Mel's Big Ideas: The Couldn'ts

Sunday 5 February 2017

The Couldn'ts

"The Couldn'ts." This is an expression my husband uses from time to time. Growing up in Newfoundland, Canada, he has been known to have colourful language. "The Couldn'ts" are the leftovers from your meal, the night before. They can easily be repurposed to make the most wonderfully delicious recipes.

Yesterday's dinner was Prime Rib, with oven roast potatoes, steamed carrots and broccoli and Yorkshire Pudding. Today, I need an appetizer for a Super Bowl Party. Stuffed Mini Yorkies seems perfect!! And while I'm at it, a healthy bone broth to be turned into a beef and barley soup. I have a head cold. I need to build my immune system!

STUFFED MINI YORKIES

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of oil

2 eggs

1 cup of flour

1 cup of milk

1 tsp of salt

For Stuffing:

Approximately 1 cup of cooked beef, chopped.

1/4 cup of sautéed mushrooms, chopped.

1 tbsp of garlic butter

1 tsp of horseradish, optional.

Finely chop leftover beef and leftover fried mushrooms. Melt down a tablespoon your favourite garlic butter and if you love it, add a tsp of horseradish.

Add the chopped mushroom and beef mixture to your melted butter. Sauté for 1-2 minutes. Top with grated Parmesan Cheese.

Stir the cheese into the mixture and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Add approximately 1tsp of oil to each muffin tin. If you have leftover beef drippings, add to the tins. Once the oven is preheated, place the muffin tin into the oven for 3-4 minutes. You'll hear the sizzle of the oil.

While heating the oil, prep the batter.

Beat two eggs and cup of milk with salt and flour.

Remove the tin from the oven. Fill to 3/4, with the batter. Add approximately a teaspoon of the beef and mushroom mixture to the top of each muffin cup.

Return the muffin tin to the oven, which is still preheated to 400 F. Cook for 16 minutes.

After removing from the oven, allow 2 minutes to cool in the pan and then transfer with a spoon to a platter.

As my mini muffin tin is rather small, I had extra batter and meat mixture, so I threw together a small casserole dish, with 1/4 cup of oil. Increased the oven temperature to 425 F. I heated the oil in the oven.

When heated, I removed it from the oven, added the additional batter to the heated oil and topped with the remainder of the beef and mushroom mixture. I baked this larger Beefy Yorkshire Pudding for 18-20 minutes.