Over the holidays, the amount of items in our fridge began to dwindle. We ran out of butter, there were no more greens, and only a few odd pieces of cheese could be found. It looked like all we had was jam, milk, a few beets, and some box wine. How pathetic!I began to see it as a challenge: make an awesome meal with what you have. I started to piece it together. I found a few things that could constitute a spring roll: rice noodles, a roma tomato, and a half-block of tempeh rounded out by a few sweet cabbage leaves pulled from the garden.
The best thing I discovered was a forgotten kuri squash hiding in a crisper drawer. I'd never tasted kuri squash, and so I bought it a few weeks ago out of curiosity. Now was its time to shine. So, I tossed it with some ras el hanout that the wife gave me for Christmas. The aroma instantly filled the house, and I knew I was onto something.
Roasted Kuri Squash Soup + Ras El Hanout:
1 kuri squash (peeled, seeded, sliced)
1 tablespoon ras el hanout seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2-3 cups water
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 Not Chick'n bouillon cube
1 teaspoon white miso paste
sriracha
pistachios
In a 350 degree oven, roast the kuri squash that has been tossed in olive oil and ras el hanout until soft and the edges begin to caramelize. (This should take about 30 minutes.) Place roasted squash, olive oil, garlic, water, vinegar, bouillon, and miso into a blender and blend until smooth. Warm mixture in a pot on the stovetop until heated through. Garnish with pistachios and sriracha.
So, now we're curious: what do you make when you cook out of the pantry?
5 comments:
Generally soup. Even shriveled veggies in the back of the crisper can make soup, and I have quite a few spices both growing and dried to choose from. Or fried rice...or something with eggs, from my chickens....nothing as exciting as your soup :).
I greatly enjoy the challenge of making things out of the items we have leftover at the end of a shopping week. Usually it works best in a soup or pasta dish.
I think your blog post was secretly a awesome beginning to a potential series of blog posts about this topic.Thank you for sharing this information, hope you can often see after the information, get more people to useful things, continue to...
You always have such yummy recipes and it is so hard to believe they are vegetarian. Happy holidays bests in the new year!
Great recipe and great timing - Thanks! I am in a similar position, having come home to a paltry amount of fresh food in the fridge (plenty of bottles of condiments though) after celebrating the holidays out of town. Coincidentally enough, I also have my first Red Curi squash in my crisper, which I got a few weeks ago from my CSA (I'm in Fla where the CSA season starts in Nov). I think I've found my dinner! I don't have Ras el Hanout on hand, but found a simple 'recipe' online that I'll try.
When cooking from the pantry, I usually do a chili - I always have some kind of canned bean and canned tomato on hand. I can then add whatever veggies need to be used up - maybe a bit of carrot, zucchini, potato, or celery. Soups and pasta's are a standby too.
Thanks again for this recipe and for your blog in general :)
Post a Comment