Eating down the fridge.

When I committed to eating down my fridge before our trip to Canada this coming weekend, I wasn’t quite sure what I had on hand. Which is to say, I was pretty sure that there were some edible things in my pantry, but perhaps not enough to create cohesive meals, and certainly not enough fresh leafy greens. Nevertheless, I set off with a mission, and I’ve been largely sticking to my resolve.

For the last night of Hanukkah, we feasted on latkes with sour cream and apple sauce. There was salad with butternut squash, pepitas, and feta– and (please don’t smite me food gods) Lasagne Hamburger Helper. You just can’t recreate that with real food and hit the perfect ratios. You can’t make it paleo. You can’t make it wholesome. I don’t drink soda, I rarely drink booze, I keep my home largely free of processed foods, but sometimes, something’s gotta give.

Last night of hanukkah

Eighth Night

Thursday night, we each had our holiday parties, so dinner was provided – I held back from over-indulging on too many passed appetizers, and introduced several of my coworkers to the sidecar. Friday, we had our date night, at the Cottage, in Wellesley – we’re pretty much regulars there – mostly because their lamb burger is divine, and they are highly accommodating to my penchant for substitutions (even the few times I’ve been on Whole30).

On Saturday, I defrosted a lamb’s neck in my freezer – with about enough meat on it for only one very patient person – and you really have to pick at it. I decided to braise it sweet, spicy, any sour, and made a braising liquid of two shallots, a few cloves of garlic, a knob of ginger, some salt, cumin, and a few large scoops of orange marmalade – processed with some water in my Vitamix. I cooked the lamb in this for nearly two hours on the stovetop, turning the neck every half an hour or so. At the very end, I tossed in a few warmed Swedish meatballs for Devon. To go with the lamb, I made some bulgur with orzo, mint and goat cheese – cooked to consistency of polenta.

Lamb Neck

Sunday night, I cooked a batch of Rancho Gordo red beans, which I warmed with a little bit of salt, cumin, and salsa. I cooked some chicken thighs between two hot cast iron pans, and made myself a big bowl of collard greens. I topped my greens with a little bit of the beans, and added a few spoonfuls of whole milk yogurt.

Chicken between pansChicken thighs

Tonight, I simmered meatballs in some tomato sauce. I rummaged around for something to go with it all – a vegetable perhaps? There was a package of frozen pizza dough that I had defrosted – and I thought to myself that I could make rolls. When the dough failed to rise, perhaps because it was nearly two years old, and then seemed to be dried out, and then baked into lumps of hardened play dough consistency, I gave up and dumped the failure into the trash.

And so meatballs were all we had.

I think I might have to give up and get us some vegetables.

Seventh Night.

Seven Candles

My little Hanukkah ledge reminds me of the desert. I’d be pretty happy to be hanging out in Joshua Tree right about now. Well maybe not at this very minute – night time and it starts getting cold. Seven candles tonight, and I don’t want the holiday to end. There are so many latkes left to eat, and I haven’t yet played any dreidel! Dinner tonight was a mish-mash of pantry food: Rancho Gordo Florida butter beans, brussels sprouts, a little bacon, and a couple of eggs.

Go for goat.

Vietnamese Goat Stew

After making three reservations for our vacation in Montreal in a few weeks, I’ve decided that it would be best to reduce superfluous spending on food, and start cooking through my fridge and freezer. I think I’ll permit myself fresh vegetables if I need them, but I have weeks (if not months) of food in my pantry, so I’m just going to have to be a little creative.

Tonight I defrosted some bone-in goat stew meat from the butcher, about a pound of it. Unsure what to do, I picked up my favorite Bruce and Mark tome – Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese for inspiration. Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough have written several dozen cookbooks in the past few decades, and were two of my favorite authors to grace Omnivore during my tenure. Goat the cookbook is full of punchy, robust recipes, and ridiculously aromatic Vietnamese inspired shanks caught my eye as a launching point for my dinner tonight.

The recipe calls for an overnight spice rub, and some large pieces of meat, but I thought that I could adapt it fairly well for my needs tonight, and cut some corners without sacrificing too much flavor. I seasoned my goat stew meat with a large spoonful of chile powder, a teaspoon of brown sugar, and a teaspoon of five spice. I then browned my meat in my All Clad with some leftover drippings from the sausage last night. Yep, I’m a girl who doesn’t like to waste. While the goat browned, I chopped up a few cloves of garlic, a knob of ginger, and a large shallot. I pushed the goat to one side of the pan, and added in the chopped aromatics, and let them cook for a minute or two. I then added a spoonful of Red Boat fish sauce, a spoonful of soy sauce, a spoonful of cider vinegar and a spoonful of honey.  I topped everything off with about two cups of beef stock, brought it all to a boil, turned it down to a simmer, and let it cook for an hour. I added a small handful of orzo and let it all cook for another 25 minutes until the pasta was mostly cooked through, and had absorbed much of the liquid. I determined that it was a little too salty near the end, so I added just a tad more beef stock and let it cook for a few minutes more. The resulting sauce was sweet, salty, and a little sticky – with just enough punch of chile and ginger to make the back of your throat tingle.