Emergency Pasta Pantry

A dear friend once explored the contents of my kitchen cupboards. I assume she was hungry for why else would she explore the contents of my kitchen cupboards? I also assume she must have been disappointed with the contents of my cupboards for why would she have complained that “there is no ordinary food in this house”?

Not surprisingly, I started thinking about other people’s grocery cupboards and what ‘ordinary food’ they keep in them.

You see, in my view, the grocery cupboard is for emergencies mostly. Like when Teflon-coated outsiders rock up at your home around dinnertime and you know that you have prepared insufficient food to feed more than just your own family.

To avert the imminent food crisis, you try to get them to leave, so you hint and you insinuate but nothing works; by now the visitors have embedded themselves in your comfortable lounge chairs and are in it for the long haul.

Your children are feeling the hunger pangs and are singing the “I-am-so-hungry-I-could-die” blues song in 12 bars and in your mind’s eye, you see them going through life forever scarred and disadvantaged by stunted growth syndrome.

At this point, you decide to act and act quickly.

My advice? Shout F(amily) H(old) B(ack) and dive into your grocery cupboard. Then pray long and hard that your cupboards are not as bare as mine.

If I have to prepare a really quick meal, odds are ten-to-one that it would be a pasta dish.

Pasta as emergency food has a few things going for it:

• It is cheap. So feeding you friends will not cause a personal financial meltdown or immediate family bankruptcy.

• It is quick and easy to make. It only requires water, salt and about six to 10 minutes to cook pasta. Provided that the pasta is cooked well, it poses almost no risk to your personal reputation as a cook.

• It is very versatile. It goes well with just about anything as a sauce. And anything from burnt butter to a slow-roasted pig’s head could be made into a sauce.

• It is well liked by most people and as such it is a fairly risk-free dish. If one or more of your guests have a gluten intolerance or allergy, they must visit on weekends when you are more likely to feed them braai vleis and boerewors.

So after my friend’s departure, I decided to stock my grocery cupboard with easy-to-open, ready-to-use pasta ingredients. Please note: I did not say ‘ready-made’, I said ‘ready-to-use’. There is a big and very important difference.

Here is what I keep in my cupboard these days:

• Before anything else, keep a good supply of good quality dried pasta. Fresh pasta, unless immediately available, should not be considered emergency family food of the kind we’re discussing here.

• Given the appalling state of fresh tomatoes in this country, I have no problem using tinned tomatoes, and while you are at it, add some tomato paste and sundried tomatoes to the grocery basket.

• With regard to liquid ingredients for sauces, I recommend the following: wine (white and red); good quality stock, mostly chicken and vegetable but beef is good too; fresh, full fat cream; and oils, mostly olive oil but also nut or herb flavoured oils such as walnut, hazelnut and peanut oil for dishes with a nutty twist, and basil oil for a dish with fresh tomatoes. And if you want a little luxury, add truffle oil.

• Since most nuts add value to pasta sauces (think walnut and blue cheese, or pine nuts with basil), they are a good, albeit somewhat expensive, investment, but oh so rewarding.

• Something few worthwhile pasta dishes could go without are herbs. Fresh or dried herbs are your best friends in Flavour Town. If you do not have them in your garden, keep them in your cupboard or refrigerator. Popular choices include flat leaf parsley, basil, thyme, rosemary, sage, bay and marjoram.

• Next, some important flavour accessories: you’ll want to have proper butter and a variety of cheeses in your refrigerator, and some aromatic vegetables such as carrots, celery and onions.

With a cupboard filled with ingredients like these, you will not have to fear unexpected guests ever again. You will also be able to forestall the onset of stunted growth among your children.

All that remains is to put your ingredients to work, and please cook you pasta to a point just beyond ‘hard and raw’ and long before ‘mushy dissolution’. I don’t care if you don’t call it al dente as long as it is right. Normally the information on the manufacturer’s pack is quite accurate and will provide a good indication of cooking times.

Here is a simple pasta and mushroom recipe to get you started.

Buon appetito!

• 450 grams mixed fresh mushrooms

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or olive oil)

• 1 medium sized yellow onion, peeled