leftovers lead to happy experiments

One of the problems with making things that require unusual ingredients is that I sometimes end up with unused portions of whatever ingredient and I have to find something to do with it so it doesn't go to waste. This has happened to me recently with quite a few things. I have kumquats, rhubarb, ricotta, and buttermilk that all needed to be used for something. The trick was that I wanted to make something with them that I didn't make in the first place, and I wanted a recipe that didn't require me to buy more of whatever item and then have the rest of that be wasted. So, I went searching last night and actually found some recipes that combine the ingredients I was trying to use up, I was actually surprised by the combination, but I figure it was a lucky break on my part. So, tonight I started my creative cooking.
For dinner I had fettucini with some leftover asparagus (from my salmon dinner the other night) and some other vegetables and herbs I had lying around.

For dessert I made a CANDIED KUMQUAT AND RICOTTA TART. I actually wasn't interested in making a crust, so I cheated and used a pre-made Nilla wafer crust, but other than that I followed the recipe. I was a little suspicious about it at first because of the ricotta, sour cream, and fennel...I thought the taste of the filling would be too strong and make it more of a savory thing than a dessert. I couldn't have been more wrong, it was very good. I was genuinely surprised by the taste, but quite happy with it, it makes a perfect dessert.

Stay tuned to see what my leftover ingredients will lead to next! I can only hope that they will be as good as tonight's dessert was.