Heavenly Fridge Hacks
My fridge is full of jars of flavour. It takes a little time on the weekend but in the end I know we are eating good stuff void of unnatural thickeners and emulsifiers and seasonings. HeRE’s a standard list of whats in my fridge.
Breadcrumbs
ok, this is usually in the freezer. An old baguette from a well intentioned brunch gets a bit of additional drying w oil and then a blitz into crumb.
At the ready this can instantly be a snitty crumb, or fry it up with some bacon, parsley, chilli, parmesan for a crunchy pangrattato to add to salads, soups, pastas etc. you’ll be grateful for the texture when you’ve been as lazy as spaghetti aglio e olio.
Dressings
my standard and hands-down favourite is this:
Juice of a lemon
1 tspN of dijon
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of salt
Couple grinds of pepper
1 garlic clove, broken
1/4 cUP parmesan, grated
1/2 CUP extra virgin olive oil
I also add a herb, chives, basil, whatever you like. Shake it up. It transcends European boarders so no one really gets feisty.
Nam Jim
2 limes juiced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Birdseye chilli, minced
1/2 cUP fish sauce
2 tbsp palm or brown sugar
1/2 cUP mirin (this just tones it down a bit)
1 tbsp sesame oil
Throw it on an oyster, or over a Vietnamese noodle salad with bbq’d meat.
Herbs
Serious hack alert! Chop your chives and green shallot tops into a jar. They last for weeeeeeks! And become easy access for those nights of *cannot be bothered!*
Pesto
Honestly. Jarred stuff is crap bar about 2 brands. Make it, in summer, when basil tastes the way it should. Don’t look back.
1 bunch basil, leaves picked
50 gRAMS pinenuts, toasted briefly in the oven, and fully cooled
1 1/2 cUP of grated parmesan
1 garlic clove, crushed
Salt, pepper
Juice of half a lemon.
Blitz all this AND add about a cup of extra virgin olive oil - don’t worry, it’s not mayonnaise, just dump and blitz.
Make sure you cover the top of the pesto wITH oil or it will brown.
Ginger and Shallots
One of the most lovely people to listen to talk is Poh Ling Yeow and she said if you are lost in the kitchen, just start by frying off ginger garlic and shallots and things will develop. She’s utterly right. Every good meal starts with some kind of aromatic saute.
This can be used as that… dolloped into the pan, or as a marinade, or as a dressing over some steamed greens and rice. Very basic.
1 large 6 cm knob of ginger, peeled and grated
4-5 green shallots, whites and greens if you like, finely minced
Salt
Olive oil (probably NOT the correct thing to say, but use a light flavour and you should be fine)
1 tbsp of sesame oil (for nutty happiness)
Magic Green Sauce
(as photographer Chris Court calls it) or more commonly Salsa verde)
My hero of sauces. The ingredients to this are dictated by how my fridge has treated my fines herbes during the week. Anything limp or sad gets a second go at satisfaction by joining a party of flavour in the blender.
Coriander
Shallots
Basil
Dill
Mint
Parsley
1 tbsp Capers
2 anchovIES
1 tsp mustard
Oil
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1-2 chillis
Blitz.
If you don’t want to commit to the full monty I urge you to at least blitz off what you have with some garlic and oil and freezing it in an ice tray. They can be tossed in pasta, in a dressing, in a roast chook, onto bread for the oven etc etc. Waste not want not.
Slap Sauce
again, using up overipe stuff.
A capsicum
Half an onion
1-2 tomatoes
A can of tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
Oil
Salt
Oregano
This is the perfect pizza sauce… all the right flavours ready to go. You could also use a cans worth in the baked pasta instead of passata, or marinate a chook in it and of course throw it through some spaghetti last minute with some added chilli.
It’s just an easy flavourful jar of summer sunshine to turn to when you need it.
