After waiting on a business appointment that had gone very late, we decided to scrap our plans to go out for Chinese food. You gotta drive there, order, wait…I was too hungry to do all that, but my tastebuds were set for Chinese. What was the quickest pantry meal I could throw together that was the next best thing? Putting a pot of water on to boil, I imagined a chow mein-like dish with ingredients I had on hand. For me that meant spaghetti, pieces of leftover chicken, napa cabbage and julienned carrots in a great sauce.
I always have leftover pieces of chicken in the freezer and cabbage and carrots in the fridge, don’t you? Cabbage and carrots are superstars as far as I’m concerned. Good for you, colorful and with a long shelf life. Never be without them! Cooking without a recipe means intuitively using what you have to create something delicious. Don’t let the idea intimidate you. You can do it!
By the time the pasta had cooked, I had stir-fried the vegetables with:
- minced garlic
- minced ginger (kept in the freezer)
- grapeseed oil
- a touch of sesame oil
Heated the chicken through and seasoned everything with:
- soy sauce
- mirin (sweet cooking sake)
- drizzle of oyster sauce
- smidgeon of Sriracha sauce
After tossing the cooked noodles with the other ingredients, lunch was on the table. How’s that for a quick pantry meal?
Pantry Meal Basics
You will always find yourself prepared to create a great, impromptu meal if you stock a variety of proteins, veggies and starch/grains in various forms. Think fresh items with longer shelf life, dried goods and freezer gems. Sometimes I even open a can of something like cream of mushroom soup. It might be all you need to transform a couple of other ingredients into a satisfying dish on the fly.
Have you been benefiting from any of these ideas for stocking a pantry, keeping freezer flavor gems on hand and developing your intuition in the kitchen for cooking without a recipe? Please share via your favorite social media platform using the buttons below.