Fridge-clearing vegetable patties

Fridge-clearing recipes are some of my favorites. You take what you've got -- whatever that may be -- and it comes together to make something edible. No buying something special, no defrosting something frozen, no worrying about it being beautiful.

A few weeks back I made these vegetable patties using all sort of odds and ends in my fridge and freezer, and put them over some rice to make a meal. The list below is what I used (roughly), but the beauty of this is that I think it could work with just about anything. I'm thinking squash, zucchini, onions, shallots, chopped spinach, shitake mushrooms...the list goes on and on.

Vegetable patties

You will need:

1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 potato, peeled

1 yam or sweet potato, peeled

A handful of button mushrooms

1 large carrot, peeled

1 egg

1 tablespoon flour

2 teaspoons curry powder

A pinch of cayenne

Bunch of chopped parsley or cilantro

Put the peas and corn in a large bowl, and set out. Using a box grater, coarsely grate the potato, yam, mushrooms, and carrot. Squeeze as much of the water out as possible from the grated vegatables. I just grabbed handfuls and squeezed them over the sink. Add vegetables to the bowl, and add minced garlic. Stir in the curry powder, cayenne, and parsley. Add the egg and flour, and mix with your hands, like you're making meatloaf. It will be loose. Add more flour and another egg if you'd like to to come together a bit better.

Heat a large heavy skillet over medium high and add in a splash of olive oil. Form the vegetable mixture into 1 1/2 inch circles and place in the pan. Flatten down with a spatula. Cook for 5-6 minutes on each side, until golden brown. I made a curry-lime sour cream to go on top, below.

Curry-Lime Sour Cream

You will need:

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoons curry powder

Juice from 1/2 a lime

Salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and blend with a fork until combined.

Road kill is certainly under the $10 mark

NPR is asking for readers to submit meals that will feed four that come in under $10. There are over 300 recipes submitted so far!

Many of the recipes contain rice and beans -- the cheap pantry staples -- but some are so creative and fun! Sweet potato kale quesadillas, brined pork with strawberry chutney, Moroccan chicken tagine, and on and on.

An entry from William Hovey Smith takes us way beyond rice and beans with a recipe for road kill deer stew. Luckily for us, William has a book coming out soon: Backyard Deer Hunting: Converting Deer to Dinner for Pennies Per Pound! I think I speak for everyone, William: Thank you for this amazing gift to literature.

Challenge details and recipes here.

(NPR, could I love you any more? I think not.)