ingredient of the week: sweet corn powder

 The secret pantry ingredient is... sweet corn powder. That's on the verge of being too stale for myself to eat. Definitely too stale to feed other people.

But I made myself a few carby staples - some for the emergency freezer stash.

Mini snacking savory scones - corn powder, sun dried tomatoes, jalapeno.

A loaf of buttermilk corn sandwich bread.

For BLR(adish)'s...

...and buttered toast.

Sweet corn pasta noodles with dulse butter.

Sweet corn youtiao that I ate at a 1:2 ratio of doughnut stick to fermented tofu.

I'm convincing myself that if I pick one or two pantry ingredients of the week to make a million meals out of, I can get everything to fit in my designated cabinet.

One of my big bins is already looking half empty!

pasta day

 Guess what? I catalogued and organized my pantry during a lazy Sunday.

And as a result, used up the remaining bag of my pasta flour that had been sitting tucked behind some random bags of powders. One bag of pasta flour to go.

A quick fettuccine with chard, charred leeks in a lemon butter sauce.

The second helping called for a soft egg and a handful of peas.

selected pantry items:

00 flour

AP flour

sweet corn flour

accessories:

eggs

swiss chard

onion

lemon

butter

fermented wax peppers

peas

leeks

perishables to use up: shrimp and milk

The remainder of my shrimp went into a citrus ponzu poaching liquid to be layered on top of some pea-ricotta-sesame puree. Ricotta courtesy of a leftover half gallon carton of milk. When in doubt about how to use up a lot of milk fast... milk jam or ricotta.

The rest of that ricotta was mixed with tomato powder and harissa and olive oil and eaten with fried eggs for breakfast the next day.

selected pantry items:

citric acid

bonito flakes

perilla seeds

harissa

tomato powder

accessories:

shrimp

milk

scallion

radish

tamarind onions

peas

eggs

perilla peanut butter?

 

Somehow ended up with this pretty refreshing cold appetizer dish - acorn jelly and shrimp dressed in a perilla peanut sauce. 

selected pantry items:

acorn flour

sesame

peanuts

soy sauce

black vinegar

chili honey

safflower oil

accessories: 

shrimp

perilla

how much chicken salad is too much chicken salad

one container of spring mix and a roasted chicken amounts to a week of spring themed chicken salads

in the spirit of salad, i really just threw whatever i could dig out in my kitchen and pantry into a bowl and tossed it together. i ate this with variations for 3-4 meals.

my current favorite way to prep a salad dressing is by microplaning a clove of garlic into it.

selected pantry items:

champagne vinegar

apple cider vinegar

kewpie

sesame oil

chili honey

quinoa

accessories:

chicken

garlic

peas

radish

onion

marinated eggs

mozzarella

and what do i order when i take myself out to eat for mommy's birthday? a mango curry chicken salad sammich with dressed pea shoots on homemade sourdough apparently:

bonus: cold brew with rose foam