We’re fairly efficient in the O.K. Chorale kitchen. We make planned-overs and we use leftovers well. After watching an episode of “Chopped” with a theme ingredient of none other than leftovers, I’m inspired to share a recent pantry raid. Leftover grilled bratwurst: no buns, no problem. Pull up a few of the huge walking onions and chop up the bulbs.

Leftover brats + onion bulbs

Next, slice leftover corn off the cob. Mix in the corn along with leftover green beans and asparagus.

Stir Fry a la Leftovers

A side dish comes from the freezer and the last jar of applesauce. Cherry mush leftover from a cherry compote drink (tart cherries, a local crop) mixed with my own applesauce yielded a tasty local fruit sauce.

Apple Cherry Sauce

How productive was this meal? How creative?

• used up two leftover vegetable dishes
• opened the last jar of applesauce just in time to get excited about the new batch
• used up two grilled brats
• validated my instinct to save the cherry mush!

Not bad – not bad at all. By the way, that pot behind the cherry apple sauce? It’s a shrimp stock in progress: shrimp tails & shells with the naked corn cob (see above for the kernels) boiled with some extra green onion. My soup stocks are never the same twice, but they’re always tasty.