We were in the beautiful Schell Brothers model home for a cooking demo with Executive Chef Scott Viselli featuring leftovers. Usually, Chef and I sit down and brainstorm a few ideas for upcoming demos, and this time, leftovers seemed to stick. Re-purposing food and coming up with multiple dishes from one protein or base is a necessity in the food and beverage industry and a must-know for any professional chef. So Chef figured he had some helpful tips he could share for the domestic chef – how to create multiple meals from a single piece of meat to save time, trips to the grocery store, and money… win, win, win.
Chef Scott walked us through a demo where on day one, we would have a prime rib dinner.
On day two, Chef showed us you can simply shave down the leftover prime rib to make cheese steak sliders with caramelized onions. To caramelize the onion, start with a very hot pan. Low heat will only “sweat” the onion, releasing too much moisture which will then take longer to caramelize. One you have achieved a nice golden color, add the shaved prime rib to warm it up. Then add in your cheese (you can top your cheese steaks with it if you’d like, but melted throughout looked delicious). Chef recommended a nice, aged provolone.
For the bread? Brioche rolls. We learned that straight out of the bag, brioche can be a bit hard and tastes best when warmed or lightly toasted. Pop the brioche rolls in the oven at a low temperature to warm for serving. Served the shaved prime rib, caramelized onion, and melted provolone on warm brioche rolls with a dollop of spicy mayo and enjoy!
On day three, use the left over prime rib to make a simple beef stew. The most important thing we learned from Chef on beef stew? Be very, very careful when tasting any soup with oil or fats in it. Why? Everyone knows water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, oil has a much higher boil point. So even if your soup is not boiling, the soup can still be burning hot due to the oils and fats that may still be very hot. Make sure you cool any spoonfuls adequately before tasting!
The last example of re-purposing food before having to eat the same meal for days was a using a rotisserie chicken. It makes for an easy dinner on day one, and on day two, you can whip up a simple chicken carbonara with bacon, peas, and heavy cream – yum!
