If anyone is looking for a way to make their articling term more stressful, here’s a fun solution: move into a new apartment. Trust me, not my choice — I blame the housing market (long story short: landlord sold her home, couldn’t find a new one in time in this completely bonkers real estate market, so is giving us the boot so she can move in). Either way, since we are downsizing to a smaller place, my energy is now relentlessly focused on purging all non-essential material items from our household.
As self-admitted pack-rats, this process brings out our most irrational attachments to stupid objects: for me, a large blue La-Z-Boy recliner that was technically my first “new” piece of furniture back when I moved to Toronto, which is apparently hideous (I really don’t think so) and impractically large (but it reclines almost all the way back!) and pretty much now operates as a surface for other useless crap that we own (in my mind, it was going to serve as a good “reading chair”). We are arguing about whether or not we should keep a huge, worn-out cast-aluminum pan because it’s great for cooking over an open fire when we (he) “regularly” goes camping (once a year, maybe). Certain items we both know should go are not even on the table for discussion, including my elaborate homemade Hallowe’en costumes from years past, and his small child’s mannequin head named Andrew which, incidentally, also only comes out at Hallowe’en, and otherwise sits on top of a bookcase facing the corner because it creeps me out when it looks at me.
Along with the ruthless purging of our earthly possessions comes the three-week attempt not to accumulate any additional food in our pantry — meaning we’re eating a lot of (initially unidentifiable) stuff from the freezer, and things that can be made only with canned goods. Using up pantry items generally feels either like a chore, or some kind of twisted, Top Chef–inspired quickfire challenge (in fact, I think that really was a quickfire challenge).
However, I actually make the pasta dish below on purpose, even if I have time to grocery shop; it’s fast, healthy, and delicious (unless you, like the resident eater, are weirded out by “hot tuna,” unless it’s a tuna melt, or tuna casserole, which are the only other “hot tuna” dishes I can even think of, so I don’t really know what his problem is). It uses up lots of stuff you might have lying about in the pantry, and you can play around with the ingredients depending on what you have on hand. At the very least, if you have some garlic, a can of tomatoes and dry pasta, you’ve got dinner. You can eat it as a hot dish, but it also tastes great chilled as a pasta salad for lunch the next day.
Pantry Pasta
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Large pinch crushed chilli flakes
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, drained and mulched a bit in a blender/with a fork
1/3 cup chicken or vegetable stock
3 cans chunk or flaked tuna, drained
1 19 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (white kidney beans would be good too)
Handful of roughly chopped pitted green olives (optional)
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil or flat-leaf parsley (optional — you can also sub in 1/2 tsp dried)
Handful crumbled feta cheese (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb farfalle (bowtie) pasta
1. In a large skillet, heat oil on medium-low. Add garlic and chilli and cook gently for a few minutes to infuse the oil (do not brown).
2. Add tomatoes and stock, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Allow to cook gently for 10-15 minutes, allowing stock to reduce. If using dried herbs, add while simmering sauce.
3. Put water for pasta on to boil, then cook to package directions for al dente.
4. Add tuna, chickpeas and olives to sauce and stir well to blend, breaking up tuna so it’s well distributed in the sauce. Continue to simmer gently on low heat until pasta is ready. Drain pasta and toss with sauce, fresh herbs and feta. Season to taste (though olives and feta are both salty, so not much will be needed). Serve warm or at room temperature.
Sara Chan is an articling student at a Toronto law firm. Her favourite food group is pork. Sara’s column appears every other Tuesday here on lawandstyle.ca.
Photo by Carolyn Will