Who's My Little Sweet 'Tater Paah?

I have a confession to make: I really don't like leftovers. I don't know why, but I just hate eating the same thing twice in a row. Starting out cooking for myself, I was convinced that leftovers were the way to go in making sure I always had something reasonably healthy around to eat, but I soon found out that I never wanted them, preferring nutella on toast or some other effortless "dinner" in favor of reheating something already made. Even if I made something weird and mediocre really quickly, I always prefer it to just nuking something. Which leads me to today's brunch.

Yesterday's cacio e pepe was delicious, but as per usual I misjudged the amount of pasta to make and I had way too much. At first I despaired over the wasted food, knowing that microwaving cold pasta would not really be attractive to my spoiled tastes, but then I remembered frittatas. Basically just an Italian omelet, another common way to make them was to incorporate leftover pasta. So I beat a couple eggs into my pasta, added some leeks and parsley, and blopped the whole mess onto a frying pan. A few minutes later, a delicious eggy pasta pie was born and I was saved the unfortunate experience of repetitive dining... while still not wasting food. I served it with some sweet potatoes and walnuts baked with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and I also had some mixed greens on the side. All in all, it was the perfect late brunch on a beautiful lazy day.

At the same time, I wanted to try out my new ramekins a little more, and with the rest of the sweet potato I made some mini sweet potatoes and leeks au gratin topped with walnuts.

As you can see, I may have left them cooking a smidge too long, but definitely not past the point of yumminess. All that's in these little gratins is alternating layers thinly sliced sweet potato and leeks sprinkled with salt and pepper and milk poured in around the stack. The chopped walnuts are just hanging around on top.

A little healthier than the regular potato gratin, these were just as and creamy and satisfying.