Cleaning out the refrigerator and pantry doesn’t have to be a chore. Over twelve hours later I smell the tomato sauce I made for dinner yesterday and have some pasta and sauce cold in the frig for lunch.
I started with Pagliacci tomato puree (like Leoncavallo’s opera) from our local Italian grocery. But first, I found one shallot and a couple cloves of garlic so minced them up and sauteed them in olive oil before adding the puree.
In the pantry were partial boxes of orechiette and campanelle so I cooked the sauce for a bit with a few peperoncini, my marinated olives and a bit of their oil then put the pasta on to cook. The dish was very intense and tasty.
I had to add several tablespoons of pasta water because the sauce was very thick and when I put the pasta in (9/10 done) it drank it up.
Future note: I’d probably pit the olives first, I love Kalamatas, so the marinade can soak in. For these olives I left the pits in, added garlic, thyme crushed red pepper and oregano then covered them with olive oil for a few weeks. I used the olive oil in the sauce and will save it for salads, so you won’t be wasting expensive olive oil. I generally buy my olives in very little brine at the olive bar at one of my favorite local groceries. You can get them bottled but they’ll cost you a fortune. I like to leave them on the counter completely covered by the marinade and they’re good after 48 hours, better after a week. Then they must be refrigerated, always completely covered in oil.
The finished dish had meaty olives, pungent tomatoes and can show what a good cook can do with a full pantry (read my Pantry Series) while cleaning out the refrigerator.
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It was a quiet but interesting weekend with an air show and impromptu party request.
Now it may be time to make limoncello as I found the pickle jar in which I made my first batch years ago. No, I’m not Italian just love the food and culture and am now of an age that I’m an old married lady and no-one’s going to mess with me as in telling me how to live or who to wed. Ciao, Dee
Cooking with Dee 