The "What's in the Cupboard" Challenge

neuro-praxis

It's exactly what it sounds like! Myself and himself have friends coming for dinner tonight and funds are very low. Instead of what we'd usually do which is plan a meal and buy the ingredients whether we could really afford them or not, we decided we'd try to come up with an excellent 4 course meal using only what we have in the fridge/freezer/cupboards. We're really pleased with what we've come up with.

"Champagne" cocktail - Tangerine Dream (crushed ice, shot of cointreau, shot of orange juice, topped up with €6.99 Prosecco - it's surprisingly nice and dry!)

Starter
Smokies, with a twist (smoked haddock and king prawns [small portions dug out from the freezer], sour cream and chives, in individual ramekins, topped with grated cheese and baked) with some crusty bread on the side (we found a couple of par-baked rolls in the cupboard)

Main course
Cottage pie, with a twist (see a theme starting here? ) (The usual cottage pie ingredients, with some chopped mushrooms and smoked bacon lardons added into the mix, topped with mashed sweet potato) with steamed broccoli on the side

Dessert
Mixed fruit crumble (1 apple, a tin of pears and frozen mixed berries) with ice cream (we have odds and ends from a few cartons) or custard (we have a carton of the pre-made stuff in the cupboard)

Tea and coffee

Cheese, crackers, chilli jam and dragonfruit (we only have small amounts of brie and an oniony double Gloucester)

Any other suggestions for dessert? We don't have any eggs, so most cakes/puddings are out. My husband doesn't like tapioca or rice pudding. We've got milk, sugar, flour, butter, mixed frozen berries, canned pineapple and pears, condensed milk, chocolate chips, dessicated coconut, a small amount of cream and a few other little bits and pieces. I had thought about making Prosecco jelly with berries and cream but sadly we're out of gelatine (so I've gone for the cocktails instead). Any ideas appreciated!

Also, anyone else up for the challenge?

MissFlitworth

I cannot for the life of me think of what it's called on menus but my favourite dessert at the moment is coffee that comes with a few bite sized treats/sweets on the side & I notice you have all the ingredients for some amazing fudge that you could also sprinkle with toasted coconut/chocolate chips/possibly add some berries into. Might be a bit heavy for the gorgeous day that's in it though! Or a berry sorbet maybe?

I'd be up for the challenge but my cupboard is in that sorry state where we only have dry goods, a suspect looking yoghurt & spices, so unless I can convince my other half that rice & cinnamon is where it's at I need to go restock

neuro-praxis

The fudge looks really good, but it has a POUND of sugar in it! :eek: I'm not sure we have a pound in the cupboard, but if we did, I'm not sure I could make a dessert with that much sugar in it! I haven't completely decided against it though...thanks for the suggestion.

Faith

I love this idea! I'm about to move out of home and I'll have to really start watching the pennies.

I'm trying to think of something from your ingredients but I can't...

MissFlitworth

neuro-praxis wrote: »

The fudge looks really good, but it has a POUND of sugar in it! :eek: I'm not sure we have a pound in the cupboard, but if we did, I'm not sure I could make a dessert with that much sugar in it! I haven't completely decided against it though...thanks for the suggestion.

It is scary heaps of sugar! The only thing is that the recipe makes an awful lot of fudge (when I make it it's normally for presents & I'd get 3 - 4 bags of fudge out of it) & it's quite heavy so you'd only have a couple of pieces

Hmm, maybe you could turn your tin of condensed milk into a caramel? A sundae of pears, caramel, icecream, chocolate chips & toasted coconut could be nice

neuro-praxis

What a brilliant idea. I could make a hot fudge sauce with the condensed milk and chocolate chips, and drizzle it over scoops of ice cream with chopped nuts. I love this. Thanks!

Miss Flitworth, if you post what you actually have in your cupboards, the rest of us might be able to suggest meals you wouldn't naturally think of yourself?

neuro-praxis

So I made our meal.

The smokies was wonderful, really moreish. The cottage pie was tasty but we all agreed that we would have liked some normal mash, philistines that we are. The cheese and crackers were a tasty last morsel with our coffee.

Dessert was amazing. I heated condensed milk in a bain-marie with about 6 squares of 70% dark chocolate until melted, then beat in a tablespoon of butter and a pinch of salt to make hot fudge sauce. We drizzled this over ice cream with nuts and chocolate chips. It was pretty wow, and everyone had seconds. We still have lots of the sauce left so the above recipe actually serves about 12 people. Thanks a mill Miss Flitworth.

Excited now to start doing this again. It pushed me to be a bit creative.

MissFlitworth

Glad to hear the sauce went down well, I actually have a tin of condensed milk at home that I think will be getting the hot fudge treatment this weekend as well! It sounds amazing

Will have a gander through my cupboards this evening and pop up a list of what I have It'll mostly be things like 'Jar of sawdust (formerly Garam Masala), indeterminate age', so I might do a combined clearout & post-up