The lovely Kathryn of Limes and Lycopene certainly does enjoy challenging her readers. Last month she blogged daily on 31 Ways To Improve Your Diet encouraging us to change or think about just one area of our diet each day in order to (in many cases) completely overhaul our bad eating habits. And now this month she has introduced the Store Cupboard Challenge asking us to come up with complete meals using only the following store cupboard staples:
- Olive oil
- Tinned tomatoes
- Tinned legumes or beans
- Soy sauce
- Frozen vegetables
- Flour
- Pasta
- Tinned fish
- Eggs
- Rice
- Bread
- Vinegar
- Fresh onions
- One spice or spice mix
- One dried herb or herb mix
At first I was utterly flummoxed. Having a fairly productive herb and vegetable garden has spoilt me: I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have fresh produce at hand. Plus there are always lemons and garlic in my kitchen, not to mention sausages in my freezer. But rules are rules and Miss Kathryn was quite clear on this:
You don’t have to use all the ingredients but your recipes must only use these foods. No tweaking the list and no adding in extra sneaky ingredients. The point is for us to come up with a diversity of dishes from the same list.
So, no cheating then. :)
After some thought I realised that all the ingredients were there for a pasta dish that I have been making for years: pasta e ceci AKA pasta and chickpeas. This meal was introduced to me by an Austrian-Italian friend, Annalisa when I was just beginning to take an interest in cooking. Couldn’t believe that something so simple could taste so very, very good.
Pasta e Ceci
(serves 3 to 4)
1 tblspn olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 tspn oregano
1/4 tspn chilli flakes
400g tin of chickpeas
2 x 400g tin of tomatoes
300g pasta (I like wholewheat penne)
- Gently fry the onion in the oil until beginning to soften.
- Add the oregano and chilli and fry for a minute more.
- Add the chickpeas and tomatoes. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water.
- Drain the pasta and mix with the sauce. Season to taste.
- Serve hot or at room temperature.
Good job, Wendy. I like this🙂
I love seeing what other people can do with just simple ingredients like that! The meal looks great and very satisfying.
This is going to become one of my “it’s so late and I’m starving” staples. It’s an interesting challenge though because you have to think so hard about it!
This looks like a fine meal from the pantry – tins of tomatoes and legumes are always in my pantry – or on the shopping list!
That looks so good Wendy, I adore all sorts of chickpeas. I am really looking forward to the roundup and seeing what everyone has come up with to get ideas for when I think that there is no food and phone for a pizza.
This is the sort of pasta dish I like Wendy. I must add chickpeas next time I make a tomato sauce for pasta. Lovely🙂
Maryann – Thank you!
Sylvie – Satisfying is the right word, I think.
Mallika – It is great for that. Especially on cold nights, I find.
Johanna – Mine too!
Hippolyra – My worst habit is going to the supermarket and buying all new ingredients without using up the older stuff.
Holler – It makes it very hearty. Highly recommended. 🙂
What a great challenge – I’ve almost forgotten how to prepare a good meal without fresh ingredients and am often flummoxed on the rare occasions I come home to a bare fridge and vegetable rack. I must start re-discovering those storecupboard staples.
Great job Wendy – I keep seeing these chickpea pasta recipes and meaning to try them out too! Love Kathryn’s idea of a pantry challenge as well – I’m sure the round-up will be really useful
That looks delicious! I love cecis – and they go great with pasta!
I was a bit bossy wasn’t I Wendy – and yet look at what you came up with! A lovely, lovely dish. I’ve never eaten this before, but the idea is making me salivate.
Oh. Yum.
Yes, I was flummoxed at first, too. But it’s good to be challenged, as you’ve just proved!
How I missed this dish of yours I DO NOT know. It’s gorgeous.
That’s cool, quite a different recipe from the pasta e ceci I’m used to (*), should give it a try one of these days🙂
(*) which, incidentally, doesn’t involve tomatoes and looks like this: http://www.cupiglione.com/photogallery/CUPUGLIONE%20RAI%2022-03-07%20094.jpg
🙂