Holiday Dinner Leftouts 1: Sweet Potato Pizza

I am generally not a fan of leftovers.  There are some things that I feel taste better the next day; like baked pasta dishes, but things with dressings, toasted bread, or fried foods just don't look as attractive the day after- ahhhh like the twenties bar scene.  Any how, the national obsession with canned goods, bagged marshmallows, and dried out meat on a holiday such as Thanksgiving is kind of disturbing.  I get it that no one wants to be slaving in the kitchen all day, and the stress of pleasing everyone's tastes at the table makes us put out way more options than necessary.  Most of the time there is no way, in one sitting, that all the food spread before us is consumable.  Therefore, I am re-naming things that don't make the first cut, left-outs instead of leftovers.  

It's all in the packaging and branding these days so I have been thinking of ways to deal with the dozen so little plastic half cup containers of things that got left out during the feast.  I don't like waste and see the potential in giving anything second life.  Think of it as giving a dish that someone screwed up the first time, a face lift the next day!  Anything is possible and I know that there are plenty of articles and posts out there about what to do with leftovers but, your best bet is to just wing it and experiment.  What a great time to do it considering the ingredients were already spoken for in the budget and after a few days, the allure of cranberry relish or cornbread stuffing is going to be long gone.

Hopefully I will give you some inspiration too!  I am going to break this up over a few post and I'm sure as next week approaches I will have some other ideas to share.

LEFT OUT # 1- mashed sweet potatoes, sweet potato casserole, OR another type of mashed potato such as yukon gold or russet (See bottom of the ingredient list for a topping combo suing those types)

I love organic sweet potatoes and there is a huge difference between them and the regular ones!  Trader Joe's sells them by the bag.  The difference in the sweetness of them will allow you to lighten up on the maple syrup, marshmallow or brown sugar that normally pollutes a holiday dish.

Sweet Potato Pizza

Serves 6

-12 inch prepared pizza shell, a few Naan flat breads,  leftover baguette, or 1 lb pizza dough.

1 red onion, chopped

extra virgin olive oil

balsamic vinegar

splash of Marsala, Sherry, or dry red wine

2-3 cloves roasted garlic, chopped

1 cup mashed sweet potatoes

1 1/2 cups fontina (has nutty flavor) or smoked gouda (smoked flavor)

finely chopped chipotle in adobo sauce
crumbled bacon bits or a random cured meat leftover over from your cheese and cracker tray

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
fresh herbs you have leftover over

 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (450 if working with raw dough)

1.  Saute the onion over medium high heat with a few splashes of extra virgin olive oil for about 5 minutes.  Add roasted garlic, a few splashes of balsamic vinegar and cooking wine, turn the heat down a bit and let the liquid reduce and the onions caramelize.  Swirl in the chipotle.  Season with kosher salt and pepper to taste.

2.  Spread the sweet potatoes on the crust as you would tomato sauce, top with onion mixture, cheese, and bacon.  Sprinkle pizza with fresh herbs.

3.  Place pizza on a stoneware tray or round in hot oven for 15-20 minutes.

OTHER LEFT OUT PIZZA COMBINATIONS:

1. Mashed potatoes, rosemary, black olives, mushrooms (heck, maybe a few leftover stuffed mushrooms, chopped up) crumbled Gorgonzola or blue cheese, a sprinkle of those canned fried onions if it will kick the can, Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2.  Cranberry relish and roasted Poblano peppers, sauteed onions, and cheddar cheese

3.  Red braised cabbage, creamed spinach, roasted garlic, beets and goat cheese

4.  BBQ shredded turkey (just sauce up the bird a little with some bbq sauce) tomato, red pepper, crumbled bacon, and blue cheese.

5.  Turkey, watercress or mixed greens, dried  cranberries, black olives, curls of Parmesan cheese and a citrus dressing