Cupboard Weirdos

[DinoLil]

I took delivery of fancy tomatoes yesterday. Really nice ones and a lot of them. The website I got them from has some very interesting recipes that I'm going to try out.

Anyway, it's got me thinking. I've had to buy some odd ingredients to make said recipes and I'm now the proud owner of about 10kg of fancy tomatoes and a bottle of pomegranate molasses. Pomegranate molasses! I know what a pomegranate is, but a bottle of pomegrante molasses?

I can see that my £4.50 bottle will probably be used for one tablespoon and live in my cupboard until I rediscover it when it's 15yrs out of date.

What weird things have you got in your kitchen cupboards? Or your fridge? I know I've got a jar of marmalade that I made about 5yrs ago lurking with an elderly cucumber in my fridge.

Yes, it's literally all his fault 😂

Didn’t we all fall for so many faddy things! @DeirdreChambersWhatACoincidence

My parents were great for weird cupboard stuff. I got sent in one harvest festival with a tin of smoked oysters to donate - never lived it down at school - my friends still bring it up (I'm now 52)

Another courgette recipe here, this one for those who have a glut.
Chop courgettes into thin rounds and slow cook lidded with coriander seeds, garlic, lemon, olive oil and mint. Cook for about an hour (!). Allow to cool, mush a bit in pan then serve as a dip or bbq accompaniment. This keeps well in fridge and uses lots of courgettes. VERY tasty.
Unless you eat it freshly cooked and hot, bleurk.

Red onion, lemon juice, cider vinegar, sumac and salt, it's a Sami Tamimi recipe 👍

Vac-packed uncooked risotto, so raw rice with herby coating.

Bought in Rome.

In 2013.

A Kilner jar of dry polenta. Origin unknown but has endured 2 house moves I think?

Fritters. They're lovely.

I was looking for pomegranate molasses!’ That is so funny I never found it, it was for a soup recipe and I searched everywhere and could not find it.

I can post the soup recipe here if you want it?

Mine is a jar of pickled eggs. Not that unusual. Not that fancy. But I'm still waiting for an occasion. Anyone tried them?

As for courgette, my go to is thinly sliced, pan fried in butter and olive oil that you've already lightly sautéed (sweated) diced onion and garlic. When slices are golden serve with lime juice. Grated Parmesan optional.

Or this amazing salad from Polpo restaurants:

cheapcooking.com/zucchini-salad-lemon-parmesan-dressing-polpo/

Also perfect for anything Persian. They love their pomegranates.

In this house it was lockdown + low carb diet. We did some mammoth Sous Chef orders to stave off boredom. Good job DH is dedicated to using stuff up or we’d still have most of a massive tub of gochujang in the fridge. I just managed to use up the out of date coconut flour as it went soapy.

We had a jar of preserved lemons for about four years which became a standing joke between me and DP, until he eventually looked up recipes solely to use them. He made a Moroccan style chicken dish and it turned out to be so nice that we now buy preserved lemons all the bloody time! If only we'd known we wouldn't have left them sitting there forever in the first place.

Currently I have in my cupboard a little jar of black volcanic salt. It was part of a set along with some sea salt and some Himalayan pink salt (both of which taste identically of just salt). I don't know who thought I'd want a gift of gourmet salts but someone apparently did. Anyway the black salt has been sitting there for years now because it smells very strongly of sulphur (assume that's the volcanic aspect of it) and I can't get past the notion that it will just make any dish taste of rotten eggs.

😁 I have a tall bottle of three different sea salts: with rosemary, red chilli flakes and black peppercorns. Who thinks of these combinations?

I was so embarrassed during Covid times when my employer set up a food bank. I sorted out some tins but then realised they were all out of date. Since then I have tried really hard to rotate stuff in the cupboards. But had a massive recent fail! Son wanted to make flapjacks. I knew I had a tin of Golden Syrup. BB Oct 2009. But unopened so I said it will be fine. The lid was swollen - explosion of GS everywhere. But the flapjacks were delicious!

I'm so with you there, loving this thread so much! I have a huge pantry cupboard filled to the brim, 2 spice shelves and a floor to ceiling open pantry full of jars, which has one shelf just for different lentils, another for flours - my kitchen looks like a bloody wholefoods shop 😂
I love to forage too and have a cupboard full of medicinal herbs, fungi etc.
There's a few things you have that I've never heard of though (goes off to find out...)

My favourite courgette recipe (but I do long slices and brown under the grill, which is quicker and less messy):
https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/09/crisped-chickpeas-with-herbs-and-garlic-yogurt/

Reminds me of opening the door to my ex MIL to find her brandishing a homegrown cucumber and saying ‘could you use this?’
I swear there was a twinkle in her eye… 😳

You can salt lemons to preserve, doesn’t take more than a day or two to be ready. I used to peel lemons and salt the peel but now I just use my dead squeezed lemon halves <frugal> I only use them in one recipe (chipotle paste) but it’s not the same without them.

Just get an Ottolenghi cook book op. Then you’ll use all your PM 🥫🫙

Oh I LOVE pomegranate molasses.

This is my favourite recipe to use it in.

I also like roasting a lamb shoulder in pomegranate molasses.

I do have lots of other ingredient that sit languishing in my cupboard having been bought specifically for a recipe though.

@ThroughTheForestUpTheHill If it weren't for the fact that I am way too much of a lardarse to go out and forage, we could be twins! My husband despairs of being able to find anything in the fridge, as it is rammed full of odd condiments I pick up on whims, and jars of homemade chutneys, pickles and sauces from assorted Indian relatives! I'm still not sure how I married a man who thinks herbs, spices and condiments corrupt food. 😑 If he ever realised just how many different kinds of rice, grains, noodles and flours we have, he would have to go and lie down for a while.

Yes it is! I was wondering about this kind of bread filling, all the recipes I can find say make your own paste. I’ll have to have a go

Yes please!

I have pretty much everything that has been mentioned lurking in my cupboards except orris root and bee pollen 😂

I did once have bee pollen on a pudding at a restaurant that has all kinds of insects and strange things on the menu though.

Sumac trees and pampas grass make me think of 1980s gardens 😂

The Szechuan peppercorns are the pepper in Chinese salt and peeper chicken/squid/chips etc.

The poppyseed paste is used in Polish/Ashkenazi pastries, cookies and cakes. There used to be an amazing bakery in West Hampstead that did fantastic poppy seed pastries.

My unusual contribution that I would highly recommend is orange blossom water. It’s used in Middle Eastern pastries but it is also excellent in salad dressings for things like carrots or cucumber. Grated carrots with sultanas and oranges in orange blossom dressing is one of my barbecue favourites. It’s also nice in homemade lemonade. Fresh mint tea or hibiscus tea with rose water is lovely, as well (for those with rose water languishing in the fridge).

Rose water is also good to spritz on your face