Real "Master Chef" home cooking

"Master Chef" is one of the very few network television shows we make a point of watching; that "Hell's Kitchen" and "Kitchen Nightmares" are two of the others should come as no surprise. However, I do have one perennial complaint, to wit, if "Master Chef" really is "America's best home cook," then why are contestants judged on their ability to create "restaurant quality dishes" with the high-quality ingredients using professional tools?

The real test of a good home cook is to turn out family-pleasing dishes seven nights a week, 52 weeks a year, and to do it on a budget in a suburban ranch kitchen. I'd like to see a "Master Chef" mystery box that included only items found in my fridge and in my pantry -- the week before I get paid. Now THAT would be a challenge! Oh, and Joe would have to swallow it.

Another would be using up leftovers in ways that disguise what they were originally.

I thought of this last week as I was putting together what I think was a pretty decent pork pot pie with cheddar biscuit topping for dinner last night. It was the left-over herbed pork roast (a rub of chopped fresh sage, rosemary and garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper) and potatoes from last Sunday's dinner (the miracle of refrigeration!). I sauteed some minced onion and garlic and with a gravy made from the drippings stretched out with some chicken stock, added the cubed pork, diced potatoes, and some frozen mixed vegetables. Ordinarily there would be left-over roasted carrots, but we've been out of carrots for a couple of weeks now; Mike kept forgetting them at the grocery store. I mixed up some buttermilk drop biscuits, cut back a bit on the shortening and added some cheddar cheese, but no herbs, figuring that the herbs from the pork would be plenty. I baked it in individual ramekins as a further diversion from the fact that it was made with left-overs. Baked until the topping was browned and we had dinner.

Later in the week. I made broiled frozen cod with pesto made from the basil growing in our herb garden served over orzo.  Mike picked some very tiny baby eggplant, so I halved them, drizzled with some olive oil, topped with some finely minced garlic and parmesan cheese and roast along with the cod. I saved a bit of basil to sprinkle over them. I wanted to do a saute with peppers and tomatoes, but nothing was ripe yet.

The cod and pesto were a success, and the next night, I made homemade ravioli with basil/garlic/ricotta filling and the rest of the pesto. That used some ricotta that I had in the fridge, and leftover pesto -- two for one.

I'm planning ricotta-stuffed cannelloni for this week, with a red sauce, to use up a couple of tomatoes that are getting too ripe and the rest of the ricotta.