Discussion Post: How You Shop Your Pantry

It’s that kind of friday :)

Well, I was planning on having two beautiful thrilling recipes to bring to you this morning, but given some work deadlines and school deadlines and the fact that packing to leave town now takes me twice as long as it once did (I’m 36), this hasn’t happened.

So! I thought today we could enjoy a little discussion post, in the spirit of use-it-up month. In the comments, tell me your favorite ways to cook from your pantry, especially when you get bored of the whole pasta rigamarole. (My solemn vow: I will NOT write a blog called 5 Pantry Pastas You Can Make RIGHT NOW!) Or tell me what you’re desperate to use up, and we can all try to give you some new ideas that don’t make you want to throw your 5 pound bag of bay leaves in the trash. (I say this as someone who has been going through a five pound bag of bay leaves since 2018, when I bought them for a GQ story, and they have plagued me ever since, though I am making good progress, and I think once I finish them, I will celebrate by treating myself to some NICE bay leaves.)

Personally I have been continuing the dutiful process of eating through my beans and pulses, and “gifting” jars of soupy beans to Jackson as so many self-serving presents. (I get to look really generous and also I get to get rid of a full quart of cooked beans.) Last night I finished up the last of this week’s batch in a satisfying way: I cooked the (sliced) white bit of a leek in olive oil until it began to frizzle and whine, then added beans and some of their liquid, and simmered it all together until it became less soup than stew. Because I had a fat tomato recently plucked from the garden down the block, and because I wanted to breathe a little life into the pot, and because something in my brain whispered gazpacho, I used the big-holed side of the box grater to grate the tomato into the pan. Here we had acid, here we had body, here we had a hint of summer, here we had the satisfaction of a good new idea. I offer it to you, and ask for yours.

I served it over leftover jeera rice, with a crumbled handful of feta :)