Cleaning out the fridge time

Every cook has done it from time to time. That is, looked in the fridge and pantry and decided they needed to figure out a way to use up the odds and ends that were hanging on from previous meals. For instance, I recently tried my hand at potato gnocchi (messy! but I will try it again) and had two russet potatoes hanging out in the recesses of my pantry. I also had a package of shiitake mushrooms in the fridge and one bunch of broccoli. As previously noted, I'm trying - so far successfully - at cutting back on meat so a vegetarian meal looked appealing (I'd made spaghetti and turkey sausage meatballs for lunch).

So I dove into Epicurious and other websites and looked around. The best looking recipe was a scalloped potato and mushroom dish. I decided a simple steamed broccoli side was in order. More on that in a bit.

I found this recipe through Google at Cooks.com: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1622,132182-244192,00.html. I dug into my soup bin and found but one cream of mushroom soup can. However, I had a cream of potato soup on hand, and what was in the dish with the mushrooms? So I figured that'd blend in better than cream of chicken or cream of celery, etc. That was the only change I made to the dish.

It was creamy, but I would like the potatoes to have cooked a bit more. The hour I gave it wasn't enough. I sliced them quite thin too, so I doubt I could get them much thinner. Maybe I should have gotten out my mandoline and used it. Or maybe just an extra 15 minutes would have made the difference. I liked it better than John, but that's unsurprising since I like potatoes in general much more than he does.

I decided the steamed broccoli side needed some zing to it. I'd read a recipe in one of Ellie Krieger's cookbooks about steamed green beans with a mustard sauce. So I put a couple tablespoons of stone-ground mustard into a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup and gave it a whisk to loosen it up. It definitely needed something to thin it out. So I searched my brain and my fridge... water? Boring. Chicken broth? That would take away from the vegetarianism of the meal. Bourbon? (I have a lovely recipe for a bourbon and mustard sauce to go with pork chops - and it's great on the veggies too - look for that recipe to appear on these pages). I thought the liquor would be too strongly flavored, but it was heading in the right direction.

So I turned to a mostly- used bottle of white wine, a chardonnay, in my fridge. I added a teaspoon or two to that - basically just splashed a little in and stirred it together until the mixture was still thick enough to cling to the broccoli but liquid enough to pour from the cup. It definitely had some zest to it! We both liked it!

For dessert, we had a couple of the cookies I made this afternoon - oatmeal-cinnamon chip whole wheat cookies. Recipe here: http://adashofsass.com/2009/02/10/whole-wheat-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/ . They're a little drier than I prefer. I'm glad I did not add the walnuts as they likely would have made them taste even drier.