After Thanksgiving, when I’m done with American flavors, these little snacks help reduce food waste while also giving me the Asian food I need after a big American meal. You can certainly make your own traditional samosa pastries for these, but I’m opting for the ease and convenience of wonton wrappers, which are available in most grocery stores. They are perfect on their own, but also great with chutney and sweet and sour sauces.
Instead of reheating those Thanksgiving mashed potatoes, I consider them a head start to pierogies. Paired with the leftover rando cheese, these dumplings can be frozen for a future quick dinner or finished with some miscellaneous herbs or greens and butter for a casual post-holiday dinner. I prefer to make these using a pasta machine and large ravioli molds, but you can certainly make these into the traditional pierogi shape or really any type of ravioli or filled pasta.
Taking inspiration from bread pudding, which combines a custard base with cubes of bread, this savory waffle version not only re-purposes leftover stuffing, but transforms it into a snack that I prefer to the original dish. The trick is to add enough custard to saturate the stuffing but not have a pool of liquid in the bottom of your bowl. The exact amount of liquid needed will depend on how dry your stuffing is to begin with, but this recipe is very forgiving. If you add too much, you can always drain the excess. After that, you just toss the mixture on the waffle iron for a crispy and custardy snack.
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