Leslie Sarna

A "Leftover" Tart

Ah, the age old question of what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers... Well, aside from the obvious reheating and eating as it, there are a few options.  Mashed potatoes make fabulous gnocchi, I love stirring cranberry sauce into muffin mix and you can turn baked sweet potatoes into my sweet potato skins.  This Thanksgiving I decided to turn three leftover items into a tart.  

I had an extra sheet of puff pastry from an appetizer I made, leftover spinach and a little leftover corn.  I sauteed the spinach, corn, some garbanzo beans and garlic in a frying pan.  I then poured it all onto a puff pastry sheet, leaving room for the edges and toped it with a little cheese we also had leftover.  Into a 400 degree oven it went for about 15 minutes and voila a fabulous little tart that tasted fab.  So good I actually think I'll intentionally make this again!   

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  What are you doing with your leftovers?

Creamy Corn Soup

I love this time of year because there are so many beautiful vegetables at the market!  Today there was the most gorgeous corn; naturally I had to get it. :)  And I can't stop eating vegetable puree soups... so of course the result is this creamy corn soup!

Creamy Corn Soup

Serves 8

What you'll need:

1 medium onion, diced

1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced

1 lb. of corn, zipped (set the amount of one ear aside)

2 cups of vegetable stock

4 cups (or more) water

1/4-1/2 tsp. paprika

a dash or more of cayenne pepper

a handful of cilantro, chopped (optional)

1 scallion (or chives), chopped

salt and pepper to taste

What you'll do:

In a large soup pot over medium heat saute the onion in a little olive oil.  When they start to get soft, add in the pepper, spices, and all the corn, but about one ear.  Saute another minute then add in the broth and water.  Allow the soup to simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Add more water if too much evaporates.  Using an immersion blender or blender, puree the soup and return to the pot.  Add in the last ear of corn and cilantro.  Season to taste.

Serve warm garnishing with the scallions.

Enjoy!

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Corn Bites with Cilantro Butter

Perfect to accompany my fajicos or any summer meal!  I love serving corn in small pieces.  I think it makes it so much more accessible.  I feel like people are so much more likely to eat a few small pieces rather than one big ear... maybe it's me, but I also think they are super cute when they are small!

I served them with cilantro butter, which is super tasty and ridiculously easy to make!  All you have to do is bring some butter to room temperature and stir in a big handful of chopped cilantro.  Ta-dah!  Yup, that simple and your guests will be so impressed you made special butter!  Ideally, you'd like to refrigerate this after you stir in the cilantro for a couple hours.

Enjoy and have a fabulous weekend!!

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Summer Corn Salad

I love making this side dish!  It is seriously one of the quickest, yummiest salads ever!  I'm a big fan of vegetable salads (obviously).  Growing up in a family of meat eaters that love to have cookouts, I used to love coming up with sides that I got to eat and that my whole family could enjoy.  I still enjoy coming up with fun salads.  This dish just screams the fresh tasty flavors of Summer!  I made it one day after discovering  I had three ingredients in my fridge: corn, mushrooms and a red pepper.  Turned out to be a delicious salad and one of my favorites to bring to cookouts.

Summer Corn Salad

Serves 4

What you'll need:

3 ears of uncooked corn, zippped (cut the kernels off)

3-4 large crimini or button mushrooms, finely diced

1/4 red bell pepper, finely diced

1/2 cup veganaise

a handful of cilantro, chopped

a handful of chives, chopped

salt to taste

What you'll do:

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, season to taste and chill.  Enjoy!

That's it, for reals...

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A little healthy Mexican Food Anyone??

Well, there are about a million ways of making burritos.  I feel like everyone has their very specific way of making them.  This is simply my favorite.  

First off, it's all about the tortilla!  If you aren't going to make your own from scratch the next best thing is to buy my favorite tortillas, which are uncooked tortillas!  The kind I buy are made by torillaland.  You can get them at some Whole Foods stores or here on amazon.  They are so simple, all you have to do is heat them up in a frying pan, which you would probably do with a cooked one anyway right?  

Second, the beans.  If you don't have time to soak some beans overnight, it's ok to use canned.  BUT only if you jazz them up!  In a medium pot, I melt a pad of butter and add 1/2 diced onion and a pinch of salt.  Saute for a few minutes until shiny and slightly soft.  Drain and rinse the beans and add them to the pot.  Cook until they are warm.  Much tastier : )

Leslie's Bean and Cheese Burrito

Makes 4 burritos

What you'll need:

4 tortillas (preferably uncooked)

1 cup mexican mix cheese (a blend of cheddar and monterey jack)

1 can of black beans, plus 1/2 onion, cooked liked described above

1 ear of corn, zipped and sauteed with a small pad of butter

guacamole (your recipe or one of mine)

What you'll do:

Heat up a large frying pan and heat up a tortilla.  Once warm, flip over and place some cheese on the tortilla.  Wait a few seconds until the cheese gets a little soft and slide the tortilla onto a plate.  Top with some beans then corn and guacamole.  Fold in the sides and then roll up.  Enjoy warm!

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Things used:

Uncooked Tortillas

Griddle Pan