Yes, it’s true.  We eat leftovers.

Sometimes they’re planned leftovers – like the breaded chicken breasts I made the other night but, evidently, never wrote about – and sometimes they just are – like the roast beef from Tuesday.  The smallest roast at the store is too much for the two of us at one meal…

So every now and again, we’re faced with several different things in the ‘fridge that need using up.  And when there are also rolls that need using up, the only correct solution is sandwiches!

Sandwiches… They’re named for the 4th Earl of Sandwich, but he really didn’t invent them.  They had been around forever under many different names and guises.  He just got the credit – and for a while, the Sandwich Islands.  (That was the name Captain Cook gave to Hawai’i before the locals killed him for killing a local.)

But I digress…

It doesn’t matter to me who they’re named after or who first thought about them… anything between – or atop – slices of bread is okay with me.  I really do love the fact that they lend themselves to absolutely anything and everything.  The day after Thanksgiving would never be the same without turkey sandwiches on squishy white bread, dressing, cranberry sauce, and mayo!  It’s just about the only time store-bought white bread is in our house.  And every different bread makes a different kind of sandwich.  I remember a restaurant at Tahoe in the ’70s that made a rather dry 9-grain bread, but used it for an avocado, tomato, cream cheese, and alfalfa sprout sandwich that was to die for – especially after smoking a big ol’ joint.  The dry bread worked perfectly with the rather moist filling.  I don’t remember the name of the place but I think it was in Kings Beach. And any sort of grilled sandwich or panini…  or tuna salad with potato chips, salami on a sourdough roll, Andronico’s Turkey with Lingonberry Sauce, a Monte Cristo, a Croque Monsieur, a PB&J… or…  or… or…

But I digress, again…

Tonight I had the aforementioned roast beef and the aforementioned rolls and chicken.   Since I was doing two different meats, I wanted to tie them together with other fillings.  The basket of cherry tomatoes were my inspiration; more candied cherry tomatoes!  Tomight I had some proseco that I used as the wine of choice and  I added a minced cayenne pepper from the yard.  I cooked them down a bit more – and then refrigerated it to get it ooey-gooey.

Mayonnaise and thinly-sliced red onion, candied tomatoes, and crispy breaded chicken breasts or cold roast beef on teeny little rolls were the perfect meal.

They were really messy with stuff oozing everywhere.  It was a numerous-napkin-meal.

And worth every bit of the mess.

And speaking of leftovers… in about an hour, we will be ready for more Flourless Chocolate Raspberry Cake.

Leftovers are good.