Eating from the pantry, fridge and freezer: Winner Dinner!

This was my first off-piste recipe so I was a little nervous. Particularly using crab meat. Not really sure how, when or why that made itself into the cupboard, but it was my mission tonight to eliminate it. Forthwith.

But after polishing off my second bowl, I proudly declare this pasta dish to be a double-thumbs-up WINNER!!!

Tomato & crab spaghetti with caperberries and lemon zest

Ingredients

500 grams spaghetti
1 clove garlic, thinly chopped or minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
170g tin crab meat
I 400g bottle tomato passata
2 tablespoons caperberries, halved & stalks removed
Zest of 1 lemon
Parmesan or grana padana to taste

Method

Boil water for pasta.

Heat oil in pan & sautee garlic until light brown. Add tomato sauce, crab meat, caperberries & lemon zest. Heat through on low heat.

Cook spaghetti according to instructions.

Serve pasta with sauce on top. Add a few shavings of parmesan and zest.

Serves 4.

If desired you can forget about the crab meat, particularly for Meatless Monday. The combination of tomato, caperberries & lemon zest adds so much flavour and ZING that it would work regardless.

Eating from the pantry, fridge & freezer - Day 2

I can proudly claim Day 2 of the Pantry, Fridge & Freezer (PFF) challenge a resounding success.  Breakfast was the breakfast of champions, home made berry bircher muesli.

Lunch was Morroccan Quinoa Salad (using lentils instead of black beans) with rainbow salad (above).  After I ate it I felt dangerously healthy.  Dangerously.  Which is kind of ironic since I am fighting a sore throat.

As the mercury soared to more than 37 degrees today, the thought of cooking was as about appealing as sticking my sweatty face in a hair dryer.   So after peering into the pantry,  I discovered a pristine packet of rice paper roll wrappers hiding behind the mountains of pasta (but more on that below).  That packet had been nestling there for at least 12 months. 

My rice paper rolls were stuffed with leftover chook from the kids' drumsticks dinner.  Other ingredients?  Peanuts, coriander, mint, bean sprouts, carrot, rice paper rolls, fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, carrot, cucumber and tofu (tempeh).  And sweet chilli dipping sauce.

During the day I snacked on my obsession, Emma & Tom's Cacao & Orange Life Bars.

Since I am so in love with these bars *swoon* and can't bear the thought of not having one in my handbag for those mid-afternoon emergency hypo-glycemic moments, I have 2 boxes of 12 in the pantry and don't doubt, with or without the PFF challenge, that they will be consumed.  They ROCK!

Tomorrow's breakfast of bircher is soaking in the fridge and as hubby is going interstate for a few days I suspect the next few days will play host to a few rounds of salads, incorporating some of those pesky and numerous cans of legumes.  How DID I end up with so many???

After the cans, I will tackle the pasta.  Sheepishly: I can now admit to 10 packets (yes, 10) of spaghetti and 7 packets or boxes of short pasta like fusili and penne.

But don't even get me started on the relishes, pickles and condiments!

Eating from the pantry, fridge & freezer

I have an embarassing problem.

If you're a foodie like me and have touches of the hoarder within, your pantry, fridge & freezer resemble those that would furnish a bunker.  I often find with dismay, that when I return home from grocery shopping that there is stacking-room-only for the newly purchased cans of chick peas & kidney beans beside all the other cans of chick peas & kidney beans (they're healthy in salads, right?); that a complete audit must be conducted on the fridge only to find those beautiful new green beans for the nicoise salad I never made have been hiding at the back of the vegetable crisper and are now self-saucing; and the cooked brown rice in the zip lock bag that has been in the freezer for 7 months needs to be turfed to make room for more important things like meat and fish.

But there is a solution.

It's called "Eating from the pantry".  Or if you want to get more serious: "Eating from the pantry, fridge & freezer".

This is a great idea to clear out the mountains of cans in your cupboards and also save money.  There are websites devoted to this practice and whilst others have implemented differing reasons and rules for taking on the challenge, its a great way to spring clean your kitchen, save money and save the planet a little by minimising food waste.  Some bloggers have reported losing more than 5 lbs and saving hundreds of dollars.  Me: I just want to be able to see into the cupboard.

If you're interested in reading more, just google "eating from the pantry".

I'm going to take the challenge in February, and not because its the shortest month ;-)  However just to break my own rules I'm going to start today, being Monday 31 January.  Apart from starting one day early, my rules will be that I may buy meat, fish, poultry, dairy, fruit, veggies and eggs when they run out, but I must use everything in my fridge and freezer before that happens.  And when I buy these things I must use them.  I'm not sure how I will punish myself if I don't adhere to my rules, but perhaps the public embarassment of reporting the results on this blog will be enough to motivate me to do the right thing.

Anyone care to join in?

A word of warning however.  We have a pretty healthy pantry. We've always shunned junk food in favour of healthy options, but if your pantry looks more like the party aisle of the supermarket, I suggest you actually bring your bin over to the pantry and tip all the rubbish into it.  I'm sure Michelle Bridges fromThe Biggest Loser and the 12 Week Body Transformation would endorse this: and let's face it, you don't want to eat crap for the next month and during January, your waistline could probably do without it if you're planning a trip or two to the beach.  So bin the bikkies; melt the icecream in the sink and donate the extra packet of tim tams to your skinny next door neighbour and concentrate on the food in your pantry.

Tonight's dinner happens to be a Meatless Monday dinner but I'm a little worried it won't be enough for Mr Sixfootfour.  We already happen to have goats cheese, walnuts, a tin of baby beets and heaps of rocket in the house so that will be a yummy and meatless salad for tonight, but it may not fill hubby's hollow legs, so I'm planning a side of quinoa salad as well.

So.... watch this space.  Posts detailing innovative pantry recipes and photos of declining walls of food pending.

Recipe: Corn, zuchinni & coriander hotcakes

For some reason, I always seem to worry I'm going to run out of recipes for Meatless Monday. However, as a veggie lover this fear is quite unfounded. I have heaps of vegetarian recipes and always have loads of veggies in the fridge. Perhaps all I need is a better memory, more organisation and inspiration (or a kick up the patootie)...

So how good did I feel when I was trawling through a recent NW and stumbled across Ben O'Donohoe's recipe for "corn and coriander hotcakes"? Monday night dinner, doneski. Never content with a recipe as-is, I decided to up the veggie content and add some zucchini just for the fun of it.

Corn, zucchini and coriander hotcakes

Ingredients

11/4 cups plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup milk. (low fat can be used)
1 cup ricotta (I used low fat)
2 cobs of corn, cooked and kernels cut off (recipe calls for 1 cup canned corn kernels, drained, but why used anything canned when corn is so sweet in season?)
1 zucchini, grated
bunch of coriander, chopped
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
50g butter

Method

Combine flour, baking powder and salt un a bowl. Make a BIG well in the centre and add the egg yolks and milk. Whisk until mixture is smooth, then fold in ricotta, corn, zucchini and coriander.

Whisk egg whites in a separate bill until soft peaks form, then gently fold into the hotcake mix.

Melt some butter in a frypan on medium heat and fry large spoonfuls of hotcake batter. It's quite easy to make them round as they tend to hold their shape nicely on the frypan, but try to ensure the thickness is even.

Depending on the heat of your stove, cook for several minutes on one side and turn when golden brown, cooking for a further 2 minutes or so on the other side.

Keep these little guys in a dish covered with foil and place in a warm oven until ready to serve.




I served them with a tomato and eggplant salsa and a lovely big salad.

I've made corn fritters before, but I must confess that the yum-factor was off the richter due to the large amount of coriander, which works perfectly with the sweet corn, especially at this time of year when it's juicy & delicious.

Makes about 18-20 depending on the size. Serves 4. As it was dinner for 2, hubby took some to work for lunch and we froze the rest for another night.

Gold Coast Restaurant Review: Mecca Bah, Broadbeach 8 January 2011

One of our Gold Coast stallholders recommended Mecca Bah which was serendipidous as we were looking for a place to dine on a Saturday night (read: too lazy to cook).

We called that afternoon to book and were advised there was only a 5.30pm or 9.30pm sitting available.  For a restaurant that opened its doors 2 days before Christmas, this was a good sign.....

particularly for a restaurant the size of Mecca Bah.  We calculated it would seat around 150.  In the current retail/hospitality environment the fact that this 2-week-old restaurant was fully booked was a fantastic sign.

The decor was lovely, very Moroccan (funny that) and nice low lighting, but not so low that you can't decipher the menu or recognise your dining companions.

First up were drinks.  We went off piste and ordered a cocktail not on the menu, a caprioska.

It was limey and fresh but could have done with some mint.  Small criticism though.

Despite there not being many people in the restaurant at 5.30pm, we waited a little while to order, although we did have a few visits from different and friendly staff prior to ordering.  We did attract the attention of a waiter eventually who was very helpful with the menu, recommending the mezze entrees of spicy Turkish lamb kofte with yoghurt & mint sauce ($13); chickpea battered mussels, almond skordalia ($15); and Bastilla (Moroccan chicken pastries) ($14).  We ordered a beautiful pinot, a 2009 Central Otago Maude Pinot, which was quite steep at $115.  The Maitre 'd explained to us later that the limited number and range of wines was due to not having the requisite equipment, which would be delivered soon.

In a word, the mezze were all TDF (for the uninitiated: To Die For).  The lamb kofte was very moist and contained delicate middle eastern spices.  The chickpea mussels were the biggest surprise.  Not only were those little guys delicious, but our kids tried them and ordered a plate for themselves after their their kids cheese pizza disappeared.  The final mezze was my favourite of the three: the slightly sweet, lightly spiced shredded chicken Bastilla pastries wrapped in oh-so-light filo pastry. The addition of cinnamon and icing sugar dusting was heaven.

Lamb Kofte

Chickpea battered mussels with almond skordalia

Chicken Bastilla (dusted with icing sugar & cinnamon)

On the recommendation of the aforementioned stallholder, we ordered the spit roasted lamb, rocket, yoghurt & sumac Turkish pizza (422).  The spit roasted lamb was tender and the flavours combined nicely, but in retrospect it might have been more adventurous trying one of the following Turkish pizzas on offer:

• Pastirma (Turkish cured beef), roast garlic, fennel & goats cheese ($21);
• Sardine, caramelised onion, roast tomato & olive ($20);
• Spiced chicken with eggplant, rocket & tahini sauce ($22); or
• Roast pumpkin, chilli, pomegranate jam & fetta ($21) Pomegranate jam?  OMG! Why didn't we order that??????

And then.... my favourite dish of the night: the Roasted vegetable tangine with eggplant, zucchini, carrot, onion, cous cous and chermoula spices.  The cous cous was sunken in the depths of the tagine and I would have preferred it to be on the side, but the sunken cous cous was forgiven because the flavours from the tangine were so beautifully subtle; the eggplant was soft and had absorbed all of the soupiness of the tagine whilst the other veggies were fine tagine party pals. The tagine was topped with a generous amount of fresh parsley and coriander.  Fresh herbs.  Mmmmm.

We did experience a few service hiccups (20 minutes for the bill, not having a dedicated waiter for our table so therefore lacking some attention, getting the wrong wine glasses for our pinot) however as a new restaurant with excellent food and a lovely ambience, these aspects can be forgiven. We will definitely be back and highly recommend this restaurant.

Mecca Bah
18-26 Charles Ave
Oracle Boulevard, Broadbeach
Ph:  (07) 5504 7754
Web: http://meccabah.net/goldcoast/ (the website doesn't do the restaurant justice)