Leftover Makeover Edition – Panko Fried Pasta – AKA The Pasta Burger

As a chef, I LOVE fresh ingredients.  I’d rather hit the farmers market over the mall any day.  But as a mom, I love using leftovers… In this post, I’m going to show you how easy it is to take last nights leftovers and turn them into a whole new meal…

Kids are hungry.  I have nothing “planned” for dinner and needed to whip up something fast.  I had leftover ziti pasta and marinara sauce from the night before but I knew they wouldn’t go for that meal again.  I tried, I did..

Kids: Mom, whats for dinner?

Me: hmm, how about pasta from last night?

Kids: We’re not in the mood for that.

What can I say?  My family is spoiled.   I can’t blame them, I personally am not a fan of leftover pasta.  The textures change.. But I had a LOT of pasta leftover and I didn’t want it to go to waste.  I love getting good deals and making something out of nothing.

So here goes…

Let me tell you a secret.  I kind of play my own version of Food Network’s “Chopped” in my head.  Except Ted Allen is not giving me a basket of ingredients like frog legs, cheese & twizzlers.  I get to pick my own mystery basket ingredients.    This round it is “leftover pasta”  Which by the way, would be a great future mystery basket ingredients in Chopped – Have you seen Cutthroat Kitchen with Alton Brown?  You can bid for your competitor to use some of the less fresh ingredients, take away their utensils or cook with a microwave.  Worst part, when they are judged.. The critic can only taste the food – No explanation of anything.. Just a straight up food tasting..  Cruel, just cruel.  I would NEVER compete on that show.  My anxiety levels go through the roof for these contestants, I almost need a xanaz to watch it.  On one episode, They had to make a lobster sandwich and with 30 minutes left they bid on who has to make their bread from scratch.  Bread in 30 min?  Not happening.  The contestant made a quick flatbread.. Genuis.. However the judge says “I just don’t understand why you chose flatbread instead of a roll”  I know the guy was wanting to scream “because I couldn’t,  My competitor took my rolls away and I had 30 min to make bread.”

So I play chopped at home and I used to do the same thing in the restaurant.  Customers would say, What’s on the menu for tomorrow?  I never knew until the next morning when I walked in to the market,  looked at all the gorgeous produce and got inspired. Now in my kitchen, I don’t have this market full of produce for inspiration.  I have leftover pasta,Hungry kids and time ticking away.  So I look in the fridge.  OK, I have eggs, ricotta cheese & some mozzarella.  Fresh basil in the backyard and Viola it comes to me.. I can mix all these things up, coat them in panko and have a pasta burger.

You will either think this post is genius or insane.  I say Genius.. Every single one was devoured with NO leftovers.  It was a much better meal than the plain ziti pasta we had the night before.

To my leftover pasta, I added 1 cup ricotta cheese, 2 eggs, 1 cup of mozzarella and a handful of fresh basil.. Mixed it all together.  Used a cookie scoop to make semi-uniform shaped patties.  Patted them out like a burger and coated in panko..

P.S. If you haven’t noticed.. I LOVE panko..

Lightly coat the skillet with olive oil and fry until brown on both sides.  3-4 min

You end up with this crunchy crispy goodness on the outside with a creamy melt in your mouth goodness in the middle.

You could really makes these look Elegant by drizzling some marinara sauce on a plate – Eat these on a burger , yes a super high carb meal, but who doesn’t love a spaghetti sandwich.  That was not a joke.  I was serious.

I named this the pasta “burger” because I really don’t like to use the word Patty.  It reminds me to much of SpongeBob and with 6 kids, I have made more “crabby Patties” than I would like to admit.  It’s kind of like the word “Casserole” – I really don’t like that word since my mother was the casserole queen with chicken surprise every night.    I prefer to call them “Bakes”  Much sexier than casserole.. Don’t you think?

I ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS have Panko & vegetable stock in the pantry and eggs & cheese in the fridge.  You can make just about anything into a Leftover Makeover dish by adding egg and frying or baking in panko..  SERIOUSLY..  I’ve done this with soooo many leftovers..

Here are just a few other Leftover Makeover’s to inspire you:

Stale Cookies – Grind into crumbs in a food processor – mix with butter and use as a base for pies or cheesecake or use as a topping for ice cream, yogurt, Parfaits.  Dip pretzels in chocolate & then in cookie crumbs.

Stale Brownies – Same as above or cut into mini squares & add to your favorite cookie recipe for a “Brownie Cookie”

Leftover Baked/Mashed or Roasted Potatoes? add vegetable or chicken stock, onion/leeks or Bacon, cheddar & scallions with some half & half or heavy cream for a quick delicious soup

Leftover Fruit Salad? add pineapple juice or coconut milk and/or yogurt for a chilled fruit soup or smoothie OR Blend fruit salad add egg, sugar & flour and bake into a fruit custard.

Leftover BBQ items? Baked Beans, Pulled Pork, Ribs, BBQ Chicken, Corn on the Cob, Baked Potato all taste fantastic in a soup together.  Just add a can of tomatoes, chicken stock & BBQ sauce OR omit stock add cheddar cheese + eggs and pour into a casserole dish.  Top with a corn muffin topping and bake.

Leftover Pot Roast – turning it into “Pot Roast Poppers” I will be sharing all these recipes on future blog post

Leftover Chicken? Layer ingredients between flour tortillas in a spingform pan and bake.  Cut into wedges.  Philly Cheesesteak Stack – Buffalo Chicken Stack – BBQ Stack – Fajita Stack

Leftover Chicken could be its own post – Depending on what type of chicken & how it was prepared you can make 100’s of dishes.

Chicken Salad – Buffalo Chicken Quiche – Chicken Quesadilla – Chicken Noodle Soup – Chicken & yellow rice – Chicken pot pie – Chicken & mushroom swiss bake – Chicken burgers – Chicken croquettes – Cheesy Chicken Bake

Using leftovers is the best way to save time & money in the kitchen.  Wasting food is not an option in our house. Try using up some leftovers in a creative dish.  Share your leftover makeover dishes or ideas in the comments, I would love to hear them.

Have leftovers and no idea what to do with it?  EMAIL me – I would be happy to help.