I was planning what to cook for our evening meal one morning recently and I came up with a shakshuka. Delicious, with onions, peppers and fresh tomatoes, with feta nested in the sauce and cooked till meltingly soft. That’s because The Weather Man is not partial to eggs.
What a great idea, right? Healthy and easy too. Except I had no peppers or tomatoes at home, nor any feta. And I was just about to set off to the shops when I realised how much more sense it made to use what I had at home before I spent more money and time only because I fancied shakshuka!
So I stayed put and cooked a wonderful dinner of green lentils and stir fried cabbage, with half a dozen slices of pancetta that had been festering in the fridge, one miserable tomato and whatever herbs there were at hand. The recipe will be appearing here soon.
But the point this week is: cook from the cupboard and the fridge, making use of what you have rather than planning fancy dishes you hadn’t shopped for. Far less wasteful.
Obviously, I have no idea what you have in your cupboard. Mine is probably a little more stocked up with less common stuff than an average cupboard, because of what I do. But hopefully some suggestions below can be of use to even those who never buy bulgur or dashi.
Chickpeas are great – a couple of tins plus a pepper and a few mushrooms will make crispy roasted chickpeas, as spicy as you wish. Or, if there’s a block of feta in the fridge, you can make a chickpea traybake with tomatoes.
Dirty rice is a fabulous dish flavoured with a small amount of mince – pork in my recipe can be swapped for beef or turkey, or whatever sits in your freezer. The choice of spices as well as vegetable add-ons are totally flexible.
A frittata is another versatile dish. As long as you have a few eggs, you can make it with mushrooms, broccoli, peppers, onions or herbs and any ham/chicken/sausage scraps.
Asian recipes often cook from the cupboard and can be super easy to adapt, too: noodles with cinnamon will accept any shredded vegetables as ingredients and chicken chow mein can become beef, pork or tofu chow mein – whatever is at hand.
Couscous and bulgur are my faithful cupboard friends because you can always rely on them when ideas and ingredients are low. Couscous with vegetables, with shredded roast chicken, bulgur with root vegetables or with chorizo – and these are all very quick and easy dishes to prepare.
Pasta can be cooked from the cupboard too: with breadcrumbs and capers, with Alfredo sauce and frozen peas or alla pizza: with a few slices of pepperoni or another sausage and stringy cheese.
And then you can bake a cake, totally from the cupboard: honey and apricot brack, which makes good breakfast, or lemon butter cake, using that tin of condensed milk from the back of the cupboard.
And if that’s all not what your cupboard keeps, perhaps you can use my Recipe Finder: select up to 3 ingredients and see the recipe ideas. Happy cooking!