Coco Pazzo Restaurant
300 West Hubbard
Chicago IL 60654
312-836-0900
http://www.cocopazzochicago.com
Turn leftovers into Italian classics
December 14, 2009 They don't like to waste food, so they cook up creative meals using every bit of meat, stew, potatoes and vegetables from yesterday's meals. Chef Chris Macchia of Coco Pazzo on Hubbard Street www.cocopazzochicago.com shares some ideas for taking leftovers and turn them into an entirely new dish. His favorite thing to do is take leftover meat, squash, potatoes, cranberries, and vegetables, then use them to fill pastas such as ravioli, tortellini or mezzeluna. You can serve the cooked pasta with a simple butter, cheese and fresh herb sauce, or you can add the pasta to broth (made from the turkey carcass of course) for a lighter meal. Even better is to make a ragù from leftover beef, pork or venison and serve it on top of fresh pappardelle or fettuccini. The other terrific thing about making pasta, ragù or soup from leftovers is that they are delicious and they freeze well. That way you won't need to make leftovers from your leftovers, the chef adds.
