We Americans toss way too much food into the trash — to the tune of 27 million tons per year. That’s crazy! The biggest offender? Leftovers. I get it, many of us don’t want to eat the same thing two days in a row — me included. But with a little ingenuity, a well-stocked pantry, and simple strategies, you can turn last night’s supper into something fabulous and completely unrecognizable to those who won’t eat leftovers.
While fish tacos are a quick and easy — and delicious — solution, I think we can get a little more creative. So let’s break it down into breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Breakfast:
Grab-and-Go Salmon Frittatas — great with cooked salmon or white fish
- Fold any leftover fish, sautéed veggies, canned beans, or rice into scrambled eggs and roll into a burrito for a protein-packed start to your day.
- Add flaked fish to beaten eggs with some wilted spinach and shredded or crumbled cheese and then bake in well-greased muffin cups for grab-and-go breakfast frittatas that will last you the week.
Lunch:
Onigirazu — using leftover sushi rice and whatever seafood you have on hand
- Combine leftover fish with grainy mustard, mayonnaise, chopped celery and olives for a deluxe fish salad lettuce wrap or sandwich. Or toss it with salad greens and tart vinaigrette for a hearty main-course salad.
- Use leftover sushi rice, nori sheets, and cooked fish to make a simple folded sushi sandwich — onigirazu.
- Combine leftover rice, grains, or pasta with cooked, flaked fish, fresh or frozen spinach, a squirt of sriracha or wasabi mayo or a vinaigrette for a simple seafood lunch bowl or taco bowl.
- Wrap any type of seafood in rice paper with shredded vegetables and lots of herbs for Vietnamese summer rolls.
- If you’ve got any leftover roasted fish and potatoes from dinner, mash them together with an egg and some seasoning, form into patties, coat in breadcrumbs, then pan fry for crispy next-day croquettes.
- Or combine flaked fish with mashed white beans, some minced onion, and an egg to form gluten free fish cakes. Pan fry, air fry, or bake until golden and serve with a green salad and/or sautéed veggies.
- Stir fry leftover rice and seafood with diced onion, a scrambled egg, some frozen peas or chopped bok choy. Add a dash of soy and sriracha for easy fried rice.
- Fold any leftover seafood into warm pasta, with sautéed garlic, spinach or grated zucchini, chopped tomatoes, and a ladleful of starchy pasta water to pull it all together.
With just a few pantry staples and a bit of imagination, those leftovers can be the start of something seriously tasty. Less waste, more flavor — that’s a win in my book.
If you try one this week, let me know how it goes! I’d love to hear from you
Dinner:
Pan-Fried Fish Cakes — A great way to use leftover fish and potatoes
- Give the gift of a subscription to sustainable seafood and get $25 off subscriptions when you subscribe with code SEACC25
- Sitka Seafood Market will donate $25 to SEACC for each subscription purchased from November 21 to November 29*
Grace Parisi
Culinary Director Grace Parisi is a cook, writer and cookbook author. Formerly the Senior Test Kitchen Editor at Food & Wine Magazine and Executive Food Director at TimeInc Books, her work has appeared in Cooking Light, Health, O Magazine, Epicurious, Fitness, Today, Serious Eats, Martha Stewart, and many more. She’s the author of more than 6 books, among them The Portlandia Cookbook and Get Saucy, which was nominated for a James Beard award for Best Single Subject Cookbook.
