Surprisingly Good Pantry Pinch-Hitters
Photo credit: Flickr Commons
How is it that you have the simplest, loveliest Marcella Hazan tomato sauce in the fridge, but no pasta? How is that even possible?
Of course it’s possible. In the winter, we slow down, trips to the store are fewer and farther between, and pantries tend to be barren.
Before you freak out, remember that tomato sauce has other uses. You can stack it with sliced eggplant and mozzarella and then bake it 20 minutes. You can sear a chicken breast, poach it in the sauce, shave Parmesan on top, and call it your main course. You can even mix it with canned chipotle chiles, garlic, and cilantro and transform it into a sauce for huevos rancheros.
Tomato sauce isn’t the only flexible standby ingredient. Here some others—don’t sell your pantry items short!
Got Tuna But No Mayo: The chicken of the sea has nine lives. Crack open the can, add a squeeze of lemon juice, a flurry of smoked paprika, a bit of sea salt, and olive oil. Put it on toasts. Eat it straight from the bowl. Rip it up.
Got Pasta But No Sauce: One staffer swears by a longstanding family recipe: pasta plus hot cottage cheese, zapped in the microwave. She swears that it’s the definition of comfort food—hot, salty, and reminiscent of noodle kugel—and eats it by the bowlful, with a fork.
Got No Garlic: No garlic? You really are letting your hair down. Luckily, onions are always there for you. Chop them small and simmer them in olive oil or butter to caramelize them a bit. They’ll add that almost-garlic magic to pasta, sauces and crostini.
Got No Bread: Use that languishing frozen puff pastry. Take it out of the freezer right when you get home from work and start roasting whatever vegetables are around, or chopping whatever leftover meat’s in the fridge. Think about combos you like in specific cuisines—Italy’s tomatoes and basil, or France’s thyme and onions—and after pricking the dough all over, pile them on top. (Just don’t pick anything with too much liquid, or you’ll deflate the dough.) Pop it in the oven at 425 degrees and bake until golden.
Got No Hot Sauce: If you have that cheap can of chipotle chiles kicking around, blitz it. Strain out the peels if you’re feeling fancy. Voilà. Hot sauce.
Got No Tuna: Many of us buy anchovies just to have them around, maybe for a bangin’ kale Caesar salad, but they can replace tuna in most dishes. Anchovy Niçoise Salad has a certain ring to it, non? (Just remember to dial down the salt content in your dressing.)
Got No Mayo or Mustard: You don’t need mayo or mustard. The French swear by butter, and dammit, we’re with the French on this one. In the spring, fall and summer, you’ll see us buying thinly sliced prosciutto and delicately folding its ribbons into sliced baguette. Along with plenty of unsalted butter. Sometimes, if we’re feeling wild, with a scallion-oil-garlic dressing. Because three types of fat is better than one.
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