Souped Up

I really dislike throwing away leftovers, but the constant desire to create something new nags at me whenever I heat up last night’s dish. There have been a handful of times that I’ve turned Monday’s chicken into Tuesday’s casserole but it’s tricky (and can end up being more costly than intended) to reuse and recycle.

This was my conundrum as I faced down the remains of the delicious, guest-blog-recipe-provided Multi-tasking Risotto I made a few days ago. No doubt it would have been good reheated but I just wanted to do something… different with it. I felt like the words “beef barley soup” were coupled up in the part of my memory devoted to food (which I once estimated to take up 85% of my total memory capacity), so, inspired by that, I experimented with a meatless version. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself, even if the end result was more reminiscent of a cream of mushroom soup than a beef-barley soup. I only used what I had on hand for this, so if Sherry or tomato paste would mean a trip to the store for you, just skip them.

Risotto Remix
Serves 2.

2 tbsp. butter or extra virgin olive oil
½ c. sliced cremini mushrooms
splash of dry Sherry
leftovers from multi-tasking risotto (I had about ½ c.)
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 can (14 oz.) beef, chicken or vegetable stock
1/3 c. water
1 tbsp. tomato paste
¼ heavy cream or half-and-half
salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter or olive oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté until softened and browned, about 5 minutes. Add the sherry and cook until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the leftover risotto and sprinkle with thyme. Add the bay leaf and then pour in the stock and water. Stir to combine and continue stirring while adding tomato paste. Bring the pot to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, covered, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Just before serving, stir in the cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.