Every week I order three meals from a meal subscription service.  Since each meal contains two servings and I live alone, I have to eat three leftover meals a week.

A new feature of this blog will be to find creative ways to use the leftovers.

Yesterday I cooked and consumed Plated’s Miso Ginger Pollock, so today I have some leftover potatoes, Chinese broccoli, and fish.  Since I had a filet and a half, I improvised two dishes:

• Mango Pollock Quesadillas with Sriracha Sauce
• Roasted Cauliflower and Potato Fish Cakes

Mango Pollock Quesadillas with Sriracha Sour Cream

I’m not 100% thrilled with the quesadillas.  They’re OK, but could be tastier.  I think more of the Chinese Broccoli would help.  I froze three of them, and plan to eat ’em at work this week.  Since no one reads this blog I’m recording the recipe, so I can experiment in the future.

Makes 3 – 4 fajita-sized quesadillas.

INGREDIENTS

• Half of one serving Plated’s Miso Ginger Pollock, breading removed (I threw the breading in the fish cakes.)
• One serving of the Chinese broccoli from Plated’s Miso Ginger Pollock
• 1 cup shredded cheese, Mexican mix
• 1 teaspoon jalapeno, diced (I didn’t use all the jalapeno Plated provided)
• 6 – 8 tablespoons mango pico de gallo
• Four fajita-size tortillas, corn or flour
• Sriracha sauce
• Sour cream
• Lime juice, a few squirts
• Butter, meltable margarine, or oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix the Sriracha sauce and sour cream in a small bowl.  Set in refrigerator to chill.
2. Flake or cut the fish into bite-sized pieces.
3. Butter one side of each tortilla.
4. Place a tortilla in a pan on medium heat.
5. Sprinkle a little cheese on half the tortilla.  You’ll add more later, this initial layer will melt and serve as “glue” to bind the other ingredients to the tortilla.
6. Arrange 1/4 of the fish, 1/4 of the mango pico, and 1/4 of the Chinese broccoli on one-half of the tortilla.  Add a squirt of lime juice.
7. Add more cheese to the tortilla half containing the other ingredients.
8. Carefully fold the tortilla’s empty half over the loaded half.
9. You will have room in your pan to repeat the process with the second tortilla while the first tortilla crisps.
10. Flip the tortillas over when the first side is crispy.  You’ll probably have to flip the first over a minute or two before you flip the second.
11. When both sides of the tortillas are crispy, remove quesadillas from pan and begin again.
12. Serve quesadillas with Sriracha/sour cream sauce as a dip.

FREEZE ‘EM

1. Loosely fold a piece of wax paper around each quesadillas.
2. Place quesadillas in freezer bag and freeze for up to two months.
3. Re-heat one or two at a time in a microwave for about 90 seconds.

Roasted Cauliflower and Potato Fish Cakes

Makes approximately 20 fish cakes

OK, I sort of failed here.  I forgot to take notes and measure the ingredients, so what I’m providing is really a list of ingredients and estimates.I’m saving this as “notes to myself” instead of an actual recipe.

My “fish cakes” are laughably irregular when compared to other people’s fish cake photos . . .

. . . and upon cooking, the cakes turned into more of a “fish crumble.”

Note to self:  Buy nicer dishes for food photography!  Also find camera!  Lighting wouldn’t hurt, either!

I’m sure there are people who would turn their nose up at the end result, but I quite liked it.  It was crispy, greasy, and salty — all my favorite flavors in one dish.  The next time I eat this I’ll need a salad to go along with it so I don’t feel as guilty about eating it.

INGREDIENTS

FOR CAKES

• One serving Plated’s Miso Ginger Pollock with breading, finely chopped
• One serving potatoes from Plated’s Miso Ginger Pollock, finely chopped
• 1 small cauliflower cut into bite-sized florets
• approximately 3/4 cup bread crumbs
• 2 cups cooked rice, cooled
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon butter or oil

FOR SAUCE

• 3/4 cup sour cream
• Sriracha sauce to taste
• lime juice to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

The Night Before:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Toss cauliflower florets in one tablespoon olive oil until lightly coated.
3. Spread cauliflower on a baking sheet.
4. Roast cauliflower until tender and golden, 25 – 30 minutes.
5. Set cauliflower in the refrigerator to cool overnight.

The Next Day:

1. Chop or food-process cauliflower into coarse crumbs.
2. Mix the fish, cauliflower, potatoes, bread crumbs, and rice in a bowl.
3. Mix mayonnaise, lime juice, and egg in another bowl.
4. Add mayo mixture to fish mixture.  Use hands to thoroughly combine ingredients.
5. Add panko breadcrumbs to a shallow bowl.
6. Using a scoop (ice cream scoop worked well) make a small patty by depositing scoop on wax paper and flattening.
7. Carefully pick up patty and roll in panko crumbs, flipping to coat both sides.  Repeat for all patties.  Stop here if you plan to freeze this dish, see FREEZE ‘EM below.
8. Blend sour cream, lime juice, and sriracha sauce into a creamy dip.
9. Add butter or oil to the frying pan over medium heat.  Cook each patty until golden brown, about five minutes.  (Remember, the cakes will absorb the oil, so be stingy!)
10. Serve patties with sriracha dipping sauce

FREEZE ‘EM

1. After Step #6 above, layer the patties in waxed paper and freeze.  Fish cakes will survive approximately six months in freezer.
2. To reheat, add a little butter or oil to a frying pan over medium heat.
3. Cook each patty until golden brown and warmed through, about 5 – 7 minutes.  (Remember, the cakes will absorb the oil, so be stingy!)