dumpster diving in my fridge. again.

we're leaving for our second study trip tomorrow....to crete! this not only means a week in beautiful, sunny greece learning lots about the culture and eating tons of delicious food (emphasis on sun and food, oh, and beautiful and culture too) but it means time to clean out the fridge. here are some "recipes" i threw together with what i had, trying to be healthy, seasonal, creative, and tasty. i guess the point is: don't waste food.

Thursday.
Creamy Tomato Gorgonzola Soup

what i had/used:
extra virgin olive oil
a carton of cherry tomatoes
4 medium size tomatoes, off the vine, cut into quarters
half a red onion, cut into large chunks
4 cloves of garlic
2 carrots, peeled, chopped
1 white onion, finely sliced
2 tins of tomato
whole peperoncinos, sprinkled by hand (and hands immediately washed afterwards b/c yes, you will rub your eyes and yes, it burns a lot).
dried basil

what i bought:
gorgonzola.

what i did:
turn the oven on high and put the cherry tomatoes and larger tomatoes with the halved red onion and garlic into an oven proof pan. coat with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. cook until tender, about 20 minutes. meanwhile, in a large pot, heat a couple glugs of olive oil and add the white onion and carrot and cook until soft then add the two tins of tomato plus one tin of water (or i suppose broth if you have it) and simmer while the other tomatoes are cooking in the oven. when they are done, take them out of the oven, smash them a little (should be easy and squishable) and add them to the pot. stir it around a little and then blend until smooth with a handheld immersion blender (best thing ever). back on the stove, add the gorgonzola bit by bit until it is all melted evenly and is smoothly creamy. season to taste, add some dried basil, stir in some sprinkled peperoncinos, and poof! very easy soup.

No picture.

Friday
Springish Veggie Pasta.

what i had/used:
3 smallish courgettes, cut on an angle, 1/4inch thick
1 red onion, sliced into narrow strips
half a container of sliced mushrooms, snapped in half
spoonful of capers, drained
one medium sized tomato, cut into chunks
2 egg-pasta lasagne sheets cut into pappardelle sized noodles
fresh parsley.
parmesan

what i did: 
add the cut pasta sheets to a pot of salted boiling water and cook until al-dente - not very long. in a large pan, heat up a couple glugs of olive oil and add the onion and cook until soft. add the mushrooms until they absorb the oil and change that lovely shiny brown color. add the courgettes and cook until they soften but still have crunch enough that they aren't mushy. add the tomato. add the capers. season with salt and pepper. drain the pasta and add to the pot of veggies. throw in some fresh parsley leaves. mix all together. sprinkle with grated parmesan. yum. pretend that you tell yourself that you are only going to eat half because you have cleared out your fridge and will have nothing to eat the next day. eat it all.

Saturday
Green-Reminds-Me-of-Spring-Frittata


what i had/used:
6 eggs
parmesan
1 small red onion
3 cloves of garlic
fresh parsley

what i bought:
1 bunch of asparagus
1 packet of whole fava beans.

what i did:
start with boiling a pot of salted water. break off the asparagus where it snaps and take the fava beans out of the pods. while this is boiling, add the onion and garlic to a pan with olive oil and gently warm until they soften. then, add the asparagus to the boiling water and cook until bright green, about 3 minutes and then add the fava beans and cook for another minute. drain the asparagus and fava beans and add them back to the pot filled with cold water. then peel the fava beans and pop the little green bit right out. add them to the pan with the onion and garlic. then cut up the asparagus and add to the pan of vegs. while these are heating slowly together, whisk the eggs with some grated parmesan, milk (just b/c i won't have time to have my swimming pool mug of instant coffee in the morn) salt, pepper, hot paprika and fresh parsley in a bowl. add the egg mixture to the pan and i dont know, scrape it along the sides until the egg sets and is no longer runny in the middle. flip it over if you can. it's not the prettiest looking, and i've never cooked with fava beans before, but it tasted pretty ok and i know that i have half a frittata to eat on the way to the airport tomorrow.

it may seem like a lot of food that i had to use up, but we really do our shopping for our meals daily - buying just what we need or want to eat that night/day. of course you can't always eat that entire packet/bundle of produce by yourself at once and may not use it the next day so things add up. but we're good at not wasting food. and i am my mother's daughter - my mum is the queen of using up leftovers - or the freezer! the only problem is now....we come back next sunday and all the stores will be closed. stroopwaffles anyone?