Meals from nothing...Hints and Tips # 1...

What do you do, when, like Mother Hubbard, the cupboard is bare?   First of all, can I say, that with a little forethought, and very little money, your cupboard never needs to be completely bare. At a minimum, even in my most cash strapped days, I had pasta, rice, herbs and eggs in my cupboard. Alas, Covid-19 has shown us all, that when everyone's cupboard is bare, even those things are hard to find!   Dried beans and pulses, as well as the tinned ones, tinned vegetables, tinned fruit, preserved fruits, dried fruit and vegetables, pickles, tinned fish like salmon and tuna...all the things we usually imagine will be our fallback position in tough times, also suddenly were unavailable.   Lesson learned, right?   The month of June 2020, will be all about meals from nothing. Hopefully, we can discuss how to stock our pantries well, and even pleasurably, even when things really do go pear-shaped. Because, who knows what our real 'normal' is going to look like in the future.   Please chip in with your own favourites as we go along.   Hint No. 1 - herbs and spices   I try to always have some unusual herbs and spices, and a few little 'luxury' items on hand, even in the toughest of times.   Kombucha is a new 'luxury' here, and whilst I don't brew my own (yet!), I do have an obliging friend who provides hers in exchange for fresh herbs.   The addition of exotic spices, too, can make the plainest of ingredients into something delicious.  

  Last night I made my quick version of Dhal Makhani...a super lush and creamy lentil and red bean soup/stew. I have a few ways of making this according to what I have around. Here's the first one.   Dhal Makhani in four sentences

Saute a pinch of fenugreek and cardamom seeds, then added a chopped onion. To that, add a tin of drained red kidney beans, and a tin of drained and rinsed lentils. Add a teaspoon of minced ginger and garlic, ground cumin and turmeric, and a half a teaspoon of chilli powder. Toss in the equivalent of about half a kilo (1 lb) of tinned tomatoes, tomato passata, tomato juice, chopped fresh tomatoes or even condensed tomato soup.
Simmer for a while, stir through a couple of spoonsful of cream, sour cream, Greek yogurt, cream cheese or coconut cream, and serve with gluten free naan bread and a glass of Kombucha.
Yum!
Apologies to the purists who would have me hung, drawn and quartered for not making this dish in the authentic manner.   Hint no. 2 - work with what you have and be creative
We had a very thrown together meal another night, as the fridge was looking a bit empty. I'm trying to stretch my shopping days by one each week, so I will shop Tuesday for example, when normally I'd shop on Monday.
We had a smallish tin of red salmon which I buy at Aldi, and which is so inexpensive for the quality, it's ridiculous. We had some limp rocket (arugula), a quarter of a small pumpkin, and another tin of Aldi lentils...also so inexpensive, even if it's just for the convenience of having the tins on hand for this situation.
I mixed the salmon with two eggs, two slices of bread cubed minutely, the limp rocket (arugula), and some seasoning, and moulded them into patties.   I cubed the pumpkin and roasted it, then mixed it with the drained and rinsed lentils, and a smidge of juice from a Lemon and Cayenne Pepper juice I bought at Woolworths (single serve) and which was so tangy I couldn't finish it as a drink! It worked magnifico as a salad dressing though.
I found a few stray pistachios hiding up the back of the pantry, and shelled and chopped them.
Then I dusted the salmon patties in potato flour, which gives everything the most fantastic crisp coating ever, and pan fried them.
Well, the meal got the biggest thumbs up from the troops and once again shows what you can do with what appears to be very little, by maintaining your stockpile of tinned pantry staples and a few unusual flavours.   Hint no. 3 - think laterally   Thinking laterally can really help sometimes.   Many cuisines are born out of sheer necessity and availability of produce (or lack thereof), so don't be afraid to substitute.   Cream in savoury dishes, you can substitute with milk, cream cheese, coconut or other nut milk, yoghurt, powdered milk, evaporated milk (NOT condensed milk), potato flakes, cornflour or arrowroot mixed with a little water, butter or margarine, or even mashed potato to add richness.   Now that we eat gluten free, we realise that lots of bread and pasta products can be replaced with gluten free crepes, dumplings, pancakes (hotcakes) and scones (biscuits), puffed tofu (Inari), Asian rice noodles, and even very thin omelettes if it's to be used as a wrap for other things.   Vegetables can often be substituted and interchanged at will, and can also replace bread and pasta in many dishes. We have toasted slices of Sweet Potato (Kumera) to have spread with avocado for breakfast for example. And Moussaka is much like Lasagne, but with Eggplant (aubergine) used instead of pasta between the layers. I've also made lasagne using crepes, zucchini ribbons, thinly sliced pumpkin (butternut squash), and thinly sliced potato. Not to mention, spaghetti or other pasta instead of the lasagne sheets. A layer is a layer is a layer, right?   I'll continue to share more ideas this month, but please, tell me your favourites too.   ...Mimi...    

Lunch from nothing.....



Broccoli is so inexpensive here at the moment and aside from using the florets to steam as a vege, adding it to stir frys, and roasts, I've also been grating the stalks to add to salads. I noted that Broccoli stalks are one of the main seasonal ingredients in the very trendy 'rainbow salad' on offer at the major supermarkets. So, good enough for them, good enough for me!

So I've come home from work this morning and within 15 minutes there's a knock at the door. It's a good friend stopping in to say a quick hi before she continues her drive up the Coast. She's been here visiting her Grandchildren.

I offer her lunch (quickly wracking my brain to see what I can come up with on short notice) and upon opening the fridge, lay eyes on this grated broccoli in a little cube shaped container. I quickly add two tablespoons of potato flour, 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder, an egg, 1/4 cup of milk, and some seasoning to this and shake it all up in the container. There's probably about two tablespoons at the most of the broccoli and just enough with the other ingredients for two fair sized crepes.

I've had a big batch of Onion Confit in the slow cooker to give to MIL for Mothers Day when I see her tonight, and I've already put it in jars, so all that's left is the dregs of juice and a couple of stray strands of onion, but that'll do to drizzle over the crepes.

The crisper yields one last stalk of coriander with a couple of yellowing leaves on that I peel off, and there's some cheese, already grated in another container in the fridge.

On goes the frypan and the grill which I'll use in a tic, a spray of oil on the pan, and in goes half the broccoli mixture. It makes a large broccoli crepe, which I sprinkle with cheese, slide onto a serving plate and pop under the grill just while the second crepe cooks.

While the second crepe is under the grill with the cheese melting, I quickly make up two tall glasses of Iced Tea using my own Iced Tea Concentrate. I garnish the tea with some Mint leaves.

I flip the crepes in half with the cheese in the middle, drizzle with the onion confit juices, and garnish with a stalk of coriander.

Within 7 minutes, I have a lunch for two, equal to anything at our local cafes, and basically conjured up from nothing.

Being the Guardian of the Home and Budget saves the day (and $30 on lunch) again!

I wouldn't have dreamed of doing this not so long ago.

When have you made a meal from nothing?