My friend said that she needed to go to the supermarket as she had nothing in to feed the 3 of them tonight. However, she had no money. I had none to lend her. She asked me if I could think of something that she could cook for herself, her husband, and her teenager with what she had. The only meat she had was two beef burgers, she had no potatoes, and no pasta or rice. She did have garlic bread, tomato puree and some vegetables. She lives in my village and so I asked her to bring round what she had and we would make a meal. I had other things that I could add, if need be. We could decide together as I love the challenge of ‘Ready, Steady, Cook and wanted an excuse to get out of the house work.
I hoped to show her that if you don’t have the ingredients you want, or need, you can always swop them for something else that you do have available. I was also trying to show her that even tiny bits of vegetables can be used up to make a nice meal. I made some of my nicest meals in the past with fridge gravel.
She placed the ingredients on my counter and told me that I could never make a meal out of that for 3 of them. Challenge accepted! The only thing I ended up adding was a bit of sugar and some herbs.
RECIPE
2 fresh beef burgers (or 8oz of mince)
1 small onion
1 carrot
1 garlic bread (or you can make your own)
Tomato puree
Some fridge gravel (she had some mini courgettes, some green beans, and a bit of red pepper)
1 tsp sugar
Mixed herbs
Lazy garlic (or whole, grated)
Method
1. Saute the onion in the pan , with the broken up beef burgers. When the meat has browned a bit, add the pepper. Cook whilst stirring and add the mixed herbs and 1 tsp lazy garlic.
2. Cut the carrot and green beans up small and cook in a splash of water in the microwave for 3 or 4 minutes until tender.
3. Dice and add the courgettes to the pan and a splash of water.
4. Put in the pan the tomato puree, the sugar, the carrot, the green beans, and enough water to make the sauce the consistency that you want. It wants to be wet but not watery. Add more tomato puree or water to get the sauce how you want it. You could add any left over tinned tomatoes at this point if you had them.
5. Cook for a 5 or more minutes until the vegetables are tender.
6. Put the meat sauce into a heat proof cooking dish and slice the uncooked garlic bread up and place on top to cover the sauce.
7. Cook for 4 mins in the air fryer at 200⁰C, or until the bread has started to brown (or you could cook in the oven).
The meal was later heated up for her partner and daughter by taking the bread off, microwaving until warm (with a plate on top) and then putting the bread back on and air frying for a few minutes. She served it with some frozen peas out of her freezer. Her daughter liked it and said it tasted gorgeous and wants her to make it again.
It is a amazing what you can make with a bit of fridge gravel and what you can find in the fridge and freezer. Often we think that we need to go shopping when really we don’t need to. Lots of food hubs give away out of date French sticks and this is a great way to use them up by making your own garlic butter. What would you have made with those ingredients?.
I’d certainly not made anything as tasty looking as your meal looks. I do occasionally add extras to my meals but in the main, follow the recipe. I think mainly because I would rather bake sweet things than cook meals. Naughty I know, but what’s a girl to do. 😉
Mr S is the same as you. He loves baking. Thanks for sharing
That looks delicious 😋
Thanks. It is. I make it with mince if I get a French stick from the community fridge sometimes.
I would never have thought you could make such a delicious meal out of those ingredients, you definitely have a way with food, something to save as I’m always stuck for mince/leftover burger etc, thank you xx
No worries. Thanks for your kind feedback
This looks lovely, Toni and so economical.
The one piece of advice I would add when using fridge gravel is to write down the recipe because someone is bound to ask for it again when you have forgotten all about it!
That is so true. I have my blog to do that!
Very well thought out. I would have made small meatballs and a sauce…yawn 🤭 Very creative and looks gorgeous too 👏
Thanks. Yes if I there had been pasta that is probably what I would have done. If the courgettes had been bigger I could have used them spiralised instead of pasta too.
What a great idea
Thanks. I make something like this regularly in the winter and it is nice. I usually use mince and add a lot more veg, though
You have really inspired me with articles like this to use what I have more often and be more creative with it.
Brilliant. Inspiring and sharing knowledge were my aims when starting the blog. Thanks for commenting