Hello hello hello & happy Feb! It’s been a while since I’ve popped into your inbox — I’ll blame that on the perfect storm that is The Holidays x Vacation x Full Time Job. But I’m back from my hiatus with lots to share, and am planning on keeping a weekly cadence for this newsletter, so now you know when to expect me.
Without further ado, this week’s newsletter: OPTIMIZING YOUR KITCHEN, which in my opinion really comes down to three things:
Thoughtful grocery shopping
Proper storage (labeling, leftovers)
Letting loose & trusting your senses
Let’s tackle the grocery shopping. I’ll do a quick scan of the fridge & pantry for things that have run out, or are about to, and add them to the list. I find it’s easiest to remember the things you need if you keep a running list on the fridge, adding ingredients for recipes that catch my eye. Then we hit the grocery store (or in my case, the Park Slope Food Coop — shoutout to my slice of heaven <3).
While grocery shopping, my number one piece of advice is to keep your eyes & nose open. Finding quality, in-season produce can be like a scavenger hunt, so take the time to peruse the produce aisle to find the real seasonal gems. In the winter, I’m literally picking up and smelling all types of citrus (Meyer lemons, cara cara oranges, sumos, tangerines, blood oranges) and root veggies (cabbage, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, chicories, broccoli rabe) to determine what will taste the freshest. Case in point: I’m not a huge cabbage person, but cabbage is SO IN SEASON right now that it was literally glistening on the shelf… so I had to buy it. And guess what? It was delicious. Trust Mama Nature — she will not lead you astray.
Aside from in-season produce (+ onions, garlic, herbs), I’ll always stock my pantry with flavor-boosting shelf-stable ingredients like:
Olives (castelvetrano, kalamata)
Capers
Anchovies & other tinned fish
Panko bread crumbs
Chipotle chiles in adobo
Vinegars (rice, red wine)
Oils (EVOO, toasted sesame, coconut)
Hot sauces (Cholula, hot honey, Tabasco)
Tahini
Soy sauce
Mayo
Coconut milk
Tomato paste
Mustards (whole grain, Dijon, spicy)
I also keep a robust stock of starches in the pantry & proteins in the freezer, like:
Pasta (bucatini, rigatoni, oricchette)
Rice (long grain white, sushi, arborio)
Quinoa
Lentils
Pearl couscous
Beans (chickpeas, black, great northern)
Poultry (chicken thighs, ground turkey)
Seafood (tuna, tilapia, shrimp, salmon)
Tofu
Nuts (pistachios, cashews, peanuts, walnuts)
And of course, dairy:
Sour cream or Greek yogurt
Heavy cream
Cheese (parm, pecorino, goat, cheddar, aged Gouda, ricotta, mozz)
Eggs (are eggs considered dairy?)
Butter (salted)
Now comes the fun part. If you’ve cooked something delicious, and you are #blessed with leftovers, please don’t contribute to the Food Waste Epidemic*** and SAVE YOUR LEFTOVERS.
I repeat: DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR LEFTOVERS! If you beeline for the bin, you’ll never know if that sauce that took you 20 minutes to whip up would go great over a pork chop…
Hear me out. It’s 8:03pm on a Tuesday night, and you really don’t want to make a last-minute trip to the grocery store. Sure, you could make your emergency box of Annie’s Mac and Cheese, but before you give up, you look in your fridge for inspiration. What’s that? The dregs of the Parmesan/garlic/thyme cream sauce you made for last Saturday’s pasta? Yeah, that’d be pretty damn good over a protein… if you only had… pork chops in the freezer! While you’re in the freezer you stumble upon the leftover roasted sweet potatoes from Friendsgiving (s/o Lillian). Could give those a new life by giving them a quick purée with sage and hot honey! Would be pretty epic with that sauced-up pork chop. Then for greens… there’s that wilting bunch of lacinato kale that’s quite literally begging to be dressed with that whipped garlic tahini dressing from the cabbage two weeks ago! And then we have those breadcrumbs for some crunch. It’s all coming together, folks.
Some of you may say, ugh, leftovers are the worst. But I urge you to view them in a new light: as an OPPORTUNITY to shake things up and potentially even improve on their original dish. The key? Properly labeling and storing and labeling your leftovers.
That’s where we let loose. We use what we have, and then give it LIFE by pairing it with quick sauces, big bold flavors (in that pantry list above), and/or a bit of added texture (a crunch, a chew, a melt in your mouth). Trust your taste buds, salt along the way, and you can’t go wrong.
Case in point: another lazy dinner. I didn’t feel like cooking but wanted to make use of the wilting broccoli rabe in the veg drawer, so we ordered a cheese pizza and gave new life to this once sad-looking veg by sautéing it in olive oil with some garlic and red pepper flakes, then sprinkling some old breadcrumbs on top… only to realize this was the PERFECT pizza topping: crunchy, crisp, bright, and green, working so beautifully to compliment the cheesy ‘za. If I only had spicy Italian sausage on hand, then it would’ve been absolutely perfect.
‘Til next week!
Love,
Green Eggs & Sam
***Almost 40% of all food produced in the United States is wasted!!! Imagine doing a grocery haul and leaving 4 OF THE 10 BAGS YOU BOUGHT in the parking lot, only to be disposed. Pretty obscene, no? (Once a Sustainability major, always a Sustainability major…)
Sammy! Love the content --
As a man with a dairy allergy had to reply and adjudicate on the inclusion of 'Eggs' as Dairy.
The jury is in: eggs are not dairy -- but also not vegan! Weird.
For the hot-sauce, loving #1 and #2 picks. For #3, may I propose a replacement? Meet Sriracha. Sriracha expands your capabilities towards Sushi / Asian cuisine and always great in a mayo.
BEC, a spicy slaw, burger sauce, lettuce wraps, Sriracha. is your. man.
I find that Cholula (a winner) is too similar to Tabasco in it's vinegar-y nature and for more versatility it is worth finding a sweeter option which isn't as viscous as the honey.
Stay hungry. - FIG
I love your ideas for repurposing leftovers. Sometimes we have to great creative. Thank you for sharing these inventive ideas!