I don’t know where this week went, frankly, which is why this week’s Scraps is turning up late on a Friday afternoon. I’m actually away all next week so there won’t be anything going out until I’m back – meaning there’s been extra focus this week on clearing out the fridge and using everything up.
One thing we made this week that was truly one for the Recookables was this roasted red pepper pasta by Ixta Belfrage in last weekend’s Guardian. It looks really simple and sort of sounds like the kind of cold pasta salad you might pick up at a service station M&S, but the sauce is absolutely incredible. It involves charring and blistering red peppers in an oven, before blending with miso and a splash of coconut milk (not enough that you can taste it, but it brings a really nice richness to the dish). It’s spicy and earthy, too, with spices like paprika and nutmeg. We hoovered the whole thing up, but if you do make it, I’d recommend doubling the sauce and keeping some. It would be brilliant with gnocchi, a piece of salmon, or even for dunking crisped-up pitta chips in.
1. A kitchen-sink grain salad
I buy pouches of grains in the supermarket for the times when I need to clear out the fridge, hence the name – as in, ‘everything-but-the’ grain bowls. These grains bulk out the odds and ends from previous lunches and they work best when you can add as much texture as possible. I had a portion of meatballs in the fridge (Rob made thai meatballs from Bon Appetit) and roasted a whole cauliflower in the oven one morning while I was working on some story edits. I smothered the florets in oil and some mixed spices and let the edges crisp up and char slightly. The meatballs, cauliflower, and grains went in with a handful of mixed herbs (parsley, chive, mint) and I poured some more flavourful olive oil through the grains to take the edge off – sometimes grains can just be a bit dense by themselves. I also added the dregs from my quick-pickled red onions.
A chaotic, chuck-it-in-and-see lunch called for a similarly manic song. Dora Jar’s Scab Song is every feeling you ever felt, plus one or two more.
I think, for a good grain bowl, you need at minimum 3 components, but 4 is good. Crunchy, creamy, briney, and vegetal elements are always a winner – you could shred carrot, or roast shallots whole in the oven until they go sticky and sweet. Anchovies, half a bag of rocket? If I have plain yogurt in, I’ll grate some garlic and squeeze some lemon juice in for a quick drizzly sauce.
You’ll notice a jar of ruby-red pickle brine leftover. Well, waste not want not: I took 3/4 of a cucumber (that would not get eaten by Monday), sliced it up, and stuffed it in the brine to pickle. Generally when you’re doing fridge pickles, you need to be careful – it’s important to sterilise the jars, especially if you’re going to leave them for a long period. We’ll add these in wraps and rice bowls over the weekend – they’re not intended to last long. But the brine is also excellent in a salad dressing, instead of the lemon or vinegar you might normally use to balance olive oil – and I imagine a dash is pretty good in a dirty martini, too, especially with the dramatic colour.
2. Next-day bacon and parmesan pancakes
Just gonna clarify here that the Method orange surface cleaner did not go in the pancakes.
Obviously on Tuesday night we had pancakes (with white sugar and lemon juice, thank you very much). We ate them standing up in the kitchen, taking it in turns to ladle more batter into the pan. The next day I had enough batter for two more pancakes, and figured I may as well turn them into lunch.
All I wanted to do, really, was chuck in some savoury ingredients. I had some grated parmesan and bacon lying around after making this bacon and caramalised onion pasta from the New York Times, so a plan quickly formed. I’d crips up the bacon in a small pan, so the fat renders out, then scoop up the pieces and cook the pancakes in bacon fat before sprinkling with parmesan. The result would be something like a crepe, but not so excessive that it is bordering on omelette territory. It was a pretty successful lunch! And a good reminder that the whole point of pancake day is to use stuff up, not chuck them out.