Repurposing is an art, if not a financial necessity, and sometimes can be rather tricky. No one wants to eat the same thing two nights in a row. And isn’t it funny how those restaurant leftovers—at least those that aren’t left in the car overnight—generally prove difficult to use? Such is the conundrum that whole television shows have been devoted to the topic. In the early days of Food Network, Michelle Urvater hosted “How to Feed a Family of Four on $99 a Week” which largely was accomplished by cooking once and eating twice, and Rachel Ray currently has a show ,“Rachel Ray’s Week In A Day,” which basically is a modernized version of reusing leftovers.
So what is an easy way to repurpose those “unplanned” leftovers from a restaurant? You know the kind I’m talking about: the piece of meat and simply cooked vegetables that are too good to leave, but are not enough to feed your family. Pizza is the answer, my friends. With only a few ingredients and minimal cooking, you can turn unplanned meat and vegetable leftovers into something spectacular and apropos for a weeknight repast.
The first step to making fabulous weeknight pizza in a flash is to have pizza dough on hand. Some pre-packaged versions are passable in a pinch, such as those from Trader Joe’s. But if you can spare an hour or two on the weekend, there is nothing quite like homemade pizza dough. We recently discovered “Magic Dough” from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg Cookbook, and it is indeed magical as it can be transformed into pizza dough, breadsticks, pita bread, and more. Make a batch on Sunday, divide into individual serving sized dough balls, wrap each tightly in plastic wrap, and have fresh dough ready for the upcoming week.
The second step is to keep some interesting ingredients in your pantry and refrigerator. “Not Ketchup” by Erika Kerekes falls into this category (see NotKetchup.com for information). It comes in a variety of unique blends, such as Cherry-Chipotle, that can be used in creating a very distinctive artisan pizza at home. Of course, it is useful to keep some ready-to-use pizza sauce at hand, and I particularly like Trader Joe’s version. Also, I love cheese and always have a wide variety available, such as Smoked Gouda Cheese, which comes in handy for creating a cheese plate or topping pizza.
With minimal ingredients from my pantry and refrigerator I was able to transform my leftover duck for one into Smoky Southwestern Duck Pizza with Cherry Chipotle Sauce for two. I used one of my “magic” pizza dough balls and rolled it out until about ¼ thick. Then I topped it with 2-3 tablespoons of Not Ketchup Cherry Chipotle Sauce, duck meat, and shredded Smoked Gouda Cheese. I baked in my Breville Pizza Oven for approximately 5-6 minutes and removed the pizza to cool. While the pizza was cooling, I topped it with fresh cilantro and diced avocado. Dinner in a flash.
- 1 Pizza Crust
- ½ cup leftover duck breast, or duck confit, shredded
- 2 -3 tablespoons Not Ketchup Cherry Chipotle Sauce
- ½ cup shredded Smoked gouda Cheese
- 1 avocado diced
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees or Breville Pizza Maker to desired crispness.
- Form pizza dough into approximately a 10 inch crust. Press down with your fingers on the dough to gently indent entire crust.
- Top pizza dough with Not Ketchup Cherry Chipotle Sauce. Add shredded duck. Top with shredded Smoked Gouda Cheese. Place in oven or pizza maker approximately 5-6 minutes until cheese is melted and crust is crisp. Remove from pizza oven and top with diced avocado and cilantro. Slice and serve immediately.
Your pizza looks and sounds totally delicious! What a great way to use leftover duck! I have never heard of Not Ketchup before…I think I have to get a few bottles of that!!
That looks amazing. No one would think of that as ‘leftovers’ – it’s a beautiful dish in its own right. That’s the secret, I think – no one gets bored when there’s another great dish on offer, instead of last night’s dinner reheated.
I am going to make this! YUM! Speaking of duck, I had the best duck confit at AOC this past weekend with the Cute Gardener. Have you been to their new location yet? Awesome grilled peach salad as well.