Fridge Clean-up Time

On the agenda for this weekend are fridge cleaning and grocery shopping. And what is a better way to clean a fridge than to have it as empty as one can.

So for tonight's dinner, everything hanging around the fridge after the holiday festivities was brought out.

But what to do with all those leftovers?

A salad was a must not because I have leftover vegetables but because of this beautiful gift I received for Christmas:

La Tourangelle Roasted Walnut Oil

Smells like it will be perfect hand oil... I did not want to be too experimental the first time so I followed the package's suggested recipe: 4 to 1 Tbs of the oil and balsamic vinegar along with a dash of dijon mustard.

I mixed it with leftovers greens and tiny tomatoes and it turned into one of the most delicious salads I have had for a long time - nice sweet as opposed to nutty taste; a perfect dressing that will be repeated at somerville kitchen. 

A mini antipasto platter of cold roast beef cuts and artichoke hearts joined the salad.

Now the main meal was brainless - carrots, shallots, parsley, green peppers, red peppers, what is better than a nice vegetarian tomato pasta sauce. So garlic was chopped, fried, vegetables added to the pot with a can of tomatoes, along with some Italian spices and voila, pasta sauce was simmering, ready to join the salad and antipasto.

Double carbs is the rule at somerville kitchen, but the only bread around is a loaf of Iranian Barbari bread. Well, nothing says that garlic bread is limited to being made with baguettes. Crushed garlic and butter were spread over the Barbari and grilled just as one does with garlic bread. It turned out crunchy, tasty and probably a better alternative all around.

The meal is now complete, the fridge is ready to be cleaned and refilled, but I cannot stop eating my garlic Barbari.