Last night's dinner was one of those "happy accidents" that just...happened. One of those, "Well, I've got this in the freezer and this in the fridge and these are going to go bad if I don't do something with them soon" kind of accidents. I was prepping my husband for the worst on the drive home from work. I assured him that we could hop in the car and go for a burrito if my scheming didn't work out.
The reaction? "Accident or not, you can add this to the rotation." Success!
The accident?
1 lb of chuck stew meat, thrown the crock pot with 1/3 of a beef bouillon cube and water to cover (because I had no beef broth). Cooked on high for about 4 hours, until it was tender and easy to shred. Shredded it, and added it to a hot skillet coated with a smidge of oil to get some color on the meat. Deglazed the pan with some of the "broth" from the crock pot then poured over the remainder of this sauce I had saved in the freezer from the last time we had pepper steaks. It always makes too much sauce and I rarely save it, but I certainly will from now on!
I served it with green beans and brown rice (which I also thought I had ruined, since I turned it off with 12 minutes to go on the timer because we had to go fetch the husband from work!).
How about you? Any happy accidents you can share from your own kitchen?
The reaction? "Accident or not, you can add this to the rotation." Success!
The accident?1 lb of chuck stew meat, thrown the crock pot with 1/3 of a beef bouillon cube and water to cover (because I had no beef broth). Cooked on high for about 4 hours, until it was tender and easy to shred. Shredded it, and added it to a hot skillet coated with a smidge of oil to get some color on the meat. Deglazed the pan with some of the "broth" from the crock pot then poured over the remainder of this sauce I had saved in the freezer from the last time we had pepper steaks. It always makes too much sauce and I rarely save it, but I certainly will from now on!
I served it with green beans and brown rice (which I also thought I had ruined, since I turned it off with 12 minutes to go on the timer because we had to go fetch the husband from work!).
How about you? Any happy accidents you can share from your own kitchen?
No specific accidents come to mind, but I often have success with randomly thrown-together pastas and soups. It is such a good feeling to pull off something from nothing! P.S. I miss your blog :(
ReplyDeleteSounds yummy! Way to use up what you have!! I made a fritatta a few weeks ago when I thought I had more eggs than I did - added cream cheese and totally forgot to put the sausage in so it was just noodles, eggs, oinions, cream cheese, and spinach. Everyone loved it!
ReplyDeleteAdded you to my faves blogroll, btw.
I had a happy accident last night too. I had chicken pieces, leeks, oranges and a can of opened chickpeas that needed to be used. So I seared the chicken and then set it aside. Next I sauteed leeks, chickpeas, orange zest, rosemary and garlic until soft. I deglazed with chicken stock and then added the chicken back into the pan, covered it and braised it in the oven for 40 minutes. The result was tender chicken, flavorful broth and excellent chickpeas. Served it all over couscous. Delish.
ReplyDeleteSeems like most of my "hurry up, dinner needs to be on the table in a couple of hours" recipes are happy accidents! I look at cooking as an experiment for sure. I love your blog. Thanks!
ReplyDelete