Empty the Storecupboard Challenge: Week 15
The cooking continues! We’re making big progress with using up the oldest food stocks in the storecupboard, and we’re still eating well and enjoying the meals.
This week we’ve had some tuna with Nicoise-ish pasta, crunchy veggies in breadcrumbs, and courgette and chilli pasta.
The Nicoise-style pasta (see main picture above) was a bit like a Nicoise salad, using 100g more of the penne and served hot. We also added tuna, blanched green beans from the kitchen garden, tomato, olives, homegrown cucamelon and some homemade French dressing. A real treat.
Next, the veggies in crunchy crumb (below right) used up a packet of the lightly spiced oven-bake breadcrumbs. I griddled some courgettes from the garden, then mixed them with Greek yogurt, half a clove of finely chopped garlic, and some mixed herbs. This helped the crumbs to stick to the surface, and added some protein plus a better flavour. Beau had some leftover chicken with his, and we also had steamed broccoli to keep it light and fresh.
Our final dish was pasta with courgettes, chilli and lemon (above left), and it meant that we finally finished the massive stockpile of penne. Hurrah! Yes, more courgette from the garden glut went into this, but it tasted delicious freshly-picked, sliced finely and gently sauteed in a tiny amount of olive oil, along with a pinch of dried chilli flakes, Italian herbs, salt, pepper and a tiny squeeze of fresh lemon.
I’d forgotten how good the courgette recipe tasted – it’s so easy to make but for some reason I haven’t cooked it in ages.
This week’s three recipes
1. Baked savoury pancakes with spinach, cheese and mushroom filling. This should use up some more of the just-add-water batter mix, and make a hearty but healthy dinner.
2. Lentil curry with potato and green beans, to get rid of another couple of sachets of lentil sauce mix, and whatever’s lurking at the bottom of the vegetable drawer or bottom of the garden. If there’s anything left over, I’ll just freeze it to make a ‘homemade takeway’.
3. Spaghetti with roasted vegetables and brown butter sauce, to get through some more of the wholewheat spaghetti plus a few garden vegetables and lots of fresh herbs.
Over to you
What are you going to cook this week? Are you having any luck using up your old food stores?
Feel free to share your thrifty recipe ideas – inspiration welcome.
