I ate it before I took a picture

If you were to say you know me, you may know that I rarely eat leftovers. The dish has got to be something really special or one that gets better with age like chili, lasagna...(most casseroles and curries and italian food) in order to make me visit it twice. This is not to say that I don't utilize leftovers. If I bring something home from a restaurant, it typically means that I sense potential in the making. The leftovers become an ingredient for another dish that will be birthed later.
   Case in point, French Lentil Tomato Curried Stew. Wordy title, but this was a mouthful of a reanimated dish.
   I'm house sitting for friends and so have a whole new palette to work with because they stock different items in their kitchen that I do. Also, they have a very useful vegetable garden out back.

Ingredients:

Leftover to be reanimated:
Chandra's French Lentil Soup- (lentils, greens, cabbage, mushroom, onion...near as I can tell, maybe some wine. french, you know)

*note- this soup was good. there was just so much of it. I had to turn it into something else in order to have another meal of it.

Add-ons:

from the kitchen:

Reanimated and captured on film for the 2nd time

garlic
shallots
olive oil
crushed red pepper
Cholura hot sauce
sherry wine
black pepper
salt
braggs
chili powder
random bits of salty meats
2 eggs

another leftover:
gazpacho soup

from the garden
basil
curry leaves
fresh tomatoes

I told you a mouthful.
   So yeah, I just start grabbing things that I think may work together. This is how my process works. I look at the main leftover I'll be working with. I think about what it tastes like and imagine what I could do with what it has to offer in the flavor department. I may be contemplating this throughout the day, so when I get home, I can just get to work on creating the new dish. I've decide I want something tomato-y since it's summer and the tomatoes are just starting to turn red. From the garden I take the ripen ones. I know I have some gazpacho from the other day that I can add to what ripe tomatoes are present to create a good tomato base.

Fire up the stove:
  I almost always start with the saute pan. I've got olive oil. shallots, garlic, and the above spices that i start browning in the pan. This part has got to taste great or the rest of your dish will turn out...just eh. Why waste the time in the kitchen if you're not gonna make something delicious?
Once I'm satisfied with the flavor base I've created I add the tomatoes, the gazpacho, and the french lentil soup to the pan and let everything get acquainted. I also add a few bits of some salty meats (i don't know, I think there was some pastrami, maybe prosciutto..anything will do and for those who want total vegetarian approach , dash a bit of sesame oil in the mix) Once everybody has met and co-mingled, we turn up the heat and let things get sexy. Cover the pan for privacy and let everybody reduce into something different and delicious.

So, I'm an eye-baller.. I can't tell you how long I cooked this or that. I just look at it and taste it when necessary to see how everything is getting on. So at some point when I see that the dish has in fact reduced and thickened. I give it a taste. Hmmm....it's gooood (said in a questioning accent) something's missing, it could be better.

Back to the Garden!
BASIL!!
   There's not much that fresh basil can't cure and this dish needed the rescue of this wonderful plant. And then I remembered the curry leaf plant on the front porch! Oh my gawd, I love this plant. The smell, the taste. I think my favorite element of South Indian cuisine.

So fresh basil and curry leaf it is! These leafy treats are added to the stew. At this point I crack 2 eggs on top of the mixture and let poach... cook cook cook, a little more.. then turn off the stove and let it sit.

Have yourself another glass of wine and let the stew cool to warm, not hot. You want to be able to taste the subtleties of all your work. If it's too hot, you'll miss out. I am someone who almost always prefers my ingestables at room temperature.

So yeah, that is French Lentil Tomato Curried Stew. I think I have enough ingredients still in the leftover department to attempt this dish again. And if I do, I promise to take a picture,  but I will probably do something even different with it the next time.

Bon Appetit!