Whipping up a three course dinner from your store cupboard

Well, it doesn’t really matter where they have arrived from. And you probably haven't heard anyway, because you are in a flat spin.

The parable of the loaves and fishes was a little economical with the actualité because the six roast quails you were planning for the main course will surely not stretch to eight.

And what about the sea bass fillets you were planning to steam en papillote on a bed of fennel and courgette ribbons? And the six panna cotta you were going to serve with passion fruit sauce?

Turn your planned roast chicken, duck or quail into a pie. (Image: Pixabay)

Here are some ideas for dealing with such an eventuality, suggestions for ingredients for the store cupboard and freezer that will extend a meal in such a way that no-one will know you had to change your menu at the last minute.

Food from the freezer

Filo, puff, short crust, both sweet and savoury are invaluable for pies and pasties, which will allow you to stretch, for example, a chicken casserole into crunchy, sweet and savoury chicken pastillas.

Prawns quickly poached and then plunged into iced water, served with a cocktail sauce (tomato ketchup and horseradish) together with sliced avocado and shredded iceberg will provide a speedy deconstructed version of the classic retro avocado and prawns.

Stock from the freezer will enable you to whip up elegant soups in the time it takes to cook some vegetables; think squash and ginger, potato and watercress, courgettes and Gorgonzola soup.

Frozen berry fruit, spinach and peas are the only produce I keep in my freezer, and how useful they are.

Food from the fridge

I make sure I have in the fridge a selection on - cream, Greek yoghurt, posh vanilla custard,  ricotta, mascarpone, Parma ham, jamon Iberico, chorizo, plenty of eggs, Parmesan and favourite cheeses.

I usually add Kalamata olives, quail eggs and wraps for a trio of impromptu amuses,  quail eggs with celery salt, olives and quesadillas.

Food from the store cupboard

Canned pulses especially chick peas and white beans are an essential, for hummus, soups and for adding to spinach and chorizo to make a speedy Iberian-flavoured stew.

Long-life milk, condensed and evaporated, rose water and orange flower water for ice creams, dried fruit, dried mushrooms, capers, caper berries, grissini torinesi, digestive biscuits - for cheese cakes and cheese, amaretti- for trifles and for coffee, mince meat, marzipan, ground almonds, nuts and pasta. And of course, tomato ketchup. And a decent mayonnaise.

Food from the market.

Fresh produce used to be difficult to access over the long holiday period, but with shops hardly closed at all, everything, everywhere is almost always available.

Nevertheless, I like to have on hand lemons, limes, mushrooms, two kinds of potatoes, floury for mashing and baking, waxy for salads and sautéing, squash, apples, including a Bramley or two, blueberries and cranberries and bunches of the tougher herbs such as rosemary, sage, thyme and bay. Mint and basil is worth buying in a pot to keep on the window sill.Individiual panna cotta can whizzed up and reimagined as syllabub with the addition of some fridge and store cupboard essentials. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Back to stretching that dinner for six, what about the quails?

Instead of roasting them, remove the breasts and as much leg meat as possible. Make stock with the carcasses. While that is simmering, mince the leg meat and mix it with well-seasoned sausage meat or crumbled black pudding.

Add a few chopped, stoned prunes or diced apple, some sage, some finely chopped onion or shallot. If you have some mushrooms, so much the better. Slice and fry them lightly in a little butter. Chop them and add to the minced meat.

Sear the quail breasts for a minute or two on each side in a hot pan and cut each breast in four lengthwise, giving you 24 strips. Roll out a block of puff pastry and cut out 16 circles.

On one round, spread a portion of the minced meat, leaving a 1cm border, which you brush with milk. Place three pieces of quail on top, place another pastry round over it and seal the edges with a fork.

Frances turned her planned roast quail into savoury pastilla. (Image: Frances Bissell)

Brush with egg yolk beaten with milk for a shiny golden finish, pierce each pie once with a fork and place on a greased floured baking sheet.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180 °C. Transfer to heated dinner plates and serve with the stock reduced to a gravy with a splash of wine or Madeira. Voilà les tourtes aux cailles, messieurs’dames.

If you want to  save time, put everything into one big pie, and bake for 50 minutes. This recipe also works well if you were planning to serve grilled duck breasts or chicken.

Without bones to make stock, I would use a small amount of crumbled chicken or mushroom stock cube, celery tops, mushroom trimmings, white wine and crushed juniper berries, left to simmer while you prepare the pie filling.

While the pie is baking, the sea bass fillets can be quickly pan-fried in olive oil and then turned into a warm fish salad, with seasonal ingredients and a suitable dressing.

Or spoon the cooked fish into individual ramekins together with any sauce that you were planning to serve with it. When ready to serve, turn out onto a salad of shredded fennel or courgette ribbons.You could also turn the panna cotta into pot au chocolat by melting in chocolate. (Image: Frances Bissell)

The six panna cotta can be spooned into a bowl and whizzed with a stick blender until smooth. Fold in grated lemon zest, add a dash of sweet white wine when whizzing, spoon into very elegant small glasses, top with the passion fruit sauce. With a generous grating of nutmeg on top, you have a perfect syllabub.

Or stir in melted dark chocolate and serve in espresso cups or dessert glasses for a rich pot au chocolat. Alternatively, spoon the cream over sweet chestnut purée and top with chocolate shavings for a version of Mont Blanc; even better if you can spoon into individual meringue cases.

You could call on lightly poached berry fruits and serve the cream with  fruit on top of a layer of crushed amaretti, and a splash of fruit or almond liqueur.
After you have transformed your dinner for six into an elegant eight-some, holiday entertaining will hold few fears for you.

Even so, you probably deserve a quick drink before the guests arrive.
 
© Frances Bissell 2024. All rights reserved.