The Leftover Resurrectionist

Petra Novak

Petra thinks meal prep is too often a promise to eat the same sad box five times. She cooks for transformation instead: roast chicken becomes croquettes, rice becomes crisp cakes, mashed potatoes become dumplings and stale bread becomes the best part of dinner. She labels nothing leftovers. It is all tomorrow's mise en place.

Eastern EuropeanInternationalZero-Waste

Voice · inventive, thrifty, darkly funny, practical, anti-waste

Signature Dishes

The essential curation of Petra's favorites.

55 MIN

Crispy Butternut Squash and Potato Cakes with Smoky Paprika Mayo

Golden, crisp-edged cakes made from roasted butternut squash and mashed potato, served with a cool yogurt sauce punched up with smoked paprika. Petra would call this a fine reason to have cooked potatoes sitting around.

65 MIN

Crispy Arborio Rice Fritters with Fennel and Radish

Golden-crusted risotto fritters reborn from yesterday's pot, crowned with paper-thin fennel and radish for a crunch that makes second-day rice worth saving.

50 MIN

Crispy Butternut Squash and White Rice Cakes with Yogurt Dill Dip

Golden, crispy cakes made from roasted butternut squash and cooked white rice, served with a cooling yogurt and fresh dill dip. Petra's take on turning humble staples into something with real crunch and character.

45 MIN

Smoky Pinto Bean and Butternut Squash Croquettes with Pickled Red Onion

Crisp, golden croquettes stuffed with smoky pinto beans and roasted butternut squash, crowned with bright pickled red onion and cooling yogurt. A clever way to resurrect humble cooked ingredients into something worth fighting for at the table.

40 MIN

Crispy Kale and White Bean Toasts with Pickled Onion and Feta

Golden-crisp bread crowned with mashed white beans, showered with shatteringly crispy kale, tangy pickled red onion, and salty feta crumbles. This is the toast that makes you forget sad meal-prep boxes ever existed.

47 MIN

Almond Flour and White Bread Apple Crumble

A thrifty apple crumble where stale white bread transforms into golden crisp crumbs alongside almond flour for a nutty, zero-waste topping over warm spiced apples.

50 MIN

Buckwheat and Arborio Rice Pudding with Fennel and Honey

A comforting two-grain pudding that bridges buckwheat's earthy depth with arborio's creamy silk, crowned with caramelized fennel and a honey drizzle. Chef Petra turns humble pantry staples into something that tastes like you planned it all along.

45 MIN

Coconut Flour and Pumpkin Seed Custard with Maple

A silky, grain-free custard with toasty pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of maple, made possible by coconut flour's natural thickening power. Petra would call this proof that the pantry scraps are not scraps at all.

50 MIN

Potato Croquette with Bacon and Cheese

Golden, crispy croquettes loaded with savory bacon and melted cheddar cheese. Petra's answer to sad fridge leftovers — transform humble potatoes into something worth fighting over.

60 MIN

Crispy Chicken and Rice Stuffed Bell Peppers

Golden-crisp bell peppers stuffed with savory chicken and rice, topped with melted cheese and buttery breadcrumbs, served with a bright yogurt-lemon drizzle.

45 MIN

Crispy Rice-Potato Patties with Pickled Cucumber

Golden, crispy patties made from humble rice and potato, transformed through the alchemy of high heat and patience. The pickled cucumber adds bright acid to cut through the richness — because day-old becomes day-two masterpiece.

90 MIN

Twice-Baked Potato Shells with Cheese and Chives

Golden potato shells stuffed with a rich, creamy cheddar cheese mixture and topped with fresh chives. The perfect way to transform simple potatoes into something spectacular.

45 MIN

Leftover Chicken and Yogurt Soup

A velvety Eastern European-style soup where leftover roast chicken finds new life in a creamy yogurt broth enriched with egg, brightened by dill and served with crusty bread for scraping the bowl.

35 MIN

Leftover Rice and Yogurt Porridge

Petra's resurrection of day-old rice into a silky, warming porridge. The yogurt adds tang and creaminess while a quick sauté gives the grains new life and flavor depth. This is breakfast that respects yesterday's efforts.

40 MIN

Crispy Potato and Chicken Patties

Golden, crisp patties that resurrect yesterday's cooked chicken and potatoes into today's star dish. Served with a bright herb yogurt dip — because transforming leftovers is not a compromise, it is the whole point.

45 MIN

Stale Bread and Potato Soup

Chef Petra transforms day-old bread into the soul of this rustic Eastern European soup, where it thickens and enriches a deeply flavored potato broth studded with caramelized vegetables. The stale bread is not a compromise — it is the point.

35 MIN

Leftover Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla

Day-old cooked chicken meets melted cheese between crispy tortillas — Petra's favorite way to make the fridge feel purposeful. A little onion, a little oil, and suddenly last night's bird is today's best lunch.

45 MIN

Yogurt and Pickle Chicken Salad

A thrifty, bright chicken salad where cooked chicken gets woken up by tangy yogurt, crunchy cucumber, and a hit of dill. This is yesterday's roast reborn, not a sad meal-prep box.

55 MIN

Stale Bread and Egg Pudding

A thrifty Eastern European classic that transforms yesterday's bread into today's custardy, golden pudding. Petra would call this Tuesday's mise en place becoming Friday's magic.

45 MIN

Pickled Onion and Rice Bowl

Crispy-edged rice topped with quick-pickled red onions, fresh cucumber, and a bright lemon-yogurt dressing. Petra transforms the humble bowl into something with actual character — acid to wake you up, crunch to keep you honest.

40 MIN

Pickled Onion and Potato Salad

Golden potatoes tangled with quick-pickled onions in a tangy oil dressing. This is yesterday's potato situation given a proper wake-up call with acid and crisp.

25 MIN

Stale Bread and Tomato Panzanella

A rustic Tuscan bread salad that transforms stale white bread into a vibrant summer dish. The bread soaks up the bright juices of ripe tomatoes and a sharp red wine vinaigrette, with crunchy cucumber and pickled onion to cut through the richness. Best eaten with your elbows on the table.

65 MIN

Leftover Potato and Cheese Pierogi

Petra's resurrection of yesterday's spuds into silky dumplings with a golden cheese center. Crisp-fried after boiling because day-two cooking deserves texture, not sympathy.

45 MIN

Crispy Chicken and Rice Bake

Day-old rice and cooked chicken get new life under a golden, crunchybreadcrumb crust with melted cheese and a tangy pickle finish. This is not reheating. This is resurrection.

55 MIN

Stale Bread and Cheese Strata

A thrifty Eastern European breakfast bake that rescues yesterday's bread by soaking it overnight in an egg custard, then baking it golden with plenty of cheese until puffed and irresistible.

35 MIN

Crispy Rice and Onion Fritters

Golden crispy fritters that resurrect yesterday's rice into something with a crackling crust and tender center. Petra would call this tomorrow's mise en place, not leftovers.

30 MIN

Potato and Onion Leftover Hash

Golden-edged cubes of cooked potato and caramelized onion, crisped in hot oil until the leftovers of yesterday become today's most wanted plate. A fried egg on top, a sprinkle of smoked paprika, and you have made something from nothing.

25 MIN

Crispy Rice and Egg Skillet

Cold rice meets hot skillet for the resurrection of every forgotten container in the back of your fridge. This is the dish that makes yesterday's mise en place into today's crispy, golden, satisfying dinner.

45 MIN

Roast Chicken and Rice Croquettes

Golden crispy croquettes that resurrect yesterday's roast chicken and rice into something worth fighting for. Crunchy exterior, savory filling, finished with cool yogurt and fresh herbs.

15 MIN

Leftover Chicken and Pickle Salad

Chef Petra's resurrection of yesterday's roast chicken into a bright, tangy salad with pickles and a creamy dill dressing. No sad meal-prep boxes here — just a proper second act for cooked protein.

From the Pantry

Signature staples

cooked-ricepotatostale-breadeggcheesepickle

Favorite tools

FryingPanBakingSheetGraterSaucepan

Reaches for

cooked-chickencooked-ricepotatostale-breadeggcheesepickleonionyogurt

Steers clear of

unlabeled-leftoverweek-old-ricereheated-fried-foodfood-waste

Flavor Profile

The Loves

second-day browningcrisp transformationspickled brightnesssavory crumbsdeep fridge-cleanout flavor

The Defaults

changing the texture on day twoadding acid to wake up yesterday's foodturning scraps into a crisp toppingplanning one meal ahead for reinvention

The Avoids

sad identical meal-prep boxesthrowing away cooked foodreheating without transformationmystery containers without dates