Making Father's Day Leftovers Work

Ah, Father's Day.  If you're like our family, then you probably grilled something and had some of your standard barbecue side dishes.  Our meal on Sunday was comprised of bratwurst, Italian sausage, sweet corn, potato salad (but not just any!), and a sauteed mixture of peppers, onion, and tomato that we affectionately refer to as "Garbage."

The way we did Father's Day this year was unique.  We found out whether or not my Grandma's grill was working, and when she told us it was, we came to her, ingredients and all, and made an entire meal in her kitchen.

My aunt brought an awesome potato salad, modeled after Greek tzatziki sauce (the stuff you put on your gyro).  It had sour cream, Greek yogurt, feta cheese, and shredded cucumber all mixed in.  So delicious!  I can picture it being eaten in a pita with some nice crunchy Romaine lettuce.

We were lucky enough to bring home plenty of leftovers (a couple of bratwurst, the rest of the garbage, some of the potato salad, and five ears of leftover corn on the cob, plus some ingredients we'd brought to make fresh salsa like cilantro, limes, cherry tomatoes, and spring onions).

Come lunchtime on Monday, I wanted to do something to recycle the tasty tidbits we'd brought back.  Then it hit me: Corn salad.

Ingredients:

4 medium-sized ears of sweet corn
1 spring onion (the kind that comes attached to the leaves, nothing too big)
~1/2 c. sweet cherry or grape tomatoes
~1/8-1/4 c. fresh cilantro
2 limes
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Honey
Garlic powder
Chili flakes
Paprika
Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Use a sharp knife to remove the kernels from the corn cobs.
2. Mince the spring onion finely.
3. Chop the tomatoes.  I like to cut each tomato in half, then cut each half into 3 or 4 pieces.  They blend a little better with the corn this way.
4. Chop the cilantro finely and add it to the rest of the ingredients in a bowl large enough to mix everything in.
5. Roll the limes to make them easier to juice, then add all the juice from both limes to the corn, tomatoes, and onion.
6. Now start to season the salad.  Add as much chili and garlic as you like.  Add about a quarter teaspoon of paprika, then drizzle in some olive oil and honey.
7. Now, the most important step: Taste!  If it needs salt and pepper, add them.  If it isn't acidic enough, splash in a little red wine vinegar.  The most important thing to remember is you can make any recipe your own.  Maybe you like a little less tomato or a little more chili...go for it!

Now, you may be saying, one cannot live by corn salad alone.  Very true!  I guess it's a good thing corn wasn't the only thing I had to work with.

I made up a nice little batch of couscous and sliced up and heated a bratwurst.  With a little bit of peppers and onion heated up and mixed in, suddenly I had a tasty meal.  All it took was a few extra ingredients and a little ingenuity.

Leftovers have so much potential...why smother them by just throwing them on a plate and nuking them in the microwave?  As long as you have some basic ingredients to add in, your leftovers will never be blah again.

Until next mealtime,

~AF