My young, new-to-the-city self had a simple but cost-effective weeknight cooking strategy: buy the same few ingredients every week (pasta, spinach, tomatoes, feta, frozen dumplings, sausage, yoghurt), throw a surprise item (Sweet potatoes! Cookie butter ice cream! An avocado!) into the cart, and make it all work with the rest of my pantry.
The meals were sometimes mundane, but hey, I fed myself, saved money and wasted nothing. My fridge is fuller now. But I still firmly believe that working with what you’ve got and not overbuying groceries (child-free privilege alert!) are good principles for weeknight cooking. This meal plan is dedicated to the ingredients I tend to have in my fridge, which I think of as ticking time bombs, mere days from becoming food waste. These use-them-or-lose-them ingredients, more than anything, dictate what I cook.
This is what I had left over one recent weekend: herbs, hot dog buns, mince, vegetable odds and ends (carrots, broccoli, onion), and dressed salad greens. And here are five recipes that came to the rescue.
In this simple, springy pasta, milky ricotta thinned out with a little starchy pasta cooking water makes for a saucy, soupy dish that’s seasoned with loads of black pepper and herbs. For the best flavour, use at least three different kinds of herbs, break out some nicer olive oil and look for fresh ricotta. Lemon lovers can grate in the zest of half a lemon as well.
By: Melissa Clark
Serves: 4
Total time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
Salt
450g short pasta, such as shells, cavatappi, chiocciole, farfalle, ditali or wagon wheels
340g fresh, whole-milk ricotta
70g freshly grated parmesan, plus more for serving
120ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
1 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper, plus more for serving
150g coarsely chopped soft herbs, such as basil, chives, fennel fronds, parsley, mint, tarragon, chervil or dill (try for a combination of at least 3 kinds)
Bibimbap is a kaleidoscope of flavours and textures
Method:
1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, according to package instructions. Reserve 2 cups (480ml) pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
2. In the same pot, make the sauce: add ricotta, parmesan, olive oil, pepper and a large pinch or two of salt, and stir until well combined.
3. Add 1 cup (230ml) pasta water to the sauce and stir until smooth. Add the pasta and herbs, and continue to stir vigorously until the noodles are well coated. Add more pasta water as needed for a smooth, soupy sauce. Taste and add more salt if needed.
This cold rice noodle dish has roots in Yunnan, a southwestern Chinese province
This sturdy fritatta is as good warm out of the pan as it is cold
