Why Thoughtful Cooks Never go Hungry, well mostly.

Some thoughts on the art of using what you have.

Today I rounded up the last 2 pieces of slab bacon, left behind from Saturday’s breakfast. Collected the pot of butterbeans slow-cooked in advance for a day like this, some shiitake mushrooms, a few parcels of broccoli rabe and angel hair pasta for an easy lunch that was so satisfying I had to write about it.

Today like most days I looked in the fridge pondering what I could make. Lacking large obvious proteins to inspire the meal, I could have done what so many of us do and surrendered to a midday trip to the grocery store. But, creativity is resistance and thinking about ingredients more expansively is thoughtful; so let me walk you through my process.

1

First, I identified my vehicle or foundation. This is the pasta, toast, casserole, salad, stew of it all. What form do I want this meal to take? Today I thought angel hair pasta might be a good fit, because I wanted something that could cook quickly and fill me fast.

From there I considered what I will dress my noodles with. It’s early afternoon so no heavy red sauce, especially since I’m behind on work and my team awaiting my revisions, won’t take kindly to a 2 hour nap. So let’s use our protein (bacon) fat, and a drizzle of olive oil (thank you Graza) to coat the noodles.

2

Transformative Ingredients. These add depth, fill things out, and texture to your foundation. I have broccoli rabe, half a red onion, some shiitake, and some herbs. I’ll brown the red onion and mushrooms in the fat before adding in my chopped greens (this could have been a small handful of brussels sprouts, fresh spinach, turnip sallet, etc.). Once thats all combined I seasoned everything with nutmeg, large cracked peppercorn, chili flake, and salt to taste. I didn’t have fresh garlic, but I DID have granulated — so I subbed that in.

How will I fill make it special? Well…

3

Embellishments: Butter beans! Here’s the thing, on any given Sunday I might put a small stockpot of butterbeans on to keep in the fridge for meals like this one. Folding them in as a layer in your lasagna, making a bed of beans on toast stacked with sardines, hot sauce and shaved red onion or scattering them over soup or a crunchy salad topped with fist fulls of grated parm and a splash of fruity olive oil, can transform the ordinary.

Last but not least, I only have parm rinds at the moment, so I was unable to top this pasta with the fist-fulls of cheese previously mentioned; however, I did have some ricotta to dollop, salt and dress in oil!

Keeping my pantry stocked with pasta, dried beans, grains and cornmeal make choosing a quick foundation to intuitively improvise with easeful. Below is a look at some of my pantry staples. Comment with your personal pantry staples.