Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

Will this be a weekly feature?  Maybe.  But probably not.  I didn't even post once last week so that tells ya a lot.  Will it be weird, yet wonderful?  I think so.  Is it Wednesday - for most of the world, it is.

I wrote about these fantastic roasted potatoes a couple of weeks ago and had some leftover which inspired my wacky creation.  However, in the interest of food safety, I must be clear that these posts (though I would like to be more up to date) are not in real time.  I ate the potatoes the day after making them, not a week and a half later.  Though I'm sure a few days old wouldn't hurt.  As my mom used to tell me when I frantically called her with food age questions, "Is it green (and shouldn't be)?  Does it smell bad? Then I'm sure it's fine."  Those are definitely words to live by when cleaning out the fridge for weird and wonderful leftover meals.

Here's what I made:

I quickly fried up the potatoes and reheated some spaghetti sauce and then layered everything together (a little sideways so the potatoes didn't get soggy from the sauce) : potatoes, spinach, sauce and crumbled goat's cheese on top.  It was delicious.  I'm not sure I'd purposely set out to make this from scratch but the next time I have these items in my fridge I will give it another go.  All things I love in one bowl (not the spinach - that was for a bit of greenery - I don't dislike it but I wouldn't say I loooooove it).

Tell me - what's your weird and wonderful creation?  It doesn't have to be made on a Wednesday (this wasn't).  Something you thought might be hit or miss but was a straight up hit from the start...

Pasta With Rocket And Pine Nuts

I'm so determined to come up with an all original, Chloe made recipe that will take the world my few readers by storm that I often let the contents of my cupboard and fridge inspire me, refusing to step foot in the supermarket and just use what I have.

Well, I thought I'd nailed it - a nice tomato sauce served over tortellini with rocket and toasted pine nuts.  Yeah - no one has thought of this, I said to myself.  Google told me otherwise.   I found the pine nuts tucked away in the cupboard and only tossed in the rocket to get some green leafy veg in our diet as we didn't really have anything else in to make a salad with and here I was unknowingly following a recipe.

I made a simple sauce - canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, a little beef stock, salt n pepper, oregano, and sprinkle of sugar and let it simmer.  I toasted the pine nuts by quickly dry frying them in a pan for a couple of minutes and then assembled everything - pasta (I had tortellini but any pasta will do), rocket, sauce, pine nuts and a little parmesan cheese.  It was absolutely delicious.  And though I did think of it on my own, I wasn't the first.  Back to the drawing board.  I'm going to have to be a little bit more inventive.

Cranberry Blueberry Chutney/Relish/Jam

I would love to be getting on with my Christmas baking but with the puppies, I'm finding it very difficult to get anything done!  Yes, I'm wearing pyjamas and it's midday.  I could put them in their crate but then I wouldn't get to cuddle them and they're so cute and widdle and snuggly wuggly (insert more baby talk here).  I'm one more Facebook mobile upload away from being the crazy dog lady (what? I'm already there?!)

So food for thought - and this actually made me go "hmm" - What makes a chutney, chutney?  A jam, jam?  And a relish, relish?  Research I might take on this afternoon while confined to puppy cuddles but I thought I could spur a little discussion on here.

On Monday, I made a quick cranberry sauce to accompany an orange chocolate mousse.  Having only used a little bit, I decided to turn the rest into a hmmm, chutney? relish? jam?  Maybe it depends on how it's put to use?  I made a tart with it but also had a little on crackers.  It would be delicious on toast and a great sauce for turkey (oh no, is "sauce" now in the mix?).

Chicken and Cranberry Goat's Cheese Tart

Cranberry and Blueberry Chutney/Relish/Jam or Sauce

1 cup fresh cranberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup frozen blueberries 
1/4 cup marmalade
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Bring cranberries, sugar and water to a boil.  Stir in marmalade and allow sauce (relish, chutney, jam?) to simmer for about 10 minutes.  Add blueberries and spices and reduce until when the bottom of the pan is scraped with a wooden spoon the sauce (relish, chutney, jam?) divides in two and the pan is visible for a short while.  Transfer to a container to cool and serve with turkey, chicken, crackers, on toast, on pastry, with sausage, and anything else that might go well with it.  The sweet, tarty flavour is a great contrast to a strong cheese and I love the sweet and savoury combo.

So, where do you stand on the chutney, relish, jam debate?