We love to cook with leftovers or with what’s in the fridge or freezer or on the pantry shelves.
Last week we were staying with friends on the Mornington Peninsula for the 2016 Peninsula Summer Music Festival. We hadn’t all synchonised which concerts we would be attending. On Wednesday evening some of us had a concert at 5.00 while our hosts had theirs at 7.00.
They promised to be home by 8.30 and would throw something together then for supper as they had “things in the fridge” that needed to be used up. In addition, a Canadian friend had given them two cans of his personally canned salmon – he lives on Vancouver Island where you can take your catch to the local cannery to be tinned!
The key features:
- Cos lettuce and iceberg layered on a large platter, followed by
- Shaved fennel doused in lemon juice, sliced cucumber, chunks of different types of heirloom tomatoes, then
- Chunks of avocado also lemon doused, sliced spring onions
- Slices of home made pickled peaches and fine slices of fresh nectarine and fresh plum
- Drained Vancouver Island salmon spread in the middle, topped with a few tablespoons of salmon roe caviar
- Drizzled over was a dressing made of olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, parsley and a couple of tablespoons of lemon myrtle infused olive oil
- Basil garnish
- Served with olive sour dough and beautiful Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
A great result and a great example of what can be created from “what’s in the fridge”.
What did we learn?
- The salmon was in a different world to our supermarket options, wonderfully soft and tasting as if it had been freshly poached. Instead, try poaching your own salmon fillets or try smoked rainbow trout.
- The salad was not tossed, so each taste was different from the previous. The flavours of the the pickled peaches and the lemon myrtle came through as bright sparkles when your mouthful included them.
- We decided we must do more pickling: peaches, plums, cherries, ….
- You could easily make your own lemon myrtle infused oil or simply add some crushed lemon myrtle – an Australian native plant – to a normal vinaigrette. Make sure the lemon myrtle has not lost its distinctive lemon flavour.
Contributions welcomed!
If you have any inspirational moments based on what’s in the fridge or on the shelves, we are happy to hear about them, including the ingredients, good quality photos (if you have them) and why it turned out so well.