Raiding the kitchen cupboard

Several years ago I came across a book called Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking with What You’ve Got. The concept was that you should look at your cupboard, refrigerator, and freezer when planning meals, rather than rushing out and buying more ingredients. The author had one huge advantage that most of us don’t have: her husband had an enormous vegetable garden, and she could pick whatever she wanted, fresh for dinner.

One important takeaway from the book, for me, was the name of the cannery from which I now order tuna—Pisces Fishing Vessel in Coos Bay, Oregon. They fish without nets so the dolphins swim alongside their boat, and the tuna is cooked once in the can, as opposed to most commercial tuna which is cooked twice. It simply tastes better. When my oldest son turned fifty, the birthday present he wanted was a case of tuna. I obliged.

I confess that even with my limited space, I’m bad about stockpiling things and buying new because I saw a recipe that intrigued me. The result is I have a large kitchen drawer full of pasta, canned tuna and salmon, and a variety of other things. I’m even bad about ordering fresh vegetables from Imperfect Produce and then not always getting around to using them.

Yesterday a friend from a town an hour away asked if I was available for supper tonight, and because she’s one of my special people, I immediately said “Of course.” I know she’d like to take me to dinner, because I feed her whenever she comes to town, and she feels it’s her turn. But if we eat here, we get a better visit, and Jordan can join us. Tonight Christian and Jacob also both wandered in.

But my larder was bare, or so I thought. What to cook? I had two smallish summer squashes from Imperfect Produce, and I had pork sausage patties in the freezer—I portion out a lb. of pork sausage and freeze it in individual patties. So I decided to stuff some squash.

I parboiled it and let it cool. Then I halved each squash, scooped out the center and chopped it. In a small skillet, I broke up two sausage patties and browned them, then sautéed chopped scallions and diced celery with the sausage and added the squash meat. Had to add just a bit of olive oil. I stuffed the squash halves with this mixture and refrigerated them until we were ready for supper. Then I topped them with grated cheddar and panko crumbs and baked them.

I had leftover corn salad, and Linda brought marinated asparagus from Eatsi’s. Altogether it made a pretty plate, and she—who could easily be a vegetarian—kept saying, “I love this dinner.” That’s all a cook needs to hear. A bonus: daughter Jordan, who eschews squash, nibbled on a half and loved it. When I said to her that the squash had a bit of sweetness about it, she agreed. Now if I could get Christian to try it….and then Jacob….