

We had "Sautéed Potatoes and Mushrooms with Goat Cheese" for dinner.  Button mushrooms quartered and sautéed in butter and olive oil until golden with minced garlic added at the last minute is how the recipe began.  That's what drew me in, that and the fact that I had goat cheese in the fridge.

Now figuring out how to make the leftovers a delight instead of a struggle is on my supper Things I get to do today.  A to-die-for compote of baked red grapes and kalamata olives served with goat cheese on crackers comes to mind.  The answer is there.

Dilute the brine to keep it from being too salty.

A few minutes later we have "gravy", or maybe better said, "sauce" made from a butter/flour roux with a pinch of thyme and some kalamata olive brine ready to rescue the potatoes.   Magnifique!